sun mice

From: John Ruschmeyer <jruschme_at_exit109.com>
Date: Sat May 15 17:21:25 1999

> > Is there a sure-fire way to determine if a sun mouse is a type 2 versis
> > type 3? It looks like the mice for type 3 have little side-pins on
> > the connector, so is it reasonable to assume that mice without this
> > feature are for sun-2 series computers?
> >
> > I figured i'd go through the box of old sun mice at work, since they
> > are all so old as to predate any hardware we still have in operation.
> > Looks like there are quite a few sun3 mice, possibly a few sun 2.
>
> Sun mice are Mouse Systems mice, of course. I have one Model M2 mouse,
> which is black, and thus is most likely a mouse for a Sun 2 computer.
> I have many Model 3 and 4 mice, which have the brass pins on the side of
> the connector. The one sun 3/50 keyboard I have is using a Model 3
> with pins, so i'm assuming these are all for use on type 3 keyboards?
> The strange thing is, I have several Model M3 mice that dont have those
> brass pins on the connector. So i'm wondering if these are also usable
> on older sun 2 computers, or if sun is just playing mind games with me..

IIRC, electrically the Sun 2 and Sun 3 mice are equivalent. The difference
is the connector.

A Sun 2 mouse (Type 2) has an RJ-11 plug for a connector, as does the
Type 2 keyboard.

A Sun 3 mouse (Type 3) has a DB-9 connector and plugs into the top of
a Type 3 keyboard (which has a DB-15 plug). Some of the late Sun 2's
actually had the 15-bpin keyboard/mouse port on the CPU, but came with
a small adapter that took the RJ-11 connectors for the Type 2 KB and mouse.

A Type 4 keyboard is common on late Sun 3 and early Sparc systems. It
has mini-DIN plugs (KB plugs into CPU, mouse into KB), but is still
electrically equivalent and can be adapted via a simple cable.

The current Type 5 KB and mouse are also electrically equivalent, but
restyled.

The big problem with switching between generations of Sun mice is not
the mouse or the connector, but the mouse pad. You definately want the
one which matches the mouse, though there seems no easy way to tell which
is which.

<<<John>>>
Received on Sat May 15 1999 - 17:21:25 BST