Trak-Ball enhanced games?

[+rdemming]

Hi,

 

I've just aquired an Atari Trak-Ball and I was wondering which Atari 8-Bit/2600 games have a Trak-Ball mode. I know that Missile Command has a Trak-Ball mode but are there more?

Thanks.

 

Robert

[Goochman]

I believe Centipede has as well, though someone may have mentioned that it was taken out as to not confuse the player????

 

I used to have a list but alas its gone - I dont believe alot was built for the Trackball controller.

[somePUNK]

i'm not positive but coverens of mars i belive dose

[+rdemming]

Thanks for your answers but...

I've tried three versions of centipede (centipede, milipede and 5200 centipede) but none have a trak-ball mode altough it works quite good with the trak-ball in joystick mode.

Pressing <Ctrl>+T in 5200 centipede switches to analoque joystick mode (you can control with a pair of paddle but you can't shoot)

 

Caverns of Mars doesn't have a trak-ball mode either.

 

So I'm believing that Missile Command is the only trak-ball game.

However it it possible to hack your trak-ball to make it Atari ST mouse compatible. Then you can play Operation Blood and other ST-mouse compatible games with the trak-ball in mouse mode.

 

Regards,

 

Robert

[Eckhard Stolberg]

There are actually two different trak-balls for the 8-bit, the CX-22 and the CX-80. I'm not sure how the CX-22 works, but the CX-80 is fully compatible with the ST mouse, so there is no need to convert it to play your ST games.

 

 

Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg

[+rdemming]

There are actually two different trak-balls for the 8-bit, the CX-22 and the CX-80. I'm not sure how the CX-22 works, but the CX-80 is fully compatible with the ST mouse, so there is no need to convert it to play your ST games.

 

Mmm, I've a CX-80 trak-ball (black ball and triangular shaped buttons) but if I plug it into a ST, the mouse pointer only wobbles (The same in an Amiga). So mine is not ST-mouse compatible by default.

 

I did some digging. The Atari-8bit FAQ only mentions 2 games that have a trak-ball mode namely Missile Command and Slime (Synapse, press T before playing). And there are only a handfull of games that support an Atari ST mouse.

The strange thing is that Missile Command and Slime also work with an ST mouse in trak-ball mode, but the ST mouse compatible games (e.g. Operation Blood, Special Forces, Shanghai) don't work with the trak-ball in ST-mouse mode.

 

Robert

[Goochman]

Ummmmmmmm, Slime - That was a great game (800 mode only!) Gotta break out the trackball and play that one again - been awhile

[Eckhard Stolberg]

@Robert:

I don't have a ST to test this, but when I bought my CX-80 trak-ball in a second-hand Atari shop, the guy there showed me that the trak-ball indeed works as a ST-mouse replacement. And that was with a new trak-ball freshly out of a sealed box. Are you sure you had your trak-ball in trak-ball mode when you tested it on the ST? Or maybe your's is just too dirty to work nicely on the ST?

 

 

Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg

[+rdemming]

@Robert:

I don't have a ST to test this, but when I bought my CX-80 trak-ball in a second-hand Atari shop, the guy there showed me that the trak-ball indeed works as a ST-mouse replacement. And that was with a new trak-ball freshly out of a sealed box. Are you sure you had your trak-ball in trak-ball mode when you tested it on the ST? Or maybe your's is just too dirty to work nicely on the ST?

 

Maybe there were two revisions of the CX-80 trak-ball? My brand new trak-ball was definately not mouse compatible straight out of its sealed box.

 

In the mean time I've converted my trak-ball to be ST-mouse compatible which required some minor rewiring. I had to replace the cable because the orignal cable didn't have the wire for mouse button 2. But now it is fully ST-mouse compatible and with an extra switch it is also Amiga mouse compatible. And it works great with Operation Blood.

 

Robert

[Eckhard Stolberg]

Maybe it just was a production error. I have seen sealed 7800 games where the bankswitching jumpers were soldered incorrectly, so that the game wouldn't work beyond the title screen. But then it wouldn't have worked with your Missle Command game.

 

If your trak-ball didn't work with the ST or the Amiga, how were the signals wired then?

 

 

Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg

[+rdemming]

If your trak-ball didn't work with the ST or the Amiga, how were the signals wired then?

 

I looked at the PCB and I didn't see any strange wires or something like that. The cable is connected to the print with small single wire connectors. For each connection point, the wire color is specified on the print and every wire was connected as printed on the PCB.

On the print the following is written:

A2010

REV. A P-2

 

To make it ST-mouse compatible, I used the describtion from a Dutch Atari Magazine. It basically rewires two wires namely:

- Orange wire (pin 3, YA/LEFT) to pin 12 of the IC in the lower right corner (solder side) instead of pin 11 of the IC in the upper left corner.

- Brown wire (pin 1, XB/DOWN) to pin 4 of the IC in the lower right corner instead of pin 13 of the IC in the upper left corner.

 

Sorry, I can't see the IC number without taking the whole thing apart. I can't easily get the small lightsensor PCBs out necessary to see the other side of the main PCB.

 

To make it Amiga mouse compatible, you have to swap pin 1 & 4.

 

Regards,

 

Robert

[Eckhard Stolberg]

Could it be that the two wires had "direction" information before your modification? I think this is how the CX-22 works. One pin has the direction (left/right, up/down) and the other pin pulses to signal motion. In the CX-80 that was changed to a two bit gray code per axis. So maybe the CX-80 trak-ball was designed to be compatible with the CX-22, but then was modified to work with the ST computer too?

 

My trak-ball has the same board. There is a small piece of styrofoam glued over the text for the wires so that the button levers can rest on it. Therefore I can't see if the wires on my board are in the right order. They are from left to right: yellow, orange, red, brown, grey, black and white. Also there is a blue wire soldered to the connection that comes out of the left button.

 

On the solder side of the board there are four wire jumpers. Also at least two traces have been cut. There is a group of five solder spots in the top center of the board. the top left two of them are bridged.

 

Between the two ICs on the left side there are five changes. Pin 13 of the upper IC is now connected to pin 10 of the upper IC and to pin 5 of the lower IC. Pin 5 of the upper IC is now connected to pin 11 of the lower IC. The trace that comes out of pin 5 of the upper IC has been cut. The same goes for the trace between pin 4 and 10 of the upper IC.

 

Now I'm wondering if this is something that was done in the shop were I bought my trak-ball, or if Atari changed the design after the boards had been produced.

 

 

Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg

[Callipygous]

Thanks for your answers but...

I've tried three versions of centipede (centipede, milipede and 5200 centipede) but none have a trak-ball mode altough it works quite good with the trak-ball in joystick mode.

Robert

 

There might be two different versions of centipede and millipede for the 8-bit (not counting the 5200 versions). At least I recall two different title screens. I might try to check this out if time permits.

[+rdemming]

My trak-ball has the same board. There is a small piece of styrofoam glued over the text for the wires so that the button levers can rest on it. Therefore I can't see if the wires on my board are in the right order. They are from left to right: yellow, orange, red, brown, grey, black and white. Also there is a blue wire soldered to the connection that comes out of the left button.

 

It seems you have another cable. The original cable had only 7 wires. It seems that you have an 8th wire for mouse button 2.

The original order is: yellow(4), orange(3), red(2), brown(1), violet(7), blue(6), grey(eight). The original cable had the Atari logo on the plug.

 

 

Between the two ICs on the left side there are five changes. Pin 13 of the upper IC is now connected to pin 10 of the upper IC and to pin 5 of the lower IC. Pin 5 of the upper IC is now connected to pin 11 of the lower IC. The trace that comes out of pin 5 of the upper IC has been cut. The same goes for the trace between pin 4 and 10 of the upper IC.

 

The pin numbes puzzled me until I discovered that you have taken the lower left corner as 1 instead the lower right (there is a little 1 written on the PCB near pin 1)

The upper left is a 4019 quad and/or selector. This IC takes care of selecting between the joystick signals and trackball mode signals.

When cutting the traces and rewiring you do the same as the modification I mentioned earier, but before the selector instead of after it. In this way the joystick mode still works after the modification.

But when I connect pin 13 & pin 10 (your numbering) together, I loose mouse compatibility (pointer moves only up, down and left).

 

 

There is a group of five solder spots in the top center of the board. the top left two of them are bridged.

 

Isn't there a trace cut? When you bridge to two top left, you get a short circuit when you press one of the buttons.

Originally, the component side contains two jumpers(the two button are directly connected and 3 resistors at the 5 solder points.

 

 

Now I'm wondering if this is something that was done in the shop were I bought my trak-ball, or if Atari changed the design after the boards had been produced.

 

It makes sense that Atari modified the board. As far as I know there are only two trak-ball mode games and Missile Command also works with a ST-mouse. So you won't loose compatibility with the games released by Atari.

Does your trak-ball still work with the game slime? (Homesoft disk 175, needs 800 mode, press T to select trak-ball mode)

It works with the original trak-ball mode but not with ST mouse compatible mode.

 

Robert

[Eckhard Stolberg]

The cable I have doesn't have the Atari logo on it. But my trak-ball is actually a refurbished unit, since it was much cheaper than the boxed ones that they had in the store. The unit that the sales person demonstrated me was straight out of the box though, and it worked nicely on their ST.

 

You are right about there not being a jumper between pin 13 and pin 10 (my incorrect numbering for continuity). The wire connecting pin 10 and pin 5 of the other IC is a little too long, and it was folded in such a way that it looked as if it was connected to pin 13 too. There isn't any jumper on pin 13 of the upper IC. Also note that the trace comming out of pin 5 of the upper IC (my numbering) is cut directly above the pin. The connection between pin 8 of the upper IC and pin 9 of the lower IC is still there.

 

You are also right about the cut trace at the button jumper. The trace between the top two solder points in this group of five has been removed. BTW, on the component side of my board there are four resistors and only one jumper coming from those five soldering points. The top-left solder point is connected with a resistor to the solder point with the blue wire too. It's hard to see without removing the board completely, but as far as I can tell the resistor is the same type as the other three.

 

Also on the component side there are two more jumpers. The four solder points below the two ICs on the left side are horizontally jumpered as well.

 

 

Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg

[Scott Stilphen]

I have both models so I decided to open them up and take some pics. The first is the CX-22 and other 2 are the CX-80. I didn't notice any jumpers on the 80 pcb (where would they be?). I have a CX-80 manual (Rev A - in 8 different languages), and there's no mention of it being ST mouse-compatible (which would confirm that my model isn't) - does anyone know if that's mentioned in a later revision (or perhaps right on the box)? It also mentions to put the 400/800 Missile Command into trak-ball mode, you have to hit CONTROL+T (not just "T")

 

[Eckhard Stolberg]

The most obvious jumperts would be in your second picture. There should be two wires beteen the pins of the two logic chips on the left side. Also one of the connections between the chips should be scratched open. Judging from the pictures, I'd say that your CX-80 is compatible with the CX-22 but not with the ST-mouse.

 

 

Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg