Preface
A bit of an oddball mouse, not many people ever had or used one. It really doesn't help that there wasn't much application support for them, or that they were fairly expensive. All in all it's a decent mouse for what it was intended for: 80s computers.
Well, how'd it come?
Not so great. Quite filthy, however it's also 20 something years old.
And all cleaned up. The blue wouldn't come off so I just left it.
How easy is it to setup?
Easy enough. It takes a hardware controller card which is the hardest part of the setup.
Step 1: Get a computer. My XT should work quite well.
Step 2: Install it (that's it under the AST cable)
Step 3: Success.
How comfortable is it?
It's not too bad. This here is a lot better than the blocks or soap bars that were ever so common in the 80s and 90s making it a nice choice for an old system. This particular one is a bit newer, although there were some older bricks.
If you're a lefty this mouse isn't a good choice for you. It's shaped for a right hand. While you can still use it with your left it's a bit odd unless you use your ring and middle finger for the left and right click buttons.
If you're a righty then this mouse works fine as it's designed for right hand use.
How's the performance?
It's not the best, but not the worst. It tracks somewhat slowly and it doesn't have the best accuracy, similar to a Trackball Explorer. Easiest way to show this is through a couple videos.
Tracking:
Accuracy:
In Conclusion
This mouse here is a fairly decent mouse if you need one in a quite old computer. It's far more comfortable than a brick or bar of soap while connecting through an 8-bit ISA slot so anything from a 5150 up can use it. I did confirm that it will work with Windows 2000, however I never tested anything newer as XP and up on a 200 MHz Pentium Pro sounds painful.
Out of 10 I give it a 7, simply for the fact that the accuracy isn't very great on Windows 2.03 or 2000 and the tracking is slow unless you adjust it, something you can't do in lots of old DOS and Windows programs.
[Review] Microsoft InPort\Bus Mouse
- matt3o
- -[°_°]-
- Location: Italy
- Main keyboard: WhiteFox
- Main mouse: Anywhere MX
- Favorite switch: Anything, really
- DT Pro Member: 0030
- Contact:
how the hell did you clean the upper ISA card?
- Muirium
- µ
- Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
- Main keyboard: HHKB Type-S with Bluetooth by Hasu
- Main mouse: Apple Magic Mouse
- Favorite switch: Gotta Try 'Em All
- DT Pro Member: µ
Fair question. Hard scrubbing and alcohol?
Oddly enough, these old mice work quite nicely for me, as I like to move my hand a lot (more accuracy and less wrist cramp for me) and adjust modern ones down to suit. The physical shape of this Microsoft mouse is probably better than their current ones! The second and third mice in this gallery are what the competition's looked like in the era:
What connector is it: PS/2 but not quite PS/2 I presume?
Oddly enough, these old mice work quite nicely for me, as I like to move my hand a lot (more accuracy and less wrist cramp for me) and adjust modern ones down to suit. The physical shape of this Microsoft mouse is probably better than their current ones! The second and third mice in this gallery are what the competition's looked like in the era:
What connector is it: PS/2 but not quite PS/2 I presume?
- Compgeke
- Location: Fairfield, California, USA
- Main keyboard: IBM Model M 1391401
- Main mouse: Coolermaster Recon
- Favorite switch: IBM Buckling Spring
- DT Pro Member: 0040
Not really sure what got on it, but it washed off with some dish soap and quite hot (150 degree) water after a little scrubbing. It wasn't capacitor or battery leakage otherwise dish soap shouldn't have removed it as easily.matt3o wrote:how the hell did you clean the upper ISA card?
I'll grab a picture later today, however it's a proprietary mini DIN connector.Muirium wrote:...What connector is it: PS/2 but not quite PS/2 I presume?
- Muirium
- µ
- Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
- Main keyboard: HHKB Type-S with Bluetooth by Hasu
- Main mouse: Apple Magic Mouse
- Favorite switch: Gotta Try 'Em All
- DT Pro Member: µ
Bonus points if it's 4 pin Mini Din! Although somehow I doubt even 1980s Microsoft would be cheeky enough to put Woz inside…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Desktop_Bus#ADB
Also some pictures of the mouse's innards if you will.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Desktop_Bus#ADB
Also some pictures of the mouse's innards if you will.
- matt3o
- -[°_°]-
- Location: Italy
- Main keyboard: WhiteFox
- Main mouse: Anywhere MX
- Favorite switch: Anything, really
- DT Pro Member: 0030
- Contact:
I had to look at your profile do understand how you could bring water at 150°Compgeke wrote:Not really sure what got on it, but it washed off with some dish soap and quite hot (150 degree) water after a little scrubbing. It wasn't capacitor or battery leakage otherwise dish soap shouldn't have removed it as easily..matt3o wrote:how the hell did you clean the upper ISA card?
- Compgeke
- Location: Fairfield, California, USA
- Main keyboard: IBM Model M 1391401
- Main mouse: Coolermaster Recon
- Favorite switch: IBM Buckling Spring
- DT Pro Member: 0040
As promised, the connector.
Just a heads up: the mouse side is somewhat bent but it plugs in fine, too lazy to fix.
And in the card. The flat part does go up which is an interesting touch, saying the card is installed vertically.
Unfortunately no inside shots as it snaps together and being as this is my only one and they aren't as common as many other mice I'm not going to risk breaking it for the sake of science.
There are a couple on ebay at the moment, although I haven't the money to purchase anything right now.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/370951490462
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111281358645
Just a heads up: the mouse side is somewhat bent but it plugs in fine, too lazy to fix.
And in the card. The flat part does go up which is an interesting touch, saying the card is installed vertically.
Unfortunately no inside shots as it snaps together and being as this is my only one and they aren't as common as many other mice I'm not going to risk breaking it for the sake of science.
There are a couple on ebay at the moment, although I haven't the money to purchase anything right now.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/370951490462
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111281358645