Old trackball won't work on modern laptops

Perhaps the answer is here...

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...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Jim Thompson
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Found that and other links via Google before posting here but it all didn't help :-(

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
Reply to
Joerg

If I had my druthers, well, heck, maybe I do that. Went to a Cypress seminar the other day and one of the things they had us design was a I2C to USB converter. Changing that over to RS232-USB would be a mere mouse click on the screen with PSoC Express, then a wee compile run. And they let us keep the proto board...

Just imagine, that would be a real nerd mouse: A Trackman, a largish Cypress demo board with flashing LEDs all over the place, a wall wart, lots of cables.

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
Reply to
Joerg

Imho, that just about proves it. Those old laptops did have much meatier power supplies. If you trawl the specs, you'll likely find the old ones had RS232C, while the new one is RS232E. That's exactly the difference:

12V vs. about 6V, while the intended receiver load has reduced by an order of magnitude. Since RS232 defines anything over 3V as a valid signal, the interface-chip makers consider themselves free to provide just enough power to stagger over the line, & they are in compliance.
Reply to
David R Brooks

Aha! Which says the solution is to provide 12V power to the track-ball and add some 1488's and 1489's to buffer the levels ;-)

Or, as Joerg would do it... discretes ;-)

A micro would be a suck solution ;-)

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Jim Thompson

[snip]

Joerg allowed as to how he'd already run serial data thru the port. What were the levels?

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Jim Thompson

Doesn't it recognise it when it is attached to the computer when it starts? I recall having used a serial mouse less than 2 years ago with an Win2000 machine. It was detected automatically during boot. Are you sure the trackball is working and the serial ports are enabled?

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Reply to
Nico Coesel

I've looked. It wasn't :-(((

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
Reply to
Joerg

No. Yes. Yes.

:-)

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
Reply to
Joerg

I didn't measure. Just plugged it in and did a data dump from the old logic analyzer. It simply worked ;-)

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
Reply to
Joerg

Ok, guys, thanks for that hint about the voltage levels. Whipped out the meter: It's 5.9V. Dang! Why on earth did they do that?

Jim, I am indeed itching to see if a discrete solution sans external 12V supply could be done. Just for sports. Maybe one of those one transistor switchers, a few turns around a ferrite bead, hmm....

Got to find an "old mouse" schematic first.

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
Reply to
Joerg

I think the main problem you have is that the mouse _may_ require 12V.

I'm not quite sure how to tell without frying it :-(

Maybe apply 6V and see what comes out when you roll the ball... nada means it needs 12V ??

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

Must be the volts ;-)

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

Well, running a terminal on the old PC gives gibberish when rolling the mouse. Doing that on the laptop, zilch.

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Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
Reply to
Joerg

rs232 tranceiver with voltage doubler running of 3Volt, I guess

old fashion rs232 transceiver back to back, running of 5volt taken form USB or PS2 port?

-Lasse

Reply to
langwadt

[snip]

On a laptop the available USB current is limited, but still might be around 100mA.

Don't know what's legal from PS/2.

Why not just a battery pack? Joerg is making the problem too complicated.

I'm not a "gamer", but what _is_ a game port? How does it behave?

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

I think the problem is that the track-ball needs 12V, so you need an interface:

(laptop) 6V data 12V data (track-ball with 12VDC supply)

Joerg needs to measure what RS232 levels exist on his new laptop, then measure the trackball levels with one of his old machines.

Then we can concoct an interface with a snap of the fingers.

Of course this episode has already cost Joerg $1K in wasted time spent scratching his ... ;-)

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

USB is minimum and default 100mA, a device can ask for up to 500mA

from what I can find 275mA

carrying around a battary pack is a bit annoying when you already have a battery and probably the charger for the laptop

+5V, GND, two switches and two potmeter inputs, don't know ho much current you can expect. But you won't find one on many laptops.

-Lasse

Reply to
langwadt

Thinking about the "spec", I suspect all that Joerg needs is the power supply for the track-ball.

...Jim Thompson

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|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

Lasse, that's a good idea.

As mentioned above, about 6V.

Sometimes I have to wind down from analog design (I mean the real tough stuff) and do something non-monetary. Including restoring an old tube radio for a couple of hours. Which BTW now works for about 15 years. Or spend 20 hard hours on an old Hammond. It was neglected and totally seized up when we got it. But now my office time is enhanced by my wife playing "Oh when the Saints..." and stuff like that on the old Hammond.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
Reply to
Joerg

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