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Life & fun · February 17, 2023

IB

I built a custom USB Trackball

3D printed mouse replacement with Raspberry Pi Pico and PMW3360

I built a custom USB Trackball launched on February 17, 2023 with 126 votes, #313 of 3,829 launches that month and more than 95% of that year's launches. The site was still online in September 2026, 3 years on.

Visit xythobuz.de ↗Alternativestop 8% of February 2023

In plain words

This is a custom USB trackball built by an individual maker. It connects to computers via USB for pointing device control. The project showcases a hands-on approach to input device design, appealing to enthusiasts interested in custom hardware, ergonomic tools, or DIY electronics projects. The creator shares technical details and design choices on their website for those curious about the build process and specifications.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

For some years I have been using Trackballs from Logitech, first the M570 and then the MX Ergo . But of course we could also build our own! So because Philipp and I were already looking into building a keyboard with a trackball included, I decided to first get my feet wet by building a stand-alone version. It's made with a PMW3360 optical mouse sensor and a Raspberry Pi Pico. The case is 3D printed and was designed in OpenSCAD. As usual the project is released as free and open-source software / hardware. You can find everything you need to build it yourself in the git repository ! Before embarking on this project some decisions and orders had to be made. To control everything I decided to…from xythobuz.de

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