[Coco] Wico Trackball?

[Joel Ewy]

Torsten Dittel wrote:
> Torsten Dittel schrieb:
>
>> This one has 6 bit DACs so it's not suitable for the CoCoMax Pak (8
>> bit ADCs). And it doesn't work with the HiRes-Interfaces, might even
>> damage something.
>
> Have to correct myself: the DACs are 8 bit. So it might work with the
> MaxPak (CoCo1/2). But still not suitable for the HiRes. For those
> interested a picture from the related patent file:
> http://trs-80.cc/WICO.png
> V1,V2,H1,H2 is the digital 2-phase input for both x-y-directions from
> the photo sensors.
>
> Regards,
> Torsten
>
Ok, so it has a microcontroller reading the opto-interrupter inputs and
putting out an analog voltage  for the CoCo's (6-bit) ADC to read.  I
sincerely hope that's not what was patented.  So much for
"non-obvious".  In any case, any patent on the Wico Trackball should be
about expired by now, along with the original Amiga chipset and LZW
compression.

But I can see your point.  The original CoCoMax 8-bit ADC might work,
though there might be some quantization weirdness between the two, but
The CoCoMax 3 ADC, and other stuff based on the Tandy Hi-Res interface
wouldn't fare so well.

JCE
>
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