Getting a passive 1983 Microsoft "Greeneyes" Mouse working on a modern PC? With pictures - Hardware & Software

Wasn't sure where to put this. Is there a hardware section? As the title suggests, recently I've gotten ahold of one of the first microsoft mice ever made-- the so-called "greeneyes" mouse. My first thought was to connect it to my computer, since the end port appears to be a simple male serial port. I got a female-to-female serial cord, hooked up the mouse, and found that that did not work. Upon opening it up, I found the reason why: The mouse is entirely passive. It's simply two buttons and two rollbars. My question is this: How do I go about building the circuit needed to interpret these signals and get it working on a computer? In case anybody was curious, here's some pictures of the internals. [img]http://www.myoldcomputers.com/museum/perif/pics/mouse1.jpg[/img] Not my picture. Forgot to take one of the exterior of the mouse, but it looks like this. [img]http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/5355/boardandplug.jpg[/img] Picture of the main board and the plug. As can be seen, it is very simply built, and also Japanese. The plug is easily mistaken for a serial plug, and in fact fits in a serial socket. [img]http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/5603/boardcloseup.jpg[/img] Closeup of the board. [img]http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/994/coveraswell.jpg[/img] Full mouse and the cover. I forgot to take a picture of the whole, assembled mouse, but those buttons are where it gets its name from. [img]http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/9827/bar1.jpg[/img] One of the rollbars. Not sure what it actually is; looks like a variable resistor, but that would not make any sense at all. [img]http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/1392/soldering.jpg[/img] mother-fucking hand soldered, bitch [img]http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/9070/side.jpg[/img] The other motor. TLDR: How do I go about making a passive mouse work on a computer?

Buy a whole lot of cable converters, that should do the trick, you could always swap internals of another mouse and making it fit.

[QUOTE=KillerKane;23453506]Buy a whole lot of cable converters, that should do the trick, you could always swap internals of another mouse and making it fit.[/QUOTE] My goal is not to touch the internals of the mouse. It is very difficult to get ahold of, from what I've read, and I don't want a working replica, with fake internals; I want this to work with the internals it has.

It comes with a battery?

[QUOTE=GWMCOCD;23453579]It comes with a battery?[/QUOTE] There's no room for a battery. It's powered by the plug and whatever card it's supposed to connect to.

I have of those mouses, it plugs into my old 486. I think I am going to throw that old computer to the curb along with the mouse away. You want to know why? Because it's worthless, maybe some scrapper will sell it away. If you want to keep using it, you will have to buy a converter to PS/2. I used to have one, but I don't anymore because it's a ball mouse with as much precision as a brain surgeon with parkinson's disease.

[QUOTE=Itszutak;23453601]There's no room for a battery. It's powered by the plug and whatever card it's supposed to connect to.[/QUOTE] On the last pic, isn't that a coin cell battery? I could be wrong though.

[QUOTE=KillerKane;23453621]I have of those mouses, it plugs into my old 486. I think I am going to throw that old computer to the curb along with the mouse away. You want to know why? Because it's worthless, maybe some scrapper will sell it away. If you want to keep using it, you will have to buy a converter to PS/2. I used to have one, but I don't anymore because it's a ball mouse with as much precision as a brain surgeon with parkinson's disease.[/QUOTE] I think you're missing the point, and I don't even know why you'd even bring up the whole "oh it's a worthless piece of shit" thing. Obviously, if I'm trying to get it working, I see some value in it. [QUOTE=GWMCOCD;23453627]On the last pic, isn't that a coin cell battery? I could be wrong though.[/QUOTE] There are no batteries anywhere in this mouse. It is a completely passive device.

I looked around and saw this: [url]http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?18413-1983-Original-Microsoft-Mouse-Software-and-Card[/url] It came with a card, so unless you happen to have a motherboard with an ISA slot, you're out of luck. Since the mouse is so simple, you might be able to interface it with a microcontroller. If it's so incredibly simple that the mouse buttons and roll bars are directly hooked up to the port, there is the option of trying to find a mouse with a serial connection and a similar setup (Roll bars and such) and rig up your own adapter (Solder the mouse button wires to the mouse buttons and the roll bar wires to the roll bars in the newer mouse).

[url]http://www.ibase.com.tw/mb880.htm[/url] if you've got an lga775 pentium 4, you can switch to this motherboard and get the ISA inport adapter.

If you ever find another one, you should convert it to have the original exterior look, but with a tan or green scroll wheel and also be converted to an Optical mouse. [editline]04:10AM[/editline] [url]http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?18413-1983-Original-Microsoft-Mouse-Software-and-Card/page2[/url]

[QUOTE=BenJ;23458963]I looked around and saw this: [url]http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?18413-1983-Original-Microsoft-Mouse-Software-and-Card[/url] It came with a card, so unless you happen to have a motherboard with an ISA slot, you're out of luck. Since the mouse is so simple, you might be able to interface it with a microcontroller. If it's so incredibly simple that the mouse buttons and roll bars are directly hooked up to the port, there is the option of trying to find a mouse with a serial connection and a similar setup (Roll bars and such) and rig up your own adapter (Solder the mouse button wires to the mouse buttons and the roll bar wires to the roll bars in the newer mouse).[/QUOTE] This is close to the answer I was looking for. I already know about the lack of drivers and ISA card; I was just wondering if it was possible to get a microcontroller to work with it. I have never worked with a microcontroller before, but I already know that the mouse is simple enough to be nothing but sensors. Is there some website that will teach me how to rig up an adapter? I tried to look up instructions on making your own mouse, but found nothing useful.

[QUOTE=Itszutak;23462336]This is close to the answer I was looking for. I already know about the lack of drivers and ISA card; I was just wondering if it was possible to get a microcontroller to work with it. I have never worked with a microcontroller before, but I already know that the mouse is simple enough to be nothing but sensors. Is there some website that will teach me how to rig up an adapter? I tried to look up instructions on making your own mouse, but found nothing useful.[/QUOTE] In that thread I linked there's a pinout on the adapter: 1 +5V 2 horizontal X 3 horizontal Y 4 vertical X 5 vertical Y 6 left button 7 middle button 8 right button 9 GND Personally, I have no idea the mouse even works, though I would ask these guys for the microcontroller end of things: [url]http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=880827[/url]

That looks easy to decode actually.

I've found a USB adaptor to hook up this mouse to a computer, but I don't remember where I found it.

It would be so badass to take the innards from an optical mouse and put them inside that. I totally want to do that now :v:

[QUOTE=TheGuru;23465601]It would be so badass to take the innards from an optical mouse and put them inside that. I totally want to do that now :v:[/QUOTE] instead of a white mouse, paint it black (and keep the green buttons)... or maybe paint the green buttons with a glow in the dark or neon paint.