My previous system used PS/2 and serial connections from the interface boards. In this system I am planning to use all USB. I figured an easy way to get started with the testing was to utilize the existing Marble Madness control panel I had on hand. Taking this approach is convenient since the control panel can sit nicely on the workbench and hold the mechanisms in place.

Wiring up the Marble Madness CP to test the OptiPAC via USB.

(click to enlarge)

I created a hardness a few feet long that mates with the molex on the existing trackball wiring (part of my goal to not harm the wiring of the original system). Buying enough wire to have a zillion unique colors (like the original machines) would cost a fortune, so I'm using red on signal wires and black for ground. For clarity, I'm putting small canvas self-adhesive wire labels on the wires after doing continuity testing with the meter. I'm labeling to match the interface board terminals.

The harness I made tonight is for a single trackball, so it uses six leads. In retrospect, I will probably redo this with a twelve-circuit molex connector later on so I can group the two trackballs. That's easy enough to do, though, since I have a molex pin remover on hand to make quick changes without destroying anything. The crimper (which is new) is far more useful than I thought... pliers just didn't cut it as I learned on the last project.

Everything is working nicely thus far. At the moment I am using the kernel raw interface but I will experiment in the coming days with the event and normal mouse interfaces and report the results here.

I've added a small gallery to give a few close-ups from tonight's work. More to come later in the weekend or next week.