Old trackball won't work on modern laptops

Tried that on both machines. No trabajo :-(

Maybe the serial port is a fake ?:-)

...Jim Thompson

it.

No :-)

It's done some serial com already.

Windows does not detect a serial mouse to well if you already have one in the PS2 port. the simplest thing to do is to get a RS-232 9pin to PS2 serial port adapter.

Currently there is nothing in the PS2 port. But the laptops, of course, do have a touchpad.

You can fix that problem by adding \\NoSerialMice to the boot.ini. Search the MS knowledge base to make sure I am correct (it is something like that). You can also stop windows enumerating serial devices in the registry if you are real keen. TAke note though, it is different from XP and NT, so you have to check the MS knowledge base.

C*ck

You use Eagle and I know that Eagle has some reverse Polish notation about the way it forces you to lay out tracks so there is a good chance that the rest of it is c*ck as well so I 100% know that since all of Eagle is f****ng broken you only want to use your trackball because you have been forced to use Eagle because you bought it and have learned how to do it with your trackball and now there is no way you are going to admit to the fact it is c*ck.

DNA

Do you have "Fast User Switching" turned on?

MS Help mentions that Serial Devices can be used for people with handicaps and hooked up to Serial Ports but only with turning off that option in WindowsXP.

Search Help on "SerialKey device"

Robert

There you go, Joerg. Right under both our noses. Thanks, Robert! Stored away for later use.

...Jim Thompson

(These are probably way beneath you, but sometimes we overlook the simplest things.)

Have you checked the BIOS settings to be sure COM1: is enabled?

Is there any chance that you could need a 9-pin to 9-pin null modem?

I also vaguely recall from my old DOS days that there were at least 2 alternate pinouts for the 9-pin port. You should ask Logitech what pinout they used.

hope that helps

Joe

EAGLE works fine under Linux. And if all you want to do is draw schematics while on the road you can even temporarily use the free edition, and then do the layout on your paid-for Windows version.

robert

Full confession: I don't even know what that is.

Thanks, Robert, will try later today. First I have to repair our pool sweep. Again. Its freaking expensive hose became brittle (!) and broke.

You can use Eagle via keys, just like OrCad. But it's no fun that way for larger designs. And I don't do layouts, that's done by someone who is an expert in that field (which I am not).

It is. Has worked with other things, piping data out of the logic analyzer etc.

Hmm, could be.

Well, it works on the big PC which supposedly should have the same pinout on its ports. But that one runs NT4.

Joerg skrev:

any old serial mouse should be recognized by XP, I believe most serial mouses and such "steal" their power from the serial port, it may not be enough with a low power serial port driver in a laptop

-Lasse

Could you fit a PS/2 connector on the existing lead ?

Or how about this instead ?

Graham

Ah, that could be a clue. Might be time to get the screwdriver and meter. Or buy a new trackball and try to get used to that but the "modern" ones seem to be designed for smaller hands. Or maybe I should quit chopping my own firewood so my hands fit the new trackballs...

Yes but the new laptop does not have a PS/2 port anymore :-(

Too small. What I like about my old trackball is that I can roll the ball and keep the other fingers stretched out. It's much bigger and more healthy for the joints.

Have you seen the other large Trackballs?

Kensington makes quite a few.

Here are two of the large ones:

And then an even larger one with a 3 inch ball at:

Can't find a website for that one directly but there seems to be a lot of distributors.

Robert