I do have an issue with the trackball. It does not work well when moving vertically. It stutters and is unprecise vertically, but horizontally works smooth and precise.
When used with the Fn key for scrolling mode, it seems to be precise though.
I already replaced the trackball itself, but no change.
Does anybody have the same issue? Could it be a firmware issue since scrolling was added? Does someone have the original fw so I could test it?
I got my uConsole recently and I had this issue! I believe I am being sent a replacement trackball but something I noticed was that when I flashed a different OS onto a different SD card (specifically this one: Bookworm 6.6.y for the uConsole and DevTerm - #305 by Rex) , the trackball seemed to work better vertically.
It might have all been in my head but now that I am back on the stock OS it seems like the issues are back.
Weirdly I have noticed this issue in different directions at different times. Sometimes it’s all y axis movement. Sometimes it just doesn’t move up but it moves down fine. Sometimes it moves down but won’t move up (I may have flipped the ball around as part of troubleshooting). I have even had it refuse to move left, but not right.
What’s the common factor? I don’t know! I guess the way it works is with hall effect sensors, so it’s like a wireless voodoo trackball. Seems like there could be potential for physical interference, or maybe there is a firmware problem! I have NOT upgraded my keyboard firmware to the latest version yet.
That’s interesting, does your firmware support the Fn button scrolling with the trackball?
I will also try a different OS when I find the time, but at least the mouse settings I tried so far didn’t change anything. I currently use the Bookworm OS, but I’l trythe original image.
There aren’t really many options, either the hall sensors don’t work properly or it’s a software issue. Software either being the keyboard firmware or the OS. The trackball is new and the behaviour is exactly the same as before.
My trackball at first seemed to barely register any vertical movement up, but down worked fine. Then later it worked perfectly. Then even later the horizontal axis got messed up. Lately it’s been fine so I figured it just needed some use or something.
EDIT: Full disclosure, I’ve only had my uConsole 3 days
For keyboard firmware I’m currently running whatever comes out of the box. Haven’t changed it at all yet.
I haven’t seen many topics about this historically so if there’s more of it recently it would be possible that there’s some kind of batch-specific issue. If it were firmware related I would expect to see a lot more noise about it in the past. Not really enough info.
You can find these kinds of trackballs online for like 99 cents https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804786291080.html?gatewayAdapt=deu2usa4itemAdapt
so if the one I get from clockwork has the same issue I might try a third party one. But yeah like gfd said it seems to be a little random. I wonder if it could be picking up some kind of external interference? Do you have a 4g module? I do but I haven’t used it yet.
Not sure which firmware they put on the newer consoles, but if it has Fn-button scrolling they have upgraded it. The older consoles came without that feature. Unfortunately I did not find a download for the older firmware to test it, but maybe I have to look harder.
I also tested an aliexpress trackball, no difference.
I have also experienced this issue on my recently delivered uConsole. I have replacement trackballs arriving today, we’ll see if it makes a difference. Intermittently it will work alright, but overall the trackball is weak.
I just installed a replacement trackball component, and this seems to have resolved the issue I was experiencing. The actual ball on this one has a slightly different texture, but other than that it looks almost identical.
This is what I purchased:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802802650565.html?gatewayAdapt=fra2usa4itemAdapt
I shared this on Discord, but I was having an issue physically moving the trackball right after it was working correctly for months. It would spin freely left, up and down, but it felt physically stiff moving right.
TLDR: I gave the trackball mechanism an isopropyl alcohol bath, gave it a spin, dunked it back into the isopropyl, and repeated until it spun freely. After the bath it worked perfectly.
This is a tiny input device with four tiny rollers, so sweat and dust can gum one of the rollers up. Please don’t dwell on how sweaty and dusty I am.
You did this to the ball itself, or the entire component?
Plonked the whole thing into a water bottle cap filled with IPA.