this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2025
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The Secret History of the Arcade Trackball (arcadeblogger.com)
submitted 4 months ago by tal@lemmy.today to c/trackballs@discuss.tchncs.de
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[–] tal@lemmy.today 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The first trackball apparently used an actual bowling ball as its ball:

Like many of the world’s great inventions, the trackball as a concept was invented by a British engineer, Ralph Benjamin. Kept as a military secret for a few years, it was only fully implemented as a usable device by the Canadian navy some years later in its Digital Automated Tracking and Radar system (DATAR).

Nicknamed a “rollerball” back then, the trackball device actually used a standard Canadian five-pin bowling ball, mounted on several air rollers. A disk was mounted on each roller, which were hooked up with electrical contacts. As each disc spun in relation to the movement of the ball, “clicks” could be measured.

[–] cronenthal@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 4 months ago

Now that's the right size for fine input!