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Old trackball won't work on modern laptops

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

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
Reply to
Joerg
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No. Yes. Yes.

:-)

--
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 ;-)

--
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.

--
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

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Reply to
Jim Thompson

Must be the volts ;-)

...Jim Thompson

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Reply to
Jim Thompson

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

--
Regards, Joerg

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

On Sat, 20 Jan 2007 18:09:21 GMT, Joerg wrote in Msg.

SolidWorks is exactly the one piece of software that I have Windows for on my office PC. Everything else I do on Linux (and Eagle is the only non-free software on the Linux system).

robert

Reply to
Robert Latest

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

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.
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

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.
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

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Reply to
Jim Thompson

In my case there is also some RF and med stuff that simply doesn't come any other way than Windows :-(

--
Regards, Joerg

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

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

...

May even be some form of the laptop battery terminal voltage..

Depends how good it is at dealing with control signals and latencies. Just the same problem as trying to do a parallel port programmer from USB to Parallel port converter.

By the sound of things it needs MORE than 6V, could be 7V, 7.5V or 9V as well as 12V.

I would just try to use a bench power supply current limited with the unit stand alone, to determine when the unit starts to give reasonable RS232 levels out. I assume that as the unit is a serailport device working with RS232 ports it is actually trying to drive something like 0 to 9V levels and no -ve voltages.

The problem may also be that 6V is enough but the laptop does not provide any signals sitting at -ve voltage levels and uses 0/6V signalling. Not having a negative signal to create a negative rail may be sufficient to get this to foul up.

If you must do this, use a breakout cable/box on the WORKING system and scope ALL the signals as no doubt some signal may well be sitting at a negative level on working system but not on failing laptop.

Agreed.

Or even work out if he needs a DC/DC of some form to create a negative rail as well as possibly a positive rail.

Yes but they can be such fun these challenges.

Like the simple one I did for SWMBO, who had a solar powered water feature and 12V AC garden lights. Adding small box with relay enabled me to create a pseudo solar panel from the 12V AC feed so water feature worked when the garden lights were on.

--
Paul Carpenter          | paul@pcserviceselectronics.co.uk
    PC Services
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Reply to
Paul Carpenter

SWMBO ;-) I sure do miss "RUMPOLE OF THE BAILEY". It hasn't been on the tube here in quite a while :-(

...Jim Thompson

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.
Reply to
Jim Thompson

snip

snip

not even close to being the same, usb to parallel has to translate from a serialized packet format to a parallel interface and usually involves a MCU or something like that. losing most timing information that might be used in a parallel port porgrammer

an rs232 tranciever is a simple voltage translator, it will add a tniy bit of delay but since rs232 is async and quite slow it will have no impact.

-Lasse

Reply to
langwadt

The secret of happy life, remember to say things at the right time like "yes dear", always with the correct amount of 'sincerity'.....

Then I know my place in the pecking order, I am not hen pecked as I have been told to say.

--
Paul Carpenter          | paul@pcserviceselectronics.co.uk
    PC Services
              GNU H8 & mailing list info
             For those web sites you hate
Reply to
Paul Carpenter

ONLY if you need TX and RX data, once modem control signals and turn around times get involved USB to serial does not always work as the control signals do not get translated time wise always correctly. The latencies and the like cause all sorts of problems for serial devices when connected via USB to serial converters. Especially with potential packet latency for a single control line change.

USB is not always as deterministic as most people think it is.

--
Paul Carpenter          | paul@pcserviceselectronics.co.uk
    PC Services
              GNU H8 & mailing list info
             For those web sites you hate
Reply to
Paul Carpenter

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