what kind of input hardware for an etch-a-sketch

Hi, I'm trying to build an RGB matrix driven etch-a-sketch of sorts. What can I use for the input knobs? Can I use motors or stepper motors or something? I need to be able to turn in either direction forever and to be able to detect how fast it's being moved. I'm using this with an Arduino Mega.

Maybe if I took apart some old mice or something?

Thanks for any help

Tony

your looking for a rotary encoder

ie http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/BI-Technologies/EN12-HN22AF18/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMsxrE3%2FjuL54Mi7bTiBKZgr

this type is great for knobs and spinners, ez to hook up and there's even a library

or if you want to take a tiny bit of load off the cpu you can use this, which was done up as a mod for a non reprogrammable pic pong kit (to add paddles)

(the ic is a 74HC74)

Thanks for the info!

It also just occurred to me that these could also be used for some kind of "pong" type of game. I'm pretty sure the original pong game had wheels that spin on the controllers.

I think I've seen some arduino / pong projects around

tony

yea, do a forum search for arduino pong

originally pong had potentiometers (variable resistors), which will not rotate past 360 degrees and beyond