I have a bag of 5 shiny new trackballs from AliExpress and am going to try them because the one that came with the uConsole doesn’t perform well at all.
Looking at the pic, I can’t help wondering if there’s an orientation for these and if I have fitted mine the wrong way, hence the rubbish performance.
So, is there a correct direction for the little tab in the middle to point? Is there anything I can do with these to improve the way they move the on-screen pointer?
That silver leg in the middle points down towards the keyboard.
Thanks Rex!!! What’s the betting I set it pointing up when I assembled the uConsole?? 
Up will work also, I just always say down. You just don’t want it left or right, then things won’t work right.
I just rotated it down and it’s still rubbish 
I’ll try the AliEx ones to see if they are any better. WD40 might be in order for the rollers too.
I’ve had bad luck myself with various trackballs but the ones I’ve ordered off AliExpress have always been good.
I can see why it won’t work right if you set it left but if you set it right, it’s not right, right? 
And to think, I was already confused!
There’s two half millimeter posts on the left and right that notch into a hole on each side of the keyboard.
Progress. I removed the trackball, dunked it in 99.9% IPA (not Indian Pale Ale, which would be a waste of good beer!), swished (the scientific method) it around for a minute, dried it, sprayed the whole thing with WD40, removed the excess and re-fitted it. It’s a LOT better now and actually useable as a trackball. Yay.
does trackball-click still works after it?
ps1 – if you update to the latest keyboard firmware you can scroll by fn + trackball
ps2 – if you switch to qmk firmware then by select + trackball
The trackball works as middle mouse click without any issues at all. It wasn’t brilliant before, but seems to be 100% responsive now. Movement is still a bit janky compared to a mouse. I’m going to try all 5 of the AliEx trackballs I bought to see if any are better than the others.
I still haven’t gotten around to doing the keyboard update and probably should. fn + trackball would be really good to have.
they say on QMK works better
I think it’s straight lottery. The stock one I got was fine, but I didn’t have a point of reference so I ordered the ali express one you posted a little while ago and it was markedly worse.
I have just finished cleaning and spraying the AliEx ones with WD40 and will try them all later. I’m not hopeful 
I’ll give QMK a try too as suggested by white-round-square.
do you lube your keyboard switches?
No, should I be doing? I don’t use the keyboard much at the moment as I’m tinkering at home, so tend to use an external keyboard and mouse. The keyboard isn’t bad.
I mean on your regular full size keyboard
Oh, with you. Nope, I don’t. I have only recently switched to a mechanical keyboard for the first time and didn’t know lubing the keys was even a thing.
yeah it’s better but essentially all it does is smoothing, which may not be for everyone. but since the vanilla tracking is terrible, the custom firmware is the way to go.
about aliexpress stuff, i think i bought like 25 and only 1 worked decently. that’s still ebtter than 0 tho 
