Flawless Mouse solution for Amiga

[Photon]

There are a lot of mice out there, and a modern solution will make your Amiga user experience closer to that of recent OSes.

I've done my best to test performant mice with adapters available for the Amiga.

Here are the test results with conclusions, and this video shows the mice and 4 adapters.

Have you found the perfect mouse+adapter combo for drawing/gaming/clicking?

[lesta_smsc]

I use a basic usb to DB9 adaptor. It actually supports the PS/2 protocol via the USB interface. It works well for a wireless mouse dongle I like to use!

What I have preferred is to use a mouse that has qaudrature capabilities on chipset and has LED rather than a ball. I can wire it up directly without any need for converters.

[Octopus66]

I am a big fan of the MouSTer.

https://retrohax.net/shop/modulesandparts/mouster/

[aeberbach]

Lotharek Tikus

[khph_re]

That's a really handy document, thanks Photon!

[Retro-Nerd]

Mouster and a modern PC mouse. Never looked back.

[Photon]

Originally Posted by lesta_smsc

I use a basic usb to DB9 adaptor. It actually supports the PS/2 protocol via the USB interface. It works well for a wireless mouse dongle I like to use!

What I have preferred is to use a mouse that has qaudrature capabilities on chipset and has LED rather than a ball. I can wire it up directly without any need for converters.

Yes, hmm well yes I guess we don't roll a ball to move a pointer anymore?

PS/2... hm that is 1987 (ball) and PS/2 optical also limits you to 90s tech. Some today provide this tech rebranded for Amiga, but you will get a $5 experience. (At least until it's tested.)

USB->PS2 will also incur the PS/2 limits, but will at least give access to a few 2003-ish improved mouse shapes with flawless sensors!

Originally Posted by Octopus66

I am a big fan of the MouSTer.

https://retrohax.net/shop/modulesandparts/mouster/

Interesting! I wasn't aware of this and it should be tested. This has taken a lot of time and IDK if I should buy more tho!

Micromys V5 will be tested tomorrow and the spreadsheet will be updated - understanding that it can only accept old mice.

Originally Posted by aeberbach

Lotharek Tikus

Winner so far, but I've aimed to inform as much as I can with the results to maybe create some enthusiasm and exploration.

My goal with this is 'remake in modern components' like A1k, ReAmiga etc but peripherals. To be able to just buy the best mouse you fancy off the shelf, and know it works as flawlessly with the Amiga as for the PC.

That's why there's so many details. (I know that the simplest mouse, even the Tank Mouse, will suffice if you just want to click in WB.)

But with the right adapter and mouse, well that's one simple thing to make your Amiga more enjoyable every time you use it.

[malko]

Originally Posted by Photon

[...] But with the right adapter and mouse, well that's one simple thing to make your Amiga more enjoyable every time you use it.

Thanks for the good job and valuable information

[lesta_smsc]

Originally Posted by Photon

Yes, hmm well yes I guess we don't roll a ball to move a pointer anymore?

PS/2... hm that is 1987 (ball) and PS/2 optical also limits you to 90s tech. Some today provide this tech rebranded for Amiga, but you will get a $5 experience. (At least until it's tested.)

USB->PS2 will also incur the PS/2 limits, but will at least give access to a few 2003-ish improved mouse shapes with flawless sensors!

True, but in reality, what more do you need from a mouse on the Amiga? The Amiga itself is limited lol!

All these additional quirks with adaptors allowing newer mouses to be used, at the price of doing so, do not appear to be worth it, in my opinion. I'd rather spend that money on an accelerator or something practical for the Amiga than say using a new mouse.

Even the new Tank mouse - feels too light! It needs to be weighted down a bit. But again, I use a very practical mouse that is optical and wireless, and at a fraction of the cost. It allowed me spare change to invest in Pistorm!

[jbilander]

Originally Posted by Photon

Interesting! I wasn't aware of this and it should be tested. This has taken a lot of time and IDK if I should buy more tho!

Thanks for all the testing Photon. I'm using a Rys MK II adapter for the USB-mouse to my A1200. I can send the Rys-adapter to you if you want to do some testing with it provided you return it to me afterwards.

This reminds me I should probably update the firmware on it to the latest. I don't think I have the latest on it.

[dreadnought]

Originally Posted by lesta_smsc

All these additional quirks with adaptors allowing newer mouses to be used, at the price of doing so, do not appear to be worth it, in my opinion. I'd rather spend that money on an accelerator or something practical for the Amiga than say using a new mouse.

Problem is, the original tank mouse is rather expensive. If you don't want to pay premium for something which might well fail soon, the adapter is the only option.
I'm using Tom myself, it fits some other machines as well and allows use of keyboards and gamepads.

[lesta_smsc]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

Problem is, the original tank mouse is rather expensive. If you don't want to pay premium for something which might well fail soon, the adapter is the only option.
I'm using Tom myself, it fits some other machines as well and allows use of keyboards and gamepads.

This is definitely worth it for the price due to flexibility.

I'm just against those products that cost an excess of money.

However, I may have looked in the wrong places! Even the mouSTer is reasonably priced!

@Photon my apologies, I may have jumped the gun lol.

[Photon]

Originally Posted by Octopus66

I am a big fan of the MouSTer.

It looks good, and is open source which is great! - HID2AMI (also on GitHub) misses the top mark because 3 of 14 mice didn't work and will require waiting for firmware updates - the open solutions seem to come with this caveat.

Originally Posted by jbilander

Thanks for all the testing Photon. I'm using a Rys MK II adapter for the USB-mouse to my A1200. I can send the Rys-adapter to you if you want to do some testing with it provided you return it to me afterwards.

This reminds me I should probably update the firmware on it to the latest. I don't think I have the latest on it.

You're welcome, very kind

The Micromys V5 just arrived - I think I want to finish the spreadsheet completely today and give it a rest. It's eaten up 5 evenings and some of the daytime of my vacation, just so I could get to some established starting point.

I will test the V5 instead of the V4 and put the results, and make a note that testing ended today. Then it could be cloned into a community document, where the link could be given to editors to add converters and mice.

And yes, now that you can get last year's flagship gaming mouse new for ~50 EUR/USD, it doesn't have to be super expensive.

[Daedalus]

It might be worth adding a column to indicate whether an adaptor supports the scroll wheel. I know for a long time the HID-types didn't, so the only options were Cocolino or Micromys, but I believe that has changed more recently with various firmware updates. For me, not supporting the scroll wheel is a dealbreaker in any mouse adaptor.

[lesta_smsc]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

It might be worth adding a column to indicate whether an adaptor supports the scroll wheel. I know for a long time the HID-types didn't, so the only options were Cocolino or Micromys, but I believe that has changed more recently with various firmware updates. For me, not supporting the scroll wheel is a dealbreaker in any mouse adaptor.

I thought the scrolling was driver depending? Freewheel if I'm not mistaken. I know the USB-DB9 adapter I use supported it but only in certain Workbench set ups.

[Photon]

Yes, I've added a note that all 4 adapters tested should support scroll wheel from KS2.0+ And notes about the A600 mouse port. And notes about mouse/joystick switchers.

Micromys V5 skips slightly less than V4 from scaling input if a speed threshold is reached but still not suitable e.g. for quick swipes in Breakout clones etc.

I'm now done, I have no changes and anyone can steal the document and add their mice and adapters!

It's hopelessly filled to the brim with information because manufacturers, testers, power users and normal users should feel equipped to understand what they see, save some time, and how to test for the flaws, so other solutions can be tested the same way.

[aeberbach]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

supports the scroll wheel. I know for a long time the HID-types didn't, so the only options were Cocolino or Micromys

I have not installed it yet but the Tikus scroll wheel is supported with drivers by Szymon Bieganski.

[Mr-Z]

Used a Topolino PS2 mouse adapter for many years that has scroll wheel support, worked great with every PS2 compatible mouse.

Recently switched to HID2Ami adapter and works perfect until now, did not try too many different mouse models.

-Old Logitech PS2 compatible USB wireless mouse works perfect including scroll wheel.
-Run of the mill wired Lenovo HID USB mouse also works perfect including scroll wheel.

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by lesta_smsc

I thought the scrolling was driver depending? Freewheel if I'm not mistaken. I know the USB-DB9 adapter I use supported it but only in certain Workbench set ups.

There are a couple of aspects to it, and all need to be in place for it to work. You need the hardware to provide the signals to the port, which is only a relatively recent addition to HID adaptors (PS/2 adaptors have supported it for decades). Then you need the driver to convert the signals at the port to input events. That's necessarily hardware-specific, and each adaptor will have its own driver to interpret its own protocol. Finally you need system support to interpret the input events and control the display as you expect. OS 3.2 has this part built in, but older systems need Freewheel or application-specific support for it.

[levo-ace]

If all you want is an optical mouse , then why not try my PS/2 to amiga adapter .

https://levosretrocomputerprojects.co.uk/ananomouse

It is a self build project and all through hole . ANanoMouse .