USB mouse on serial port

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

Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design From: paulingram AT lawler.com (Paul Ingram) ( TPG, Sydney Australia ) Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 10:11:10 GMT Subject: USB mouse on serial port

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

Why was there a need for this conversion in the first place? Why did the RS232 port constraint arise in the first place? Was it because somebody is trying to get by on the CHEAP with junk? That would certainly limit the options.

Buying a USB card to stick in the junker computer would probably be the cheapest route, and would open up other fast USB options like flash drives, USB printers, etc.

If there's a decent reason for the RS232 constraint at the outset, please state the reason.

Otherwise it just seems like the result of somebody being too much of a cheap ass to buy a USB card to stick in a junker. That USBwiz is NOT for that situation!

At 29.95-59.95 that USBwiz is basically intended to build into some type of embedded system right? Or some type of new consumer Personal Computer main board using lots of FPGA and a ""mezzanine"" right?

PCI USB card or 5-PORT USB 2.0 PCI HUB CARD $2.19 to $3.67 SHIPPED to the USA

I found a serial port mouse New in Box $4 shipped to USA.

Lots of mice are designed for the DIN(PS2) port and have an adapter for legacy support through a DB9 RS232 port.

There are RS232 to USB converters which use a "Built-in TTL PC-PL2303 Chip" but the ones I see are for providing a RS232 port on a USB computer, not the other way around. $7 price range as well.

One outfit has a bridge module for this that has both genders of DB9, a USB A port and two little circuit boards sandwiched with a Silicon Laboratories 2102 chip for $15 Still, not quite what you'd want for putting a USB mouse on a DB9 RS232 port.

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

What do you think, Paul Ingram (OP) ?

Serial port mice were the only low power ones. The LED-interrupter readout for ball mice were too current hungry, so they redesigned.

The old serial mice (which never worked well) didn't have any LED components at all, the movement actually closed and opened switch contacts. A little (PIC?) processor handled the serial interface functions.

Point of Sale terminal is not a PC.

It's not a PC.

not PC

~PC

...

PI > Is is possible to use a USB optical mouse on a PC serial port?

vs.

linnix > It's not a PC. linnix > Point of Sale terminal is not a PC.

Do you know of or speak for Paul Ingram? What does "PC serial port" mean to you??

Why not see if Logitech will sell the old molds from their old tackball design?

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

various

For nervous nellies whoo can't leave it in one spot.

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.

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.

various

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.

Archie > =A0 Are you being a pissy little bitch... =A0 again?

Now Archie, This will have to go on your next ASSESSMENT.

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

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 USB 3.0 cards tend to have only 1 or 2 ports, require an available PCIe (PCI Express) slot and sell for $10 or $15 instead of the USB 2.0 cards with 5 ports for $4.

But then, you ARE Archie, so only the FINEST will do, even if there is no return on investment!

Just like his daddy got from his seed. :(

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.

TheGlimmerMan wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

little

that

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.

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Probably because people do like to move them a bit anyway (the mouse on my desk here doesn't move outside of a one foot square area anyway during normal usage)... and because folks who travel with laptops (or between a couple of different desks) seem to prefer not having the extra bulk/requirement to plug & unplug the cords.

Or something like that. As I say, I generally prefer wired mice/keyboards anyway, but there's clearly a large market out there in wireless ones.

---Joel

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?)

: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

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

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

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

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

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

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