new optical psone mice?

[Swami]

Has anyone ever heard of optical mice for the playstation one? The original ps1 mice were ball mice, of course, with the little rubber coated steel ball that skidded on the mouse pad. I've seen a couple ads on eBay. I asked about this one Topway AMS-1068 and the seller said it was optical. On its way over from Germany to arrive somewhere in January.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/PS1-gamepad-Mouse-mouse-grey-AMS-1068-Topway-NEW-BOXED/202096481060?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D49566%26meid%3Da19e70d24adc480184fecea0475b14eb%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26sd%3D263385070423&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

 

There is another here I have no idea about. Raton is just "mouse" in French. Any knowledge of the existence of a new wave of optical ps1 mice being designed in Europe?

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Raton-PSX-Mouse-nuevo-sony-playstation-1-play-staion-one-ps1/263385070423?hash=item3d52f93b57:g:TKYAAOSw~HBaMGQ6

 

[Tanooki]

I'm curious about this. I've been considering trying to get a PS1 mouse and that could be nice if I don't just settle on OEM for it. There are some games on there I think would be far more fun and benefit from using a mouse than a controller.

[Swami]

I'm curious about this. I've been considering trying to get a PS1 mouse and that could be nice if I don't just settle on OEM for it. There are some games on there I think would be far more fun and benefit from using a mouse than a controller.

The second, Raton, is a ball mouse according to seller. The first one may be, too, and the sellers CSR may just be dense. Well see. Its not an absurd idea.

[CatPix]

Raton is mouse in Spanish.. I think.

Raton woumd be "Rat cub" in French, or the first word for raccoon, "Raton-Laveur".

It wouldn't be a first time that a small rodent would be used to name a mouse, tho.

Most French people remember Jacques Chirac calling a mouse a " vole"

 

For the mouses, Neither boxes say they are optical. Optical was a huge deal when it arrived, if those mouses were optical, they would boast it proudly.

The German seller might be too young to remember than there were non-optical mouses before.

[F34R]

Yes, raton is "mouse" in Spanish. The auction link shows it's from Spain as well.

[Video]

I remember the early "optical" mice, really weren't. They were optical, in that instead of a digital contact that got bumped, as you moved it, it instead used a wheel with optical sensors and a light to detect movement. Those are from the 80's though, I think. I remember the more modern optical mice coming out, hella cool, but insanely expensive. I don't think there was a psone version, but there may be a ps2 version. It may be BC with PS one though.

[godslabrat]

Fun fact: a lot of people dont understand the difference between an optical mouse and a wireless one, despite the two words having nothing to do with each other.

[keepdreamin]

I imagine somebody could use an Arduino and make a USB mouse to PSX adapter. Some light google searching shows Sony did intend at one time to release a dedicated keyboard/mouse adapter dongle.

[CatPix]

Fun fact: a lot of people dont understand the difference between an optical mouse and a wireless one, despite the two words having nothing to do with each other.

Probably because both appeared and were popularized around the same time.

 

Here most people call optical mouses "laser mouses" even if only a few optical mouses use laser, most use a simple red LED (I'm guilty of this myself ).

Edited December 15, 2017 by CatPix

[Video]

Maybe their thinking it communicates with the computer optically? Like old school ir controllers, thus "wirelessly" (oh god, that would suck)

 

Wonder if you can still get a wired mouse? Or ball mouse anymore? I'll have to search that. Last wired one I got was a trackball actually, Kensington orbit, love those things.

[CatPix]

You still find wired mouses, usually gamer or cheap ones.

Ball mouses? I don't think so. Its cheaper to have an optical one.

Strangely, speaking about trackballs, most of them are wireless... which confuse me to no end. Why would you remove the wire on a device that DOESN'T MOVE?

[godslabrat]

 

You still find wired mouses, usually gamer or cheap ones.

Ball mouses? I don't think so. Its cheaper to have an optical one.

 

Strangely, speaking about trackballs, most of them are wireless... which confuse me to no end. Why would you remove the wire on a device that DOESN'T MOVE?

This is exactly why I don't understand the need for a wireless keyboard.

[Austin]

This is exactly why I don't understand the need for a wireless keyboard.

You're not thinking hard enough.

[CatPix]

Unless you have a super-duper design desk, no, I don't see why you'd need a wireless keyboard for a desktop machine.

[Atariboy]

I don't think there was a psone version, but there may be a ps2 version. It may be BC with PS one though.

 

There's no mouse accessory specifically for the PS2 that plugs into the PS2 controller ports.

 

It supported standard USB mouse/keyboards, so your regular PC accessories were all you needed for mouse enabled PS2 games like Half-Life. They're not backwards compatible with PS1 mouse/trackball releases, nor have I found any mouse enabled PS2 releases that recognize my PS1 Nyko track-ball (Which functionally is a PS1 mouse).

 

There was an official Playstation branded keyboard/mouse combination that came with Linux for the PS2, but they were just standard USB accessories (Picture isn't mine; I found it on Google Images). I have the mouse in my collection, which is a traditional ball mouse.

 

Edited December 16, 2017 by Atariboy

[Video]

Cool to know. I often forget the ps2 had USB ports.

[Swami]

The Topway PS1 mouse the guy said was optical was a ball mouse, opto-mechanical perhaps, but still a regular old vintage ball mouse. Bummer. They are making some interesting retro-fitted devices in Europe these days, but this is not one of them.

 

There is SpeedLink Redeemer, which can turn a true optical mouse into a PS1 mouse, and retain analog properties, but I don't know if it can substitute for the playstation mouse or is just like the old, now rare, SmartJoy Frag for PS1 that turns a mouse into an analog joystick. A known issue with these is that you need PS/2, not pure USB, and they turn optical mice (400dpi and over) into overly sensitive analog joysticks. You'd need to go back to the IBM PS/2 mice from 1987 to get reasonable motion control, except now its a skittery ball mouse again.

 

There are gaming mice and some old, nicely functioning, trackballs, like the CH Products DT225 that can be set to below 100dpi, if you want to shell out for them. I'd also said in another thread that you might be able to use an old ST or Amiga mouse with the 2600-daptor 2 and a USB-to-PS/2 adapter with the SpeedLink Redeemer or SmartJoy Frag, so if all three adapters are compatible together with the PS1 you could get some kind of mouse action, although, again, I don't know if it works as just an analog joystick or also as the PS1 mouse. For trackballs, you could just stick with the PS1 Classic Trackball, although this only works with some games.

[Atariboy]

The Nyko track-ball works with all PS1 mouse games. It's functionally identical.

[Swami]

The Nyko track-ball works with all PS1 mouse games. It's functionally identical.

 

That's the one. Although some people in reviews are disappointed it has no analog or digital joystick mode for unsupported games, which is what I meant by not all games. It does play all the mouse games. Many of the arcade classic trackball games have compatibility. There are lists around of mouse compatible games.

[Tanooki]

We talking about this thing.

 

 

Kind of clunky for a mouse but would be good for arcade trackball games.

[0078265317]

There was this also. But nobody in 100 miles of has any.

 

 

https://www.gamestop.com/ps2/accessories/ps2-mouse/32145

[0078265317]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Nyko-Classic-Trackball-for-Sony-Playstation-PS-80072/253313090871?hash=item3afaa30537:g:IxwAAOSwFb5aMs2U

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NYKO-1998-CLASSIC-TRACKBALL-GAME-CONSOLE/222763365505?hash=item33ddbb3481:g:CnIAAOSwovNaC0os

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00001ZWWX/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

Edited December 21, 2017 by 0078265317

[0078265317]

Also found this interesting.

 

http://www.psxdev.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=140

 

and this

 

http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/10/22/smartjoy-frag

Edited December 21, 2017 by 0078265317

[Skippy B. Coyote]

We talking about this thing.

 

 

Kind of clunky for a mouse but would be good for arcade trackball games.

 

Not as good as you'd think, unfortunately. My spouse has one that she bought brand new in box last year and it is really hit or miss when it comes to how well it works with games that have mouse support. For instance, on Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1 & 2 it works great with Super Breakout and Missile Command but is absolutely rubbish for Centipede and Millipede. No matter what setting you adjust the mouse sensitivity to (and we've tried them all) the little firing cursor is really jerky and jumpy, nothing at all like the smooth control you get with a real arcade trackball or the trackball hacked games for the Atari 2600 & 7800.

 

So I guess it really comes down to how well each individual game was coded to work with the mouse/trackball. Some will work really nicely, and others (even on the same compilation discs) will be pretty much unplayable.

[Swami]

There was this also. But nobody in 100 miles of has any.

 

 

https://www.gamestop.com/ps2/accessories/ps2-mouse/32145

Not sure what this is from lack of detail in the ad. Playstation 2 mice are just USB mice you plug into the playstation 2 usb port. You can do the same with a usb keyboard. The PS2 USB mice do not support the PS1 mouse games, though.