Amiga USB Mouse Adapter

[Amigan123]

Hi all, I am thinking of making and supplying a USB mouse to Amiga DB9 mouse adapter.

The price if I make at least 20 of them should be approx £10 + postage!

Just wondered if there would be any demand for it, and what would be most popular.

A USB or PS/2 version ?

[Cymru]

A working version of both would be great as USB mice are quite popular and the devices being sold at twice your price point do not work. PS/2 mice are still available and a lot of people like them -- their interfaces are simpler as well.

[Arnie]

USB 4 me, as long as it can use true USB mice.

[Amigan123]

Thanks for the feedback, I am currently testing a prototype, I think it should work with most PC USB mice but will have to test a few brands of mice to make sure its all good.

I will post more details when I have done some testing.

[Bamiga2002]

Originally Posted by Amigan123

Just wondered if there would be any demand for it, and what would be most popular.

A USB or PS/2 version ?

USB! Demand? Gimme one now!

[Arnie]

OK, put me down for 2

EDIT: Just a thought, could you make one with a fly lead like the Amiga 1200 1D4 board?

[Nostromo]

I'm interested in a USB one. Will these come with a case?

[Amigan123]

Thanks for the replies, and comments

Firstly it will NOT work with ALL usb mice as there are two types of usb mice made for PC's some with PS2 support, these usually come supplied with a USB to PS2 adapter it will work with these as they support the PS/2 protocol.

eg
http://www.ebuyer.com/129828-logitec...FanItAodE30AGg

Other usb mice actually need a real USB controller and drivers to work, so will not work with my adapter.

Any PS2 Mouse will work, I may make a dual ps2/usb version but will have to work out the costs.

Most modern wireless USB's will probably not work as these require a real usb port.

My prototype is working on my Amiga

I tested a Genius PS/2 Ball Mouse made in the 90's and also a USB Microsoft Compact Optical Mouse and they work fine.

The adapter is made to a strict budget so there is no fancy case, this does means that it will fit the Amiga A600 Mouse
port that has no clearance on the left side to allow for a hooded connector.

I will be covered in heat shrink and look neat though, I promise it wont look like a flux capacitor is connected to your Amiga

[johnim]

hi does your adapter work with the scroll wheel

[cosmicfrog]

If I can afford one I`ll have one, got support staffordshire

also wot john said scrolly wheel is a must really, the only reason I brought a new mouse was cos of that lovely inervation

[Methanoid]

Hardware pr0n pix please

[Retroplay]

Originally Posted by Amigan123

I promise it wont look like a flux capacitor is connected to your Amiga

A time travelling Amiga.

[Amigan123]

At the moment this model is a budget adapter with support
for 2 button PS/2 compatible USB mice and no scroll wheel.

Basically will allow you to use a more modern PC mouse on an Amiga and will also work with the Amiga 600 port.

[Mrs Beanbag]

neat. count me in.

[cosmicfrog]

budget adapter \o/ heheh thats me, actual went though my mouse collection today and came across some pc serial mice, now I much rather see a scroll wheel implemented but was thinking it cant be that hard to use a pc serial mouse, know there are drivers to connect em to the serial port but thats no fun and next to useless

[Amigan123]

After trying out the prototype, I fear the trailing cable design will be a weak link and may cause issues during usage.

My new design will have the usb socket on the board and will all be encapsulated in epoxy to make it more robust.

Due to the Epoxy and larger circuit board the price might end up being approx £12 + postage, would this be acceptable?

I am currently waiting on some supplies to test out.

I decided to see if any modern mice still support the PS/2 protocol over usb, so purchased the cheapest mouse I could find in my local Home Bargains store a cheap chinese made optical usb mouse for £1.99

To my surprise it did work fine, so maybe some other cheap mice will work as it seem some do support PS/2!

I suspect most modern wireless mice wont and they use USB protocol with no PS/2 fallback.

Again its 2 button only and no scroll support, but hopefully will be useful for
people who need an easy replacement option for there Amiga, instead of trying to source an original, also the optical ones are a lot smoother than the old ball type.

The adpter also supports Amiga boot menu by "holding down both mouse buttons on reset"

[johnim]

that will be great mate

[hooverphonique]

Originally Posted by johnim

hi does your adapter work with the scroll wheel

scroll wheel won't work for adapters that connect to the amiga mouse port..

[Methanoid]

Originally Posted by Amigan123

After trying out the prototype, I fear the trailing cable design will be a weak link and may cause issues during usage.

My new design will have the usb socket on the board and will all be encapsulated in epoxy to make it more robust.

Due to the Epoxy and larger circuit board the price might end up being approx £12 + postage, would this be acceptable?

Price sounds fine. I suspect this will look a lot like the boards sold by the Polish guy and resold by the Irish eBayer, shown below

[robinsonb5]

Originally Posted by hooverphonique

scroll wheel won't work for adapters that connect to the amiga mouse port..

It can be done - it just requires some multiplexing trickery in the µC firmware and a driver on the Amiga.