Spaceball 5000, Solidworks 2012 & Windows 7 x64

[timmiboi]

Hey guys

Just changed jobs and having a problem I haven't come across before:

I have an old spaceball 5000 (serial connection) which I'm trying to get working on my new work PC. Having searched through previous posts on this, I installed the 3DxSoftware64_v2-8-2 (for CADMan), which worked to a point. The thing works with both AutoCAD and Inventor 2012 now, and when I open Solidworks, the 3D control toolbar comes up, the spaceball is listed in the add-ins etc, but within Solidworks it does absolutely nothing, the ball or the buttons.

Using 7-zip I have also installed the Solidworks driver from the latest Win7 x64 software (3DxSoftware64_v3-15-5_r1270 I think), being more up to date than the one in 2-8-2 (which I removed).

I know these things (especially the serial ones) aren't supported any more, and we will be getting new ones at some stage, but I really like using this model, so if any of you guys have suggestions as to other versions I could try, or versions I should get the Solidworks driver from, I'd be most grateful!

Maybe 3DC could re-issue an updated Spaceball 5000 as a vintage model?

Thanks, Tim

[ngomes]

Hi timmiboi,

Maybe 3DC could re-issue an updated Spaceball 5000 as a vintage model?

Certainly one of our most successful device types but it really is past its time.

As you mentioned, we've long stopped supporting the SB5K. This means our most recent software (including the SolidWorks add-in and driver) isn't tested with it any longer (and hasn't been for years). We basically don't know how old, unsupported devices operate in newer applications especially if you mix newer and older installations package.