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PS2 To Serial Mouse Adapter

Z

zombienerd

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Did every PS2 mouse work when plugged into one of these adapters? I don't have any serial mice, but have several nice optical PS2 mice. I'd like to add mouse support to my Tandy 1200 XT Clone.
 
No. The original IBM PS/2 mice will not work with the converter. Most MS and Logitech mice from about 1990 to 1995 will. Later USB-PS/2 mice generally will not support the serial port. Cheap mice only support a single interface.
 
It has to be a multi-mode mouse - Logitech and Microsoft as Krebizfan said made some that work with those. I know of a few exact examples that work with them though....

Microsoft Dove Bar Mice (1988-1992) work with them, actually I had one in the original box a long time ago that came with adapters that changed the serial end to PS/2. I Vaguely recall there being a PS/2 version of these that worked with the opposite type of adapter.
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Microsoft Intellimouse Trackballs work with them and even came with the adapter you speakof. I have one of those without the adapter for it unfortunatley. Would love to use it with my 486 as It has a scroll wheel.
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The Microsoft Intellimouse Pro worked that way as well, that's actually the first mouse I ever got working over one of those PS2/Serial adapters with my 486s
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Were there any options in the Optical Mouse world for a serial port? I hate ball mice with a passion :p I was hoping to toss one of my old PS/2 Opticals on to my XT without buying a PS/2 card.
 
zombienerd said:
Were there any options in the Optical Mouse world for a serial port? I hate ball mice with a passion :p I was hoping to toss one of my old PS/2 Opticals on to my XT without buying a PS/2 card.
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Well, there were the Mouse Systems optical mice - the ones that preceded the Microsoft Mouse and required the special metal mouse pads.

Oddly, I have had good luck with ball mice an nothing but bad luck with "modern" optical mice. Then again, I usually only get the cheap stuff, perhaps the more expensive stuff works better and I'll never know.
 
Some of the special reflective pad mice work with the serial port. You may be able to find a Mouse Systems one with a serial port and a PS/2 adapter. The MS and Logitech optical mice seem to require more power than a standard RS-232 port will supply. There might have been a wired optical serial port mouse with a battery compartment but I can't quickly find a reference to one.

Your best bet is one of the good ball mice. MS's Dove Bar design works amazingly well for a ball mouse; mine needed cleaning about every three years .
 
I just realized my OmniPort KVM has both PS/2 and Serial for mice.. I wonder if it converts the signal, I'll have to check the manual. I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier.
 
That's a no-go on the conversion. Manual states that all machines must use PS/2 or Serial, no mix/matching or conversion.

The problem is I don't think anyone made a PS/2 addon card for an 8 bit slot. Have any of you ever seen one?
 
I could use a few more... But at least its an easy enough adapter to create. I guess people want to use modern mice I dunno, I dont get it. Why would you want an optical mouse on a 486 or slower... I'll admit I have an optical mouse on my XT, but its a mouse systems 3 button, with that fancy mirror mouse pad! ^_^
 
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