PC mouse on amiga

[phreak97]

ok, i really had no idea where to put this, or if it even fits gamesx.. but anyway.
i got an amiga not long ago, and i want a mouse for it, i would like to mod a pc mouse for use with it if it's possible..
anyone know if a pc mouse can be modded to work on an amiga? i have a serial mouse and a ps/2 mouse i can hack up..

[FoxFireX]

Not sure if it will help or not, but a little digging turned up this page, which seems to have details on a PS2 to Amiga DIY converter.

[Aidan]

Basically the problem is that a PC mouse has all the smarts inside. An Amiga mouse has all the smarts in the Amiga, and the mouse is dumb. You can either build the interface listed, or try and extract the quadrature signals from the mouse and push them down to the amiga.

[phreak97]

i think finding the signal in the mouse would be the cheaper option.. anyone care to point me to what im looking for?

[MDX]

The Amy mouse still has some hardware in the mouse so wiring up a PC mouse is probably more hassle then it's worth.

A better option is to use a PS2 to Amy adapter, you can buy this one...

http://www.mrhardwarecomputers.com/pages/mousekey.htm

As it does offer a lot of features.

Failing that you could still buy new amiga mice for around $20...

[Adeptus]

There are some instructions on Aminet for hacking PC mice to work on Amiga... most of them are for specific models from memory, eg Logitech 'bus mouse' (the old round plug, before ps2)

[Yod@]

There's a device called the "Punchinello" adapter which allows you to use a PC mouse on an Amiga - however it's very hard to find, even in the UK. You'd probably be very hard pushed to find one elsewhere.
The current model is the "Punchinello III" - IIRC the Punchinello III is a PS/2 to Amiga adapter, and the Punchinello II is a serial mouse adapter.
AFAIK both are hardware solutions - no software necessary to work as a standard mouse. I believe there *is* additional software available to enable the wheel/3rd button to be used in Workbench.

[Adeptus]

There's another DIY convertor, with far less parts, that can support 5 buttons + wheel (with software - 3 buttons without).

http://ps2m.sotchenko.ru/index.html

Unfortunately it needs a PIC chip, so unless you have a PIC programmer it could work out a little costly... probably still less than the readymade ones though.
This is the one I was thinking of making... but since I have very little time for games these days I haven't bothered yet - I have a CD32 that I haven't fired up in over a year. (Also I picked up an old boxy Amiga mouse for $1... and an Atari ST one - does anyone know if these can be easily converted to Amiga?)

[Aidan]

From memory, the ST and Amiga mice both use the quadrature output. I *think* you just need to swap some pins over to make things work.

I think you need to swap the following pins over, but it has been a long time since I've done this sort of stuff.

Code Select Expand


Am --- ST
1 V --- 3 YA
2 H --- 2 XA
3 VQ --- 4 YB
4 HQ --- 1 XB