FireSBurnsmuP 0 Posting Whiz in Training

Well here's the scoop, (I don't really know if this post fits in any of the forums here, specifically) I have a touchpad that's giving me hell. In my Compaq Presario R3000 laptop, there's an ALPS touchpad builtin, and I want to put something else there. I might just replace the touchpad, but I want to explore the possibility of replacing it with a modified optical track-ball mouse (like the logitech optical marble mouse). I realize that it would be rather troublesome to convert the track-ball's USB connection to an internal connection, but I have a feeling that there are people here cunning enough to figure this out.

Any comments and suggestions would be appreciated!