Taking care of a PS/2 mouse

theotherosproject

I will be buying a PS/2 mouse for my IBM ThinkPad later this week. The pointing stick just doesn't feel right, and the NT4 USB driver has problems with my USB mouse for some reason. Besides, I'm kinda curious about these "ball" mice to start with.

I only know two things: the PS/2 port is not designed to be hot-pluggable, and the roller ball is removable for cleaning. How often should I clean the mouse internals, and what are the considerations for the mouse surface? Thanks.

calvinb

I love my TrackPoint. Have you considered changing the cap? The older TrackPoint caps sucked quite a bit, so getting a 3-pack of the different styles (classic default, modern default, and concave, which is what Dell and HP use in Latitude/EliteBooks) to see what you like is a good idea.

Ball mice are not worth your time - good riddance. A trackball, however, get one! They're very nice once you get the hang of it.

theotherosproject

ampharos wrote:

I love my TrackPoint. Have you considered changing the cap? The older TrackPoint caps sucked quite a bit, so getting a 3-pack of the different styles (classic default, modern default, and concave, which is what Dell and HP use in Latitude/EliteBooks) to see what you like is a good idea.

Maybe I can try switching the cap. I currently have the Classic Dome cap, and after a while my finger slips while using it. Tried cleaning it a bit, but didn't help much.

ampharos wrote:

Ball mice are not worth your time - good riddance. A trackball, however, get one! They're very nice once you get the hang of it.

I guess it's something to do with the internal contacts of the ball mouse. Never had the opportunity to feel for myself though. The whole idea of a trackball seems pretty weird for me, but if you say so...

stitch

The internal contacts of ball mice are two roller pins on the inside, one for the X and Y axis. These get clogged up very easily by desktop dirt picked up as the ball moves around it's surface and will eventually start skipping around or become harder to move with less precision.

Even the cheapest of optical PS/2 mice would provide a far superior experience than any ball mouse ever could.

BlueSun

It's odd to me that there's actually a whole generation out there that have never used a ball mouse. Optical mice are way better though. I do not miss the ball mice one iota.

As far as PS/2 goes... I've heard that it's not hot-pluggable before, but honestly, I've never had an issue with it. In 12 years of IT, I've never shut down a machine to plug in a PS/2 device.

stitch

I've hot-plugged PS/2 all the time - it's safe. The issue is some boards will not initialize PS/2 if you do not have something plugged in at the time of boot. I've seen servers before where I goto hot-plug and this is the case - can't use the keyboard until reboot.

calvinb

Or if you switch from say, a mouse without a wheel to one with a wheel (or more buttons) it can mess up what the OS expects to see. Raymond Chen explains.

SomeGuy

I would suggest staying away from the cheapest mice. It is likely just me, but I have had lots of problems with cheap optical mice (such as Belken). I'll make some sudden movement and the cursor will just sit there. They also don't like some surfaces such as some old shiny mouse pads.

My favorite, though are the 1980s Mouse Systems serial optical mice

BOD

BlueSun wrote:

It's odd to me that there's actually a whole generation out there that have never used a ball mouse.

Stop making me feel old.

stitch

SomeGuy wrote:

My favorite, though are the 1980s Mouse Systems serial optical mice

The ones that required that special metal grid mousepad to operate?

BlueSun

BOD wrote:

BlueSun wrote:

It's odd to me that there's actually a whole generation out there that have never used a ball mouse.

Stop making me feel old.

We're ancient now.

I had a birthday recently and I came to the startling realization that I was now the same age as my friend that I used to make fun of for being powerfully old. The only comforting thought is that he's now even older.

theotherosproject

Alright, so I managed to get an optical PS/2 mouse instead. Tried it out on my IBM ThinkPad running Windows NT4, works great. Looks like there was no mouse acceleration back then.

calvinb

Mice are really no problems. I do recommend Logitech and Microsoft for mice and trackballs whenever possible. Reasonably priced, high-quality, and simple. I used an SBF-96 for years until I switched to my trackball. (a USB Trackman Wheel)

DeepFriedCookies

I miss my original Microsoft USB Optical mouse. The old school ones.. hell yeah. I gave it to my best friend 3 years ago and she's still using it today. A mouse (like, the critter) chewed up my USB cable on my Logitech optical trackball a few years ago, and I'm far too lazy to open the mouse and solder in a new cable, so I treated myself to the new Microsoft ergonomic optical mouse. I like it a lot, for what it is. Very accurate, very responsive, very wireless. But it, like most mouses, really calls for a mousepad, and I legitimately hate mousepads. So eventually I'm just going to end up repairing my trackball.

I actually use my Thinkpad more than my MacBook just because of the trackpoint though, so take that for what it's worth.

stitch

I still use an original Microsoft USB optical mouse. It's the only white piece of computer equipment in my entire setup.

Doqtor Kirby

I have an old Dell brand PS2 ball mouse. Still good for everything except playing mouse-based games. I clean it every couple months or so.

AndrewH7

Still using mine now, I'm holding it in my hand, & move its ball underneath + other.
When arrow on screen not moving enough, = time to clean. If using DOS, plug it in & run MOUSE but + Windows you'll need to re-start by using key-board, if in stops working.