iCode Forum - Recent Posts

Spinner Ultimate and Mister FPGA setup

pseudopod52 — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 21:06:17 +0000

Assigned keys per iCode video. Spinner works only with Arcade cores but not in Sega SMS or NES spinner games. Tried mouse, mouse+gamepad, no joy. Please help.

Joe

RE: Issue with Track Ball

Michael Winn — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 08:22:31 +0000

@ali Thank you for that information Ali, that's really all I wanted to know if the way it moves is expected then I am happy. I just wanted to make sure, In my ignorance I was expecting it to be very smooth like the spinner is, but if you say that is normal then all is good.

Yes games feel fine to play, only really tried Marble Madness and Missile Command on MAME (not built in one).

I thank you for your time and patience helping me with this.

All the best.

RE: Issue with Track Ball

Ali Jani — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 04:58:00 +0000

if its not stuttering, and the skipping is consistent without slow down and speed up across the screen, then best to wait. It will not be as smooth as the spinner so maybe that's not a fair comparison. The spinner uses a very high resolution 600 p/r encoder so it will look a lot smoother in comparison to the trackball. But the trackball should be fairly smooth, if you roll slow with acceleration off and resolution on very high. Unfortunately, trackballs generally use much lower res encoding so they will look a bit more jumpy like its skipping 3-10 pixels at a time if you are not rolling real slow.

How do the games feel as they should feel normal? Have you tried the built in missile command mini-game?

RE: Issue with Track Ball

Michael Winn — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 21:33:18 +0000

Thank you for that reply Ali, I will give what you said a try.

To answer your question, it feels like it is skipping all the time, it is never smooth.

RE: Issue with Track Ball

Ali Jani — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 16:02:24 +0000

When you say jerky movement, does it look like it skipping some positions abut it move consistently across the screen, or do you mean it feels like its moving smoothly for small portions of movement and then it feels like its stuck and then moves again? if its seems like its studdering at certain spin intervals, then its likely the sensor misalignment. I will try to create a video that describes the alignment procedure when i get some time (hopefully in the next 1-2 weeks), but what you can do for now is open up the unit and try some adjustments. To open the unit, take the 4 feet caps off the bottom and unscrew the 4 screws. Then squeeze hard the top half on both long sides of the unit, and lift up the top as you squeeze to separate it from the bottom half. Be careful as you separate as there is a cable connecting top half board to bottom half. The connector on the top half is sensitive so don't pull on that wire as it can mess up the connection. if you disconnect, only disconnect the bottom half connector but best to leave on as you will need to power up as you adjust. With the unit plugs in and working, you will see two black plastic circle discs that rotate between the sensors. one for vertical and one for horizontal. a clear Led and a black led sensor for each. try moving the clear led slightly closer or further as you move the ball to see how it effects your smoothness of movement. also the angle of the clear led might off to shine through the wholes of the discs effectively, so slight adjustment of the angle to the led may help.

I know this sound complicated but its not and when i get a chance to do the video it will make it look much easier. I hope this help in the meantime.

RE: Issue with Track Ball

Michael Winn — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 08:29:49 +0000

Would there be any chance of some help with this issue Ali?

RE: Issue with Track Ball

Michael Winn — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 15:22:31 +0000

@ali Yes you are right the first one I got I ended up selling, as I wanted the black one, I never got round to testing the first white one I bought, and yes it has firmware 3.0

RE: Issue with Track Ball

Ali Jani — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 15:08:27 +0000

Michael, I noticed you had purchased two trackballs. Is this happening on both? Also have you installed the 3.0 firmware?

RE: Issue with Track Ball

Michael Winn — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 14:17:39 +0000

@ali Thank you for the swift reply, I can confirm that it happens both up/down and left/right. I have acceleration off and sensitivity to v high as requested. A video on how to align would be appreciated, thank you.

RE: Issue with Track Ball

Ali Jani — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 13:59:19 +0000

Hi. Does it happen in both horizontal and vertical directions or is up and down different than left and right in any way? You might had a slightly misaligned sensor inside in one of the directions. If this is the issue, I can create a quick video on how to align.

Also turn off acceleration and put sensitivity on very high while testing.