[rescue] Spaceballs.

[Joshua D Boyd]

On Fri, Dec 07, 2001 at 03:37:35PM -0500, Corda Albert J DLVA wrote:
> I don't know about the newer spaceballs, but I've played
> a little bit with the (oldest?) SGI spaceball... The large
> one with the tan contoured base that curves around the ball...

When you say old (oldest?) SGI Spaceball, did it look like the one in this
auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1306762691
except with an SGI instead of an HP logo?  The one in the picture is the one
I want (well, or the same model.  I don't care if it is that one or another
identical one, or even an SGI 2003, IBM, Spacetec, etc.  If it looks like that
and says 2003, I think they are all the same except for the logo).
 
> It has a serial interface, and while I was tinkering with it,
> I set up 2 cu sessions to( and from) the serial port it was connected
> to, so I could watch/capture the output... I was quite suprised
> when, on a lark, I sent the ball an ascii "h", and it
> immediately responded with a "readable" ascii help menu,
> displaying all the commands it accepts... the menu was short
> and cryptic, but it was readable! I don't know if the
> newer balls will do this, but it might be worth trying, and
> would considerably ease the task of trying to reverse-engineer
> the spaceball protocol... I imagine the protocol must not
> have changed that much across models, in order to insure
> driver compatibility...

I get the impression that the 4000FLX is quite different, but I can always 
hope.  The only ones look cooler anyway.

-- 
Joshua D. Boyd