Two mice, one cursor for game table

[timbrown527]

Hello!

Just wondering about a project I'm working on.

I've purchased an old PIII mobo, cpu and ram for a game tabletop I'm building. It will run win98se because at least one of the games won't run on anything newer than that (Hasbro Othello to be precise, the one with Einstein and DaVinci).

The finished project will have multiple games, such as hoyle board games and will be a tabletop system with an Acer 17" flat panel under a sheet of glass on the table top.

The problem has to do with having two mice. I understand that this can be done by having one USB and the other a PS/2.

The only other issue I can think of would be inverting the control of one mouse so that it moves "upside down". In other words, when the person sitting at the "top" of the screen pushes the mouse forward, the pointer works in reverse of normal.

Has this been done? I did a search for this and didn't see any topics dealing with dual mice, two mice, etc.

Thanks,

Tim

 

[Kari]

the hardest part I think would be to get windows understand two mice at the same time, not even sure if it's doable at all...

 

[timbrown527]

The googling I've done shows that dual mice have been done in Windows. Not sure about 98se but it's been done on newer releases. The general method is to just make sure one is ps/2 and the other is usb. There is some software out there (that I don't need) that will even provide 2 cursors.

Perhaps I can simplify by just asking how one would set up a mouse to operate on a reverse y axis, so when you normally want it to go "up", it goes "down"?

 

[timbrown527]

...and of course, you'd want the x axis reversed as well.

 

[Jim_L9]

Something like this? http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=/iel5/7568/20620/00953558.pdf

 

[timbrown527]

Don't know. I'll have to give it a look. I've got to register to get emailed articles from that site, which I've done. DOn't see anyway to log in to get the actual PDF file. I'll keep trying and contact them if nothing else.

As it is, it looks like the xplore link you gave has some additional hardware dependencies. Not sure until I see the article.

Did some more looking and apparently there is a "d-mouse" driver for win 3.x and 95. According to the below site which produces the driver, 98 and up don't need anything special.

http://www.vamos.de/english/dmouse.html

So, as far as I can see, it's only an issue of setting one mouse to work "upside down and backwards".

Of course, the simpler (yet more expensive perhaps) solution is to get a used touchscreen on Ebay. Only downside there is you can't put the screen under glass to protect it from spills, etc. although I suppose you could put some thin semi adhesive film over it to protect it.

The dual mouse thing has been done though. Mainly, the division only between "do you want one cursor or two independent ones". I don't care if I have one or two but I want one to work upside down and backwards direction wise.

Thanks. If/when I get the PDF you pointed me to, I'll update. In the meantime, if there are any other solutions, I'm open to them.

Tim

 

[505090]

I always have two mice hooked up by usb one is wireless and there is a wired back up behind the screen for when I forget to charge the main one - there is only one courser though you can use both at the same time. My old set point drivers from logitech had an option to invert the mouse because i remember wondering why someone would want to do that. but i don't know if it would allow you to invert only one of them and not the other.

 

[timbrown527]

Thanks. And that may very well be the sticking point. Trying to invert and reverse only one while having one cursor.

I checked my current logitech drivers and see no option to invert directions at all.

Thanks. I'll see if I can find the old drivers you spoke of.

 

[mi1ez]

resolder the rollers the other way round on an older rollerball mouse.
there might be a way to split the PCBand put the buttons on the other end with a bit of wiring too, but it would be much more complicated...

 

[timbrown527]

Now THAT's a pretty stinkin' good idea!

Never thought of that!

 

[eric54]

Seems like the one that needs to be inverted should be the logitech mouse, and the normal mouse should be some vanilla mouse. Two mice isnt a problem, but there will only be one curser. There may be an option in the control panel for "mouse" to invert it. In vista it shows up as a theme but in non-convoluted windows it should be in a more logical place. Also, there may be a program that can do this for you as well.

 

[timbrown527]

resolder the rollers the other way round on an older rollerball mouse.
there might be a way to split the PCBand put the buttons on the other end with a bit of wiring too, but it would be much more complicated...

Nope. cant swap the roller. Wouldn't do any good because there is an optical chip in there that apparently sees a disk turning at the end of each roller. It's an IBM mouse. An older one. Turning the circuit board around in the mouse also looks like it'd be messy. Maybe worth a try though, I have a bunch of old mice here anyway.

 

[tpmeyer]

I tried that exact thing a while back. Plugging in two mice was no problem. I also inverted the mouse movements, but alas, they inverted for both mice instead of just one. Then I thought it would be clever to have a mouse click turn the inversion software on/off. For example, if it's player 1's turn, he diddles with the mouse all he wants (moving pieces, etc...), and then hits "right click" (or something like that) when his turn is over, which turns off (or on) the inversion, so each person will then have the mouse work correctly from his viewpoint when it is his turn, and backward when it is not. Then I lost steam.
Sorry for not being more helpful, but if you do (did) figure this out, please let me know so I can reap the benefits of your labor.