Old trackball won't work on modern laptops

most likely is still com1:

open com1 at 1200 bps 8 data bits, no parity, one stop bit in hyperterm or better and type move it round it should make symbols on the screen - this proves it's working....

What you need is a serial mouse driver for that version of windows that matches your trackball.

It might be easier to replace the chip and cable with ones that do PS/2 instead of serial. or switch to linux which supports a greater range of mice.

Bye. Jasen

Nope. Haven't gotten this modern yet ;-)

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

Not all RS-232 ports are created equal. If the trackball only has a 9 pin serial, it likely is powered by drawing current from the serial port. This was a common practice, but had problems. On a desktop, especially older ones, the RS-232 was powered from the PC's +/-12Vdc supply, plenty of current from the drivers. On newer boxes, in particular laptops, the serial port may only be 5 or 6 volts and practically no current from the charge pumps in the drivers. Your trackball may not have any power. Jack Peacock

no, the protocol is different as are the voltages.

some mice were designed to operate from either a serial port or ps/2 and shipped with an adaptor that merely changed the shape of the plug.

it's possible that this trackball predates all that.

well yeah, for that pricew he can almost certainly get a better trackball than the one he's got.

Bye. Jasen

These are good example of what they do wrong these days IMHO: The buttons are to the sides and much too close to the ball.

A little better but still, you'd almost have to operate the left button with the thumb.

The old Logitech is different from all of these. You can roll the ball with the 2nd digit of your stretched out thumb and click the three buttons with you stretched out fingers. No finger bending, cramping, whatsoever. I can do that all day long and never feel any ever so slight pain or wear. With "modern" mice it gets to the point where the thumb joint crackles audibly, not good.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

Should be under add new hardware. generic serial mouse or similar.

Bye. Jasen

[snip]

That "Orbit" model bears a striking resemblance to a vintage Logitech I had around 1990. Loved it.

...Jim Thompson

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Yes, this was already pointed out and I guess you may be right. This trackball was designed in the days where RS232 was truly 12V, or at least more than 9V. The puzzler is that a Wang laptop from the late 80's and also a Compaq Contura laptop from the early 90's were running that same trackball just fine.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

A "real" analog engineer would build an adapter box and supply external power... perhaps even add circuitry to convert to USB ;-)

...Jim Thompson

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.

But it ain't the good old Logitech Trackman. If there was a Nobel prize in ergonomics the Trackman designers deserve it.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

Perhaps the answer is here...

...Jim Thompson

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Found that and other links via Google before posting here but it all didn't help :-(

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

If I had my druthers, well, heck, maybe I do that. Went to a Cypress seminar the other day and one of the things they had us design was a I2C to USB converter. Changing that over to RS232-USB would be a mere mouse click on the screen with PSoC Express, then a wee compile run. And they let us keep the proto board...

Just imagine, that would be a real nerd mouse: A Trackman, a largish Cypress demo board with flashing LEDs all over the place, a wall wart, lots of cables.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

Imho, that just about proves it. Those old laptops did have much meatier power supplies. If you trawl the specs, you'll likely find the old ones had RS232C, while the new one is RS232E. That's exactly the difference:

12V vs. about 6V, while the intended receiver load has reduced by an order of magnitude. Since RS232 defines anything over 3V as a valid signal, the interface-chip makers consider themselves free to provide just enough power to stagger over the line, & they are in compliance.

You can get a USB to PS/2 adapter though.

for example

Graham

Aha! Which says the solution is to provide 12V power to the track-ball and add some 1488's and 1489's to buffer the levels ;-)

Or, as Joerg would do it... discretes ;-)

A micro would be a suck solution ;-)

...Jim Thompson

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.

[snip]

Joerg allowed as to how he'd already run serial data thru the port. What were the levels?

...Jim Thompson

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Doesn't it recognise it when it is attached to the computer when it starts? I recall having used a serial mouse less than 2 years ago with an Win2000 machine. It was detected automatically during boot. Are you sure the trackball is working and the serial ports are enabled?

--
Reply to nico@nctdevpuntnl (punt=.)
Bedrijven en winkels vindt U op www.adresboekje.nl

[snip]

Ergonomic Trackballs

Take a look at some alternative mouse technologies. They also have several Trackballs with large Balls and buttons either on external switches or spaced out further.

Robert