PS/2 mouse adapter - Cocolino or Micromys V3?

[kmob]

I'm wanting to use a decent mouse with my Amigas - basically I've had enough of the standard Amiga mice . Most of the time I use an A4000 but I have some others as well.

It would seem that the most portable and compatible (games etc) solution would be an external DB9->PS/2 adapter.

Amigakit has two of these at the same prices: the Cocolino and the Micromys V3.

The Micromys seems to offer a bit more, but is there any reason to choose the Cocolino over the Micromys?

Cheers.

[kipper2k]

Originally Posted by kmob

I'm wanting to use a decent mouse with my Amigas - basically I've had enough of the standard Amiga mice . Most of the time I use an A4000 but I have some others as well.

It would seem that the most portable and compatible (games etc) solution would be an external DB9->PS/2 adapter.

Amigakit has two of these at the same prices: the Cocolino and the Micromys V3.

The Micromys seems to offer a bit more, but is there any reason to choose the Cocolino over the Micromys?

Cheers.

I use the Cocolino and it works great with my ps2 optical mouse. only bad thing (and i'm not sure if this applies to the Micromys, i think that is also too big) is the fact you cant plug it in to an A600 due to the adapter casing being too big so i had to make a small adapter cable for it. Otherwise it works great for the point & click games like Capone, city defence (Missile Command) etc

[Photon]

I've two Cocolinos, and I'm happy with them. But I had the same thing with the casing on the DB9 connector (on the Cocolino). The plastic sort of "grips" the plate around the DB9 on it, and so depending on your Amiga connector you can't quite push it firmly into place. I just filed the protruding bits flush and all was well

I'm using a Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0, since it's quite good and I had a spare one. If you use a laser mouse or one with built-in mouse acceleration (some Logitech mice), expect a cursor that is WAY too fast, even at the lowest setting in Input prefs. "DPI has evolved".

Even though Micromys looks bulkier, you should need no filing to plug it in - it looks flush. Also, it has a short cable which should actually make it protrude LESS from the port! Should be a just as good alternative.

[fryguy]

I just bought a Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer (not sure which version) and of course it won't work with my Cocolino :/

[Photon]

fryguy: Weird. maybe it's "too new", hehe. You tested other PS/2 mice work in Cocolino, I guess? If so, test the Intellimouse (with PS/2) in a PC. If yes for both tests, the Cocolino is incompatible. (And btw you don't need the Cocolino floppy disk, at least if you don't need extra button/scrollwheel support, works fine in all programs without it here. )

[kmob]

Thanks guys - so it seems no one has the Micromys?

I'm going to go for one and see how it is. I'll post back once it arrives

Cheers.

[lugosi]

Actually, I bought a Micromys just a few weeks ago.
I'm using it with an old Microsoft "Intellimouse with Intellieye", and so far it seems to work very decent on my A2000.

Now...why did I choose it over the Cocolino?
Well, to use a USB-mouse you'd need to use a USB-PS/2 adapter, and the way the Cocolino is designed it would mean having the Cocolino protruding straight from my Miggy, then the adapter protruding straight from the Cocolino, and finally the actual mouse-connector protruding straight from that.
The Micromys on the other hand has a nice little cable, so it can be placed sideways, which IMHO is better suited for an A2000.

I don't own an A600, but supposedly the Micromys connector was custom-made to plug into 600s without any problems, so that would be another advantage.

Finally, if you don't exclusively use Amigas but maybe also an old C-64/128 or an Atari, you can use the Micromys with those too (according to Vesalia also with Schneider, Amstrad, and MSX computers).

[kmob]

lugosi thanks for that. The cable was one of the deciding points for me too. I don't have a lot of room on the side of my A4k so the flexibility of the cable seems ideal. Cheers.

[kmob]

Quick update (of my own thread! ) I got the Micromys from AmigaKit yesterday (fast delivery as always).

It's a surprisingly solid bit of kit, the surround of the PS/2 connector is quite boxy, but the decision to have the DB9 connector attached via the short length of cable redeems it. With the flexibility provided by the cable positioning the adapter even with a PS/2 to USB dongle attached is no problem, it sits nicely at right angles to the connector on my A4k without any trouble.

The adapter's DIP switches came pre-set for the Amiga (I'm unsure if that's Amigakit's doing or if comes from Individual that way - but either way it's handy!), and in a nice touch the dip switch settings are printed and affixed to the top of the adapter too.

On my A4k I'm using an old Microsoft optical mouse (2 button, scroll wheel) via a PS/2->USB adapter and it just works.

Using a decent mouse with the Amiga really makes a large difference. I guess over the years we've grown accustomed to using optical mice (or high DPI ball mice) on PCs etc and the old tank/pregnant/whatever Amiga mice just feel clunky and inaccurate in comparison (in my opinion of course!). Basically using a modern mouse with an Amiga is a revelation - I'd recommend it to anyone regardless of the method you choose to get there .

So in summary, the Micromys V3 adapter supplied by Amigakit, seems a great bit of kit, it does what it says on the tin and was trivial to set up and use. However a couple of things could have been improved.

The presentation of the Micromys adapter itself wasn't great, it arrived bare bubble wrapped in a jiffy envelope. It had nothing else with it (no disk, no sheet of paper with instructions, not even a URL for the online manual) - basically it arrived as if it was a second hand bit of kit from eBay rather than the new bit of kit it is.

Now obviously with the aforementioned DIP switch settings stuck on the case, the lack of instructions or a Newmouse driver (though to be fair it's optional anyway) this isn't exactly a serious problem - but for an adapter that's close to £30 it is a bit poor.

For future reference, the online manual can be found here and has links to the Micromys Newmouse driver and Aminet's Freewheel.

[prowler]

Thanks, guys, for all the useful information on this thread!