Micromys 4 - Bad experience

[Solderbro]

Back on old ball mouses now, few years back i bought a micromys 4 adapter to use PS2 mouses from the PC. But the piece give so many problems, at least it grilled my Paula.
Primary problem of that adapter is the too short Sub D9 plug at it's end. Through the Amiga cover it won't fit deep enough and have contact problems or better known as hotplugging...
Tested also to screw plugs into the Amiga port and making holes to fix the micromys plug as deep as possible. But that does not reach contact at all.

Two ideas left:
- Cut the Amiga cover out, so the plug can plug deeper, maybe 2 - 3 millimeters.
- Change the micromys plug against a joystick extender, what have a more suitable plug to contact better.

[8bitbubsy]

You're not supposed to hotplug joysticks/mice on Amigas to begin with, as this increases the chance of frying components (yes, Paula actually handles some of the mouse/joystick related stuff, which is probably why it got fried).

Do what I did (on a v3 unit though): Cut off some of the plastic on the left side of the Micromys plug, this way it will fit nicely on an A600 too.
EDIT: I assume that you're talking about an A600.

[DanyPPC]

I own a Mycromis from iComp, it fits correctly on the rear DB9 ports of my A1200 desktop.
The adapter has to be wired when the Amiga is not powered on.

I tested it even on my C64C to emulate Commodore mouse so i can play Arkanoid with it.

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by 8bitbubsy

You're not supposed to hotplug joysticks/mice on Amigas to begin with, as this increases the chance of frying components (yes, Paula actually handles some of the mouse/joystick related stuff, which is probably why it got fried).

It's not really as dangerous as many seem to think, and hot-plugging is unlikely to have been the problem - at least, not with this type of device. If ESD killed Paula, it will likely have killed it even if the power was turned off. I don't know the precise details of the internal operation of these adaptors, but if there was some other weakness in Paula that was triggered by driving logic levels instead of using an open collector output, then that sounds like a bad design of the device. Still, that same damage would likely occur without hot-plugging, and is the kind of stress that is also caused by using Megadrive pads on the Amiga.

The main risks from hot-plugging are from peripherals with their own power supply or grounding presenting a high potential to the machine (or vice versa), and from shorting power pins by inserting the connector incorrectly.

Do what I did (on a v3 unit though): Cut off some of the plastic on the left side of the Micromys plug, this way it will fit nicely on an A600 too.

Yep, Non-moulded connectors are a long known problem with the A600, with several retailers offering adaptors (essentially short extension cables) that allow controllers to fit properly without any need for modding them or the Amiga case.

[8bitbubsy]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

It's not really as dangerous as many seem to think, and hot-plugging is unlikely to have been the problem - at least, not with this type of device. If ESD killed Paula, it will likely have killed it even if the power was turned off. I don't know the precise details of the internal operation of these adaptors, but if there was some other weakness in Paula that was triggered by driving logic levels instead of using an open collector output, then that sounds like a bad design of the device. Still, that same damage would likely occur without hot-plugging, and is the kind of stress that is also caused by using Megadrive pads on the Amiga.

The main risks from hot-plugging are from peripherals with their own power supply or grounding presenting a high potential to the machine (or vice versa), and from shorting power pins by inserting the connector incorrectly.

Alright, good to know.

[Solderbro]

Cutting out the corner is not enough on my A600, the connectors sit 2mm deeper than the cover while the PCB inside fits the plastic. But will resolder the micromys cable with a joystick extender cable, the plug fits better.