Old trackball won't work on modern laptops

No. Yes. Yes.

:-)

That brought up an idea: If I can't get something like my old Trackman anywhere or this one to work maybe I'll just buy a regular trackball and add a foot switch. That'll do the trick.

Ah, thanks! Logitech still makes a Trackman. Wish it wasn't wireless though.

I didn't measure. Just plugged it in and did a data dump from the old logic analyzer. It simply worked ;-)

Ok, guys, thanks for that hint about the voltage levels. Whipped out the meter: It's 5.9V. Dang! Why on earth did they do that?

Jim, I am indeed itching to see if a discrete solution sans external 12V supply could be done. Just for sports. Maybe one of those one transistor switchers, a few turns around a ferrite bead, hmm....

Got to find an "old mouse" schematic first.

I think the main problem you have is that the mouse _may_ require 12V.

I'm not quite sure how to tell without frying it :-(

Maybe apply 6V and see what comes out when you roll the ball... nada means it needs 12V ??

...Jim Thompson

My new Logitech wireless mouse has been going for six months without a battery change.

It goes into sleep mode when no motion is detected.

...Jim Thompson

Must be the volts ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Because it's cheap.

You still might be better off with a USB to PS/2 adaptor for a few dollars.

After all, they were designed to drive mice.

Graham

Well, running a terminal on the old PC gives gibberish when rolling the mouse. Doing that on the laptop, zilch.

Does it need some kind of USB receiver that pokes out the PC? Maybe I could buy one and tranfer the innards over into the old Trackman.

Yep, has an antenna on about 3' of wire from the USB connector.

...Jim Thompson

Except that this Trackman has a 9-pin RS232 plug. Will pop into Best Buy next time I am in town.

You can easily make your own reverse PS/2-DB9 converter,

Graham

Only if you find a PS/2 plug. Now I can easily find tractor glow plugs here in town, and horse feed, and hydraulic fluid, and... IOW this ain't the big city.

Ebay. Everything you need is there.

Cut the female end off and wire it to a DB-9.

And here's the USB adaptor

Interface standard: USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 Converts two PS2 devices such as Keyboard & Mouse to one USB port No external power needed No software driver required Brand new, never used System requirement: Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP

What more do you want ?

Many more vendors to choose from here.

Graham

That works only if the trackball already supports PS/2. Many later Logitech devices did - the PS/2 signals are on unused pins in the DB9 connector, and the DB9-to-PS/2-adapter is a simple passive adapter. However, these adapters do not work with "true" serial mice that *only* support RS232.

The same is true for USB mice that are shipped with a USB-to-PS/2-adapter: the mouse supports both protocols, the adapter that is shipped with the mouse is passive. Active adapters are a bit more difficult to find, but they exist.

cu Michael

I see. I often wondered how they worked.

Intruiging.

Graham

rs232 tranceiver with voltage doubler running of 3Volt, I guess

old fashion rs232 transceiver back to back, running of 5volt taken form USB or PS2 port?

-Lasse

On a laptop the available USB current is limited, but still might be around 100mA.

Don't know what's legal from PS/2.

Why not just a battery pack? Joerg is making the problem too complicated.

I'm not a "gamer", but what _is_ a game port? How does it behave?

...Jim Thompson