This is a real oddity. I got it from a surplus stock seller a very long time ago. I was hoping it might work with my PCB software, but the software was designed for mouse style input and this unit used a different port and control system.
The classic PC gameport was designed to accommodate two joysticks with analogue position sensors and buttons. This trackball uses potentiometers for the ball position sensing.
The Marconi "Markus" trackball probably used phase quadrature like a normal mouse.
The Boardmaker 1 software was an entry level version of a professional suite. The £100 it cost was a lot back when I bought it somewhere in the 90's. It ran in DOS and I used it to design and hand etch a lot of prototypes and latterly to design the first PCBs I had manufactured. (Fairground lighting controllers.)
It was a very basic package with none of the integration and features of modern PCB software.
The reason I contacted Tsien about the software was due to a scaling bug in the Gerber output. Their response was dismissive, hence why I didn't proceed further with their software.
There are lots of better options for hobbyists and small manufacturers these days.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
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This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
The classic PC gameport was designed to accommodate two joysticks with analogue position sensors and buttons. This trackball uses potentiometers for the ball position sensing.
The Marconi "Markus" trackball probably used phase quadrature like a normal mouse.
The Boardmaker 1 software was an entry level version of a professional suite. The £100 it cost was a lot back when I bought it somewhere in the 90's. It ran in DOS and I used it to design and hand etch a lot of prototypes and latterly to design the first PCBs I had manufactured. (Fairground lighting controllers.)
It was a very basic package with none of the integration and features of modern PCB software.
The reason I contacted Tsien about the software was due to a scaling bug in the Gerber output. Their response was dismissive, hence why I didn't proceed further with their software.
There are lots of better options for hobbyists and small manufacturers these days.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
trackballs often get loaded with gunk. but it doesn't help that these have an end-stop in them. this was before opto-mechanical and laser trackballs lol
this reminds me, I wish they made the wireless trackmans again, those were super comfy and much better than the ones they sell now.
The very first trackball made used a BOWLING BALL.
Logitech seems to be trying to move people from the mid-priced Tackman M570 thumb-trackball to the much more expensive (but visually very similar) MX Ergo thumb-trackball. Fortunately, there are now trackballs from Perixx that are a bit fatter than the Logitech ones but also a good bit cheaper. I've got no idea about the button life on them (which on the Trackman wasn't great) as I only got one at the beginning of 2019 and it hasn't started to act up yet..
I have balls but no track
I also use a logitech trackman and they are great! I have not used many others, but I like it a lot.
Ball bearing instead of a simple spring loaded roller on the bottom right. Geared pots instead of rotary encoders, with proper nylon looking guide rollers. "Snooker" track ball. Spring washers. Encased keyboard buttons. No PCB and electronics at all. Truly oldschool. Things like this and joysticks were already getting to the cheap and flimsy side in the 80s. They were horrible.
That's an absolute positioning trackball. Even in "the olden days", most trackballs were just inverted mice (relative positioning). So that one must have been for some very specific application. It should work in any software that accepts analogue joystick input (it'll probably just appear as a joystick). It might have a driver to behave like a graphics tablet as well, but I doubt you'll manage to use it as a mouse.
Fun fact: Marconi used to do a version of that chunky beige Trackball for Acorn machines (initially BBCs and then Archimedes) and they were awesome. They were smooth and they did keep gliding if you snapped your finger across the ball. I think they inititally built them for the Doomsday Machine BBC micro/Laserdisc setup and they proved so popular that they did them for a range of education customers as they were extremely robust and very heavy so great for kids to use withouth dmaging them (more than I can say for some of Acorn's mice). I'm slightly sad my dad never managed to keep hold of one.
The game ports are commonly found on old sound cards. Reson being that sound cards have tons of dacs and adcs, and the manufacturers simply mapped the spare mic inputs to the game port.
This really reminds me of the modern cheapie lenovo laptops where you also have to point-then-click, because their new touchpads and finger nipples (the one in the middle of the keyboard) can't be used at the same time as you click, otherwise the cursor just jumps where it feels like. It's really annoying me to no end since it's only a software bug and no one (who can) cares to fix it.
Doesn't mean I hate the single surface, single button touchpads, though. They're insanely great IF and only if you can manage to find a good one with good compatible drivers. So far the only extremely good ones I've found are 2013 ish Samsung laptops with Elantech touchpads, as well as Macs of course. It's interesting how the vast majority of "apple haters" have never touched a good pad in their life (pun). I know I'm going to get inexplicable hate for saying this, but Macbooks are good. You get what you pay for. I've never owned one myself, though. And yes, you can install Windows on a mac, if you like.
I'm going off on a tangent, because what I actually wanted to ask you about is if there's any particular reason why you're using a Logitech trackball? Is it for ergonomic/RSI reasons or do you just prefer it? Do you only use it when CADing or do you use it when browsing the internet etc too?
Have you ever tried using a 2012-ish Macbook for a few minutes (and possibly compared it to a "normal" Windows laptop)? If not, and if you ever get the chance to do so, I do recommend it, just because it's interesting (to me at least).
Also about mice, I'll quickly mention that optical mice (usually with the red light on the bottom) are MUCH more precise than the over hyped laser mice. Not sure what you've tried but if you're used to (inferior) laser mice, then I totally get why you're using a trackball. Don't get me wrong though, trackballs are awesome, but there aren't too many good and cheap tb manufacturers out there due to the tiny market.
Did anyone else use the 15-pin joystick port to control Winamp, either with an actual joystick or with your own contraption?
Hello Clive I have something interesting to send you, how do I send it?
Hey Clive, my uncle has struck again! This time he keeps going around using the word "amperage" whilst saying its safe to work on live circuits if they're protected by an RCD as it "limits the amperage to 30mA". Seriously its like educating a brick wall.
Hello there! i saw your comment on Scott Manley's video on Internet Popularity. I checked out your channel and it's pretty nice! I subscribed.
Button washer is possibly to distribute the load between button and switch to reduce the chance of either splitting at points where the force would otherwise be concentrated.