My rather ancient PS2 cordless mouse has finally failed. Seems to be a
problem with the optical part as the rest works.

Problem is it is shared between a PC and this ancient RISCOS machine,
which doesn't have USB. via a KVM switch. And a modern mouse with a USB to
PS2 adaptor doesn't work.

I'm back on a corded mouse for the moment but hate it. ;-)

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Dave Plowman London SW
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Dave Plowman wrote:

a modern mouse with a USB to
PS2 adaptor doesn't work

the usb-ps/2 adapters are often not generic, they work with the
keyboard/mouse they arrived with

On Tue, 17 Apr 2018 15:27:22 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

My rather ancient PS2 cordless mouse has finally failed. Seems to be a
problem with the optical part as the rest works.

Problem is it is shared between a PC and this ancient RISCOS machine,
which doesn't have USB. via a KVM switch. And a modern mouse with a USB
to PS2 adaptor doesn't work.

I'm back on a corded mouse for the moment but hate it. ;-)

I have had various troubles in the past, but solved them all with a
number of Aten KVMs. They seem to be really solid.

Might have to bite the bullet...

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Bob Eager wrote:

I have had various troubles in the past, but solved them all with a
number of Aten KVMs. They seem to be really solid.

I've had a DVI/PS2 and now a DP/USB KVM from Aten, they're not perfect
but they do produce firmware updates reasonably often and for many
years, actually I have a little niggle with the current one I ought to
report.

They don't guarantee compatibility with wireless USB mice, but I found
mine does work with the Logitech Unifying receiver (some of the custom
mouse functions don't work though.)

In article ,
Andy Burns wrote:
Bob Eager wrote:

I have had various troubles in the past, but solved them all with a
number of Aten KVMs. They seem to be really solid.

I've had a DVI/PS2 and now a DP/USB KVM from Aten, they're not perfect
but they do produce firmware updates reasonably often and for many
years, actually I have a little niggle with the current one I ought to
report.

They don't guarantee compatibility with wireless USB mice, but I found
mine does work with the Logitech Unifying receiver (some of the custom
mouse functions don't work though.)

I've a feeling modern USB mice are very different from the older ones
which could be either USB or PS2 via a simple adaptor.

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Dave Plowman London SW
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Dave Plowman wrote:

I've a feeling modern USB mice are very different from the older ones
which could be either USB or PS2 via a simple adaptor.

Yes, older mice could detect their own particular USB/PS2 adapter and
"become" a PS2 mouse or USB mouse accordingly, I doubt newer ones bother
as the world and his dog uses USB these days

If you find e.g. a known logitech mouse and a known logitech USB/PS2
dongle it's possible it might work, but a random green dongle with USB
and PS2 ports is unlikely to help.

I think the problem usually is that the ps2 will not provide enough power
normally which is interesting since you had one working!

There are proper convertors around for both ways around though they seem
more expensive than the straight adaptors. I have one going the other way,
from usb to a mouse and keyboard of the ps2 wired kind on the one usb.
I suppose there is no hardware for your elderly machine that can add a usb
port? Niche markets like this often have all kinds of specialist vendors
that can supply stuff, I even recall seeing a device that used pc memory as
a hard drive for azx spectrum the other day, battery backed and with a usb.

I know illogical but there you go.
Brian

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"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
My rather ancient PS2 cordless mouse has finally failed. Seems to be a
problem with the optical part as the rest works.

Problem is it is shared between a PC and this ancient RISCOS machine,
which doesn't have USB. via a KVM switch. And a modern mouse with a USB to
PS2 adaptor doesn't work.

I'm back on a corded mouse for the moment but hate it. ;-)

--
*If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Brian Gaff wrote:
I think the problem usually is that the ps2 will not provide enough
power normally which is interesting since you had one working!

There are proper convertors around for both ways around though they seem
more expensive than the straight adaptors. I have one going the other
way, from usb to a mouse and keyboard of the ps2 wired kind on the one
usb. I suppose there is no hardware for your elderly machine that can
add a usb port? Niche markets like this often have all kinds of
specialist vendors that can supply stuff, I even recall seeing a device
that used pc memory as a hard drive for azx spectrum the other day,
battery backed and with a usb.

I know illogical but there you go. Brian

I'd be more than happy to buy a converter that allowed me to use any
modern USB mouse. As they are dirt cheap and far kinder on batteries than
the one that's failed.

But my other Acorn machine does have limited USB support, and the USB
mouse I use with my fairly recent laptop won't work with that, although
older USB ones do.

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Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 17/04/2018 15:53, Andy Burns wrote:
Dave Plowman wrote:

a modern mouse with a USB to
PS2 adaptor doesn't work

the usb-ps/2 adapters are often not generic, they work with the
keyboard/mouse they arrived with

The mouse/keyboard needs code in them to use the PS2 interface as the
adapter is dumb. Not all keyboards and mice have the code or electronics
to do so. Just choosing a random mouse and plugging it into an adapter
is unlikely to work.

In article ,
says...

I'd be more than happy to buy a converter that allowed me to use any
modern USB mouse. As they are dirt cheap and far kinder on batteries than
the one that's failed.


Interesting. I have a KVM switch I haven't started using yet
because I haven't got the second PC up and running.

Someone gave me a USB converter which I was planning to use
with my Microsoft wireless mouse receiver. However, my other
PC isn't that ancient - it is still running on the Xp it was
supplied with, so perhaps I'll have better luck?


--

Terry

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In article ,
Brian Gaff wrote:
I think the problem usually is that the ps2 will not provide enough
power normally which is interesting since you had one working!

There are proper convertors around for both ways around though they seem
more expensive than the straight adaptors. I have one going the other
way, from usb to a mouse and keyboard of the ps2 wired kind on the one
usb. I suppose there is no hardware for your elderly machine that can
add a usb port? Niche markets like this often have all kinds of
specialist vendors that can supply stuff, I even recall seeing a device
that used pc memory as a hard drive for azx spectrum the other day,
battery backed and with a usb.

I know illogical but there you go. Brian

Seems there is a converter made for the job I need. Called a SmallyMouse.
Converts USB to the native quadrature mouse on this old Acorn (I was using
PS2 via an adaptor)

The SmallyMouse can also be programmed to work with other ancient
computers.

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Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.