USB mouse on serial port

[Paul Ingram]

Is is possible to use a USB optical mouse on a PC serial port? I am
thinking not, since the LED does not even come on, but maybe I am
doing it the wrong way.

Do I need to use one of those old-fashioned ball mice? I want to use
the actual serial port, not the PS2 socket.

Thanks for any advice.

Paul Ingram

 

[baron]

Paul Ingram Inscribed thus:

Is is possible to use a USB optical mouse on a PC serial port? I am
thinking not, since the LED does not even come on, but maybe I am
doing it the wrong way.

Not that I know of, the coms protocol is wrong.

Do I need to use one of those old-fashioned ball mice? I want to use
the actual serial port, not the PS2 socket.

I would suspect so, but unless anyone has some NOS, might be difficult
to find !

 

[SuspendedInGaffa]

The USB host/converter can be powered separately from a wall wart.

I think mice used more juice then (the rotor days) than they do now.

They were not removable hot then either. PS2 types are still not
removable hot. That is from the PC side of it. Always been that way.

SO, you could create an inline gender bender that delivers what the PS2
side want from the USB mouse side as long as it is *the* standard USB
mouse spec, and there is one, for sure. The standard PS2 mouse driver
should be what you make the dongle speak as/to.

On another note...

I cannot figure out why Logitech is so dumb. They will not make any
more thumb ball mice, and that design was the most popular, and they sell
for 5x online used! Ball mice are extincting, and they are BETTER!

Moving my thumb only is far better than moving the whole damned mouse
around on a mat.

 

[hamilton]

Yes. The current wireless IR camera mice can run for months on a single
AAA cell.

But with 500 mA of power available to a cord type USB mouse, there's no
guarantee that the designers were careful. With that big of a power
budget, the PS/2 port may not be able to handle all the kewl blue LEDs,
heated mouse, etc. So an external supply might be called for,


Right. The adapter would have to be there at boot time and stay there.
The adapter can handle hot mouse plugging on the USB bus.


It might also be possible to use multiple pointing devices on the USB
side and let the adapter integrate the message streams. Much like my
laptop understands both an external mouse plus its touch pad
simultaneously. It just has to reject anything non PS/2 mouse.


I've got one. They are nice. Particularly in a shop where there's no
useful surface for a standard mouse.

Very strange.

I just googled "Logitech Marble Mouse" and "Logitech Ball Mouse",

There are over 1M hits, available everywhere.

So, "not make any more" ??!!

hamilton

 

[SuspendedInGaffa]

Yes. The current wireless IR camera mice can run for months on a single
AAA cell.

But with 500 mA of power available to a cord type USB mouse, there's no
guarantee that the designers were careful. With that big of a power
budget, the PS/2 port may not be able to handle all the kewl blue LEDs,
heated mouse, etc. So an external supply might be called for,

Well, yeah.. all the feature filled devices will need another
consideration.

Right. The adapter would have to be there at boot time and stay there.
The adapter can handle hot mouse plugging on the USB bus.

Well, only if the adapter gutz can handshake with each new mouse as they
do not all appear the same to the USB host, which you'll have to create
and hard code the 'driver(s)' for.

It might also be possible to use multiple pointing devices on the USB
side and let the adapter integrate the message streams. Much like my
laptop understands both an external mouse plus its touch pad
simultaneously. It just has to reject anything non PS/2 mouse.

I have a keyboard here that has 25 extra 'other' buttons on it. In
Windows 7, without any driver (the kbd is 7 years old) it 'sees'some
keys, like the audio control keys and media player keys. The cut and
paste keys work and the power key works, but the mouse scroll wheel along
the left side here does not get 'seen' without the driver for the kbd.
Installing that causes the logitech to get angry.

I've got one. They are nice. Particularly in a shop where there's no
useful surface for a standard mouse.

They are awesome for everything, including gaming. Great replacement
for a joystick. If I had to fly a plane where the stick was attached "by
wire", I'd rather have a thumb wheel. Maybe with a stick on the side in
case someone wanted or needed some fast recovery response.

I should have bought 6 when they were cheap. Just like the old 5.5
digit HP multimeters we were getting on ebay for $150 each when companies
were selling out old gear. Now they are harder to find, and grab a lot
more than a few years back. I could nearly double what I paid for mine,
if not more, since I can verify its function against several that had
paid calibrations (which these things rarely actually need).

 

[SuspendedInGaffa]

Very strange.

I just googled "Logitech Marble Mouse" and "Logitech Ball Mouse",

There are over 1M hits, available everywhere.

So, "not make any more" ??!!

hamilton

The version out now is a center ball, ambidextrous version. That is not
what I am talking about. They suck. Big time.

Find the right handed jobs. Hell, even their recent model is harder to
find. Amazon has items listed for hundreds of dollars.

That center ball thing is what the idiots are pushing. Even
Microsoft's right hand thumb ball mouse is jacked up in price, if you can
find them. Office Depot has none.

http://tinyurl.com/4df5e7m


Some are $249 new.

Must be wired. Wireless is no good. Center ball sucks too.

The original "hand rests here" design is the right one.

Three fingers on three buttons, and your thumb on the ball. The whole
thing pointed at a slight inward angle, just as your hand would normally
fall onto the table.. The world is yours.

Folks with thumbs that do not go past 180 degrees don't like them as
much.

 

[SuspendedInGaffa]

I prefer wired mice/keyboards/etc. in most cases as well, but I'll mention
that *there has never been a Bluetooth trackball produced commercially* and
yet there's a *lot* of demand for this if you look around on-line: There is
(or at least was) even a petition to ask Logitech to do this, but the only
wireless trackball they ever made was one using their old 27MHz technology.

My gut feel is that a wireless Bluetooth trackball is pretty much a sure
winner -- the trick is just coming up with the money initially for the various
plastic molds (...since the electronics is straightforward and
inexpensive...).

---Joel

What we should have is a belt that has the battery and transmitter and
antenna, memory and main CPU. A blue tooth ear/mouth piece, and a wrist
watch with a touch screen OLED about 2.5 x 4 inches. Dick Tracy has
arrived.

No more antenna near head (as it should be), and various locations
could be chosen for your outbound camera device too. Your wrist is the
ideal place for you to look at a screen and you *should* learn how to
type with your right hand only (or left, of course).

That wrist device could blue tooth to a PC to be the pointing device
for the PC. Scratch-pad style (touch pad). Still, a little high res
thumb ball would be better. I do not really like the Sony controller
methods.

 

[SuspendedInGaffa]

I prefer wired mice/keyboards/etc. in most cases as well

[snip]

I prefer a wired keyboard, I have no idea why one would need wireless,
unless you're playing games on a TV-sized screen.

But once you've used a wireless mouse you'll never go back to wired...
cords are for getting in your way.

...Jim Thompson

The reason for a wired mouse is because they are always on, being
monitored. A wireless goes to sleep in both the mouse and keyboard
scenarios. Very bad for anything that requires a response WHEN the input
was given.
A thumb ball mouse does not require any movement so even if it has a
cord, it doesn't matter. It stays in the same place. So much better
than having to move about in a fixed area and retrain the cursor position
all the time.

 

[TheGlimmerMan]

I'm still betting that adding the $4 USB card
to the computer makes more sense.

Why do you multiple post the same fucking thing, you fucking total
retard?

If a BUY is required, BUY a USB 3.0 card and get full compatibility,
and actually get your money's worth.

Learn how to post properly to Usenet, idiot.

 

[SuspendedInGaffa]

Of course the question... WHY do you need a wireless trackball when
the base doesn't move?

...Jim Thompson

Never sat on the couch and fed a movie to your TV from your laptop?

Laptop over by TV. You need a 'remote" or other control device. A
wireless mouse is fine. If you prefer to use trackballs, why would
having a wireless version be a problem?

Are you being a pissy little bitch... again?

The only drawback to a wireless anything is the lag presented to gaming
and any other real time response requisite application.

 

[TheGlimmerMan]

A USB 3.0 card would be great for an external
Hard Disk, but his USB MOUSE would see
NO advantage from a USB 3.0 card.

The mouse is NOT the only reason you ADD USB capability to your
machine, idiot. IF you had ANY common sense, instead of being the little
nit pick without a clue bitch that you are, you might have garnered that
fact.

 

[Fred]

The mouse is NOT the only reason you ADD USB capability to your
machine, idiot. IF you had ANY common sense, instead of being the little
nit pick without a clue bitch that you are, you might have garnered that
fact.

Yep. Just added a USB 3 card to my old XP box to connect the new 2TB
Seagate ($99 on sale) USB3 drive to. The huge drive floods the old CPU
it's so fast. I think files from the USB3 drive are faster than the IDE
it boots from! USB3 is a quantum leap from USB2.

 

[TheGlimmerMan]

Yep. Just added a USB 3 card to my old XP box to connect the new 2TB
Seagate ($99 on sale) USB3 drive to. The huge drive floods the old CPU
it's so fast. I think files from the USB3 drive are faster than the IDE
it boots from! USB3 is a quantum leap from USB2.

Yes, and you can still put a USB 2 hub on the other port and run other
USB devices with it, so it is the perfect peripheral upgrade addition to
an old box.

 

[SuspendedInGaffa]

That Bluetooth headset you wanted needs an antenna. Granted, it probably only
needs to be a 10mW (or perhaps even 1mW) transmitter, though. (...although I
rather wonder if the SAR limits for Bluetooth devices is more or less than for
cell phones?)

I would prefer the short jump power levels of the BT to the higher
power cell carriers. I think they operate in a burst styled transmit
paradigm too, no?

 

[TheGlimmerMan]

Fred, You bought the USB 3 card FOR THE HARD DISK.

The hard disk would work on a regular USB port, idiot. He bought the
USB 3 card because it is the new, fast bus on the block. Also because it
will likely be around for quite a while.

The OP wanted to connect a MOUSE, not a hard disk drive!

You still don't fucking get it.

IF the guy is UPGRADING his box to USB capability for a mouse, his best
bet is to buy the 3.0 card because it does not stop him from using the
mouse and PROPERLY adds full USB capability to the system.

Using an expensive USB 3.0 port card for a MOUSE
is basically a waste. $15 for only two ports.

You're an idiot. They are not expensive. Maybe to a gang boy punk
like you they are, but to real men, they are not.

USB 2.0 is $4 for a 5 port card, shipped and all.

No, it isn't. Your *cheap* POS from *your* lame source is. What makes
you think folks want ANYTHING you and your bent fucking brain specifies?

See Paul Ingram's OP and the thread subject title.

See how you are absolutely wrong on this, and will dance like the
little gang boy retarded bitch that you are as a result. 100% assured
fact. Nothing we have suggested has gone against anything he asked
about. You are the one doing the stoopid nit picking without a cause.
Get back to reality, boy.

If the OP's old computer didn't have USB I doubt it
has a PCI EXPRESS slot for USB 3.

Are you sure that is all that is available? Do you always bound around
like a slug with blinders on?

 

[TheGlimmerMan]

Prove me wrong, then, dipstick!

You have serious reading issues.

"Are you sure that is all that is available" was about the card, not
the PC, idiot.

Come back when you mature past stupid-punk-that-never-fucking-grew-up.