Devonshire wrote:
On the day of Tue, 28 Mar 2006 10:09:38 -0800...
dan
typed these letters:


Funny, I've been using optical mice for at least 15 years... Nice to
know they were invented only 5 or so years ago! I was ahead of my time
- that, and my steam-powered computer : )

Dan

An optical mouse in 1991? You sure about that? Was it IBM compatable?
I never seen such a thing. You wouldn't happen to still have that
mouse would you? I'd like to see it. I have a growing collection of
vintage computer stuff and look regularly at salvage stores to see
what old goodies I can find. I rarely find an optical mouse. Most
of the ones I do find are USB which makes them a bit newer than 1991
for sure. Around 1991 I was a bit behind the times with my 386sx
16Mhz machine. It came with a ball mouse. I don't recall even using
a mouse much back then. I was still running DOS and most of the stuff
I did either did not support a mouse, or hot keys were a much faster
way to maneuver.

They were quite common on workstations like those from Sun and SGI;
they used a mat with grid lines ruled on it.

Leon