CX80 Trackball for 7800?

[Gaddzilla]

Will a CX80 Trakball work on an Atari 7800?

[Trebor]

9 hours ago, Gaddzilla said:

Will a CX80 Trakball work on an Atari 7800?

Yes.  The button wiring can even be modified for 2 independent button firing, such as the one offered by V61, if desired; otherwise, button firing will behave like most other 2600 compatible controllers connected to the system.

 

You may be interested in these threads:

https://forums.atariage.com/topic/210507-atari-7800-trak-ball

https://forums.atariage.com/topic/239376-7800-centipede-arcade

https://forums.atariage.com/topic/141985-trackball-recommendation-for-7800

 

Centipede Trak-ball mode edition is available in the AtariAge store.

 

Bare in mind, not all CX-80 internals provide true trackball mode, some will always behave as joystick input with a trackball attached. 

 

Most CX-22 Trak-balls provide a true trackball mode; however, some early models were joystick input only. 

 

For the CX-22 though, it is easier to distinguish which offer true trackball mode, as those models contain an external switch which always distinguishes and functions between true trackball mode and joystick mode.  The CX-80, although a similar external switch may be present, internals may have been modified preventing true trackball mode, which requires testing or checking the actual internal board to distinguish if true trackball mode functionality works.

 

For the tech savy, schematics are available.

[+karri]

I am a bit of a trackball fan and have been playing with the idea to make a small usb converter that would allow me to use standard trackballs as a joystick/mouse/trackball on the 7800. For a game like Wizzy it would work better than joysticks. But that idea is on hold now as I got the SN cart.

[+Pat Brady]

13 minutes ago, Trebor said:

Bare in mind, not all CX80 internals are 'true' Trackball inputs, some behave more like a joystick input with a Trackball attached.  All CX-22 Trak-balls are true Trackball inputs.

 

My understanding/recollection is:

1. CX-22s without switches behave like joysticks
2. CX-22s with joystick/trackball switches, and most CX-80s, work according to the switch
3. A few CX-80s were modified to behave like ST mice

[Trebor]

4 hours ago, Pat Brady said:

My understanding/recollection is:

1. CX-22s without switches behave like joysticks
2. CX-22s with joystick/trackball switches, and most CX-80s, work according to the switch
3. A few CX-80s were modified to behave like ST mice

After what was mentioned in the aforementioned linked thread, it was broken down this way to distinguish input behavior (dropping model reference completely):

1. Atari Trak-Ball
2. Atari Mouse
3. Amiga Mouse

[Gaddzilla]

Has anyone had experience with CX-80 malfunction on a 7800? I bought a NOS unit in the box with everything. As soon as I start Centipede the cursor (firing) moves on its own to the extreme right of the screen and will not move left no matter what I do.

 

it will still move vertically. I reset the game and same result…almost immediately moves to the extreme right on its own and non-responsive.