Arcade Trackballs (was: Re: C64 Fuse?)

[William Donzelli]

> Please enlighten me as to what type of trackball was used in the 1950s ? I
> am genuinely interested. Thank you.

Trackballs and joysticks were used in 1950s era radar indicators,
mostly for fire control. I think the first use of the trackball was in
a Canadian aircraft radar set, used to designate targets with a
cursor. The X and Y positions were transmitted to the radar as a set
of synchro signals that were fed to come sort of fire control
computer.

The earliest use that I know of for an X Y positioner for data input,
in this case a joystick, is the AN/MPG-1 artillery radar of 1945.

--
Will