deskthority

So I have this Zenith SupersPORT laptop which I converted with a Linux-powered SBC (ODROID XU4), an iPad display panel, a custom keyboard controller and a lot of love. That project is still ongoing (internal battery power is WIP), but I realized that since 1980s laptops did not really have trackpoints or trackpads yet (and fitting a touchscreen seemed just plain wrong), I would need an external mouse to go with it.

Something wired and appropriate for a 1980s IBM PC compatible.

After scouring the internets, the one I really wanted was the original IBM PS/2 (the Alps-made IBM 001 / 6450350, but since the ODROID XU4 doesn't support PS/2 peripherals, I had to convert it to USB somehow, and in a way that kept its look and feel.

So I ordered one off eBay as well as a cheap wired optical mouse as the donor, and a USB cable with a 90 degree plug.

Trigger warning: destruction of vintage IBM PBT plastic ahead

Before cleaning:


After cleaning:


The donor mouse:


Dremeled insides:


Conversion nearly done:


Blue LEDs make everything better:


And the finished product including ample pink shrink tubing:




Build gallery

Oops, this should have been posted under Workshop -- mods, would you move it?

Sweet blue LED's! Now you can sell it for a ridiculous amount of money advertising it as a gaming mouse!

Yup. Actually I wonder...

Materials cost me 25 euros; it took me maybe 4 hours to build because I'm a slowpoke and I don't really know what I'm doing; at a rate of 50 EUR/hour because I'm a professional slowpoke and time is money.

Total price for my LED-tastic retrovaganza gaming mouse: 225 EUR

Nicely done.

indeed!