Mouse Woes

It was time to replace the trusty QL mouse. As you know the QL can use an number of interfaces to connect to a mouse. There are the built in interfaces in the Qx0 series, there is the QIMI mouse interface which can be connected to the original QL mother board and which is built in to the Aurora mother board replacement, there is the mouse connection on the SuperHermes board, and there is SNG's DIY mouse software. What they all have in common is that they use a serial mouse connected to a serial port.

But serial mice are no longer manufactured other than USB mice. My QL mouse has a PS2 connection which is connected via a PS2 to serial adapter.

So it seemed all that was needed really was a PS2 mouse. After ordering and returning 3 PS2 mice that did not function at all with the Aurora the truth was finally discovered. My PS2 mouse was a combo PS2/Serial mouse. The adapter merely transferred the connecting wires from the PS2 socket in to the correct locations for the serial port.  The mouse itself could run in both PS2 and serial mode and could detect which protocol was being used.There is no way of knowing looking at the mouse that it is a combo mouse and these serial/PS2 mice also seem to have disappeared. The PS2/"serial" mouse now is a PS2/USB mouse.

Is there a supply of older mice out there somewhere or these obsolete mice. Are there adapters that themselves can convert PS2/USB protocols to serial allowing the use of modern mice on older computers? 

It would be nice to use a wireless optical mouse with the QL.