Greetings,
It appears my sun type 5 optical mouse has finally died, or got damaged in storage, as there is no light emitted. Is it possible to modify/rewire a normal ps2 mechanical mouse in order to make it work, or do I need to buy a replacement one from the web or ebay.
Finally thought I had a system that I could install NS/OS and now this. :(
Chef
I was able to get it working a little by wiggling the wire, so I guess there is a short somewhere. It does not work completely, but it did let me install OS 4.2 on it, and do the preliminary configuration. I have found a replacement mouse (the mechanical kind) from someone local, so when I pick it up I will finally have a working NS/OS system !!!!!!
Just need to configure network settings once get new mouse.
FINALLY ... A WORKING NS/OS SYSTEM FOR ME!!!!!!!
:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
Now what to do with it ;)
Chef
Great to see you found a working type 5 mouse. Adapting a PS/2 mouse isn't that easy, but there's actually an adapter (small box containing some microcontroller) that adapts PS/2 keyboards and mice to work with the asynchronous serial Sun protocol - Sun part no. X465A. Unfortunately, last time I checked, the price was ca. $75 :o
Other companies offer similar adapters.
With some microcontroller programming experience and too much time :) one could build a homebrew adapter - the Sun keyboard/mouse protocol description is available from sparc.org IIRC.
I seem to remember there was a driver that allowed using a standard RS-232 mouse on NeXTstep (non-x86), but I couldn't find a reference to it.