sun mice

From: Frank McConnell <fmc_at_reanimators.org>
Date: Sun May 16 00:09:41 1999

Lawrence LeMay <lemay_at_cs.umn.edu> wrote:
> 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..

Sun is playing mind games with you. You will know that you've reached
the bone-us level when you have in front of you a type 3 mouse with
the pins in its RJ-11 plug and a type 3 keyboard with a standard RJ-11
jack that won't accept the pins.

I have a type 2 mouse here. It's black with gray buttons, and has a
Sun sticker on top with the purple, on-its-corner Sun logo and black
"sun" text. On bottom there's a Mouse Systems label with the
following dot-matrix imprint:

        MSC 900783-002/01
        SN MSC BQ00226
        MADE IN USA

Type 2: keyboard and mouse both have RJ-11 plugs

The 2/120 can have RJ-11 jacks for this combination; both devices get
plugged separately into the CPU cabinet (but I think the connectors go
to the bwtwo or other framebuffer).

Type 3: keyboard has RJ-11 jack for mouse and DA15 plug to system;
mouse daisy-chains through keyboard

The 2/50, 3/50, 3/60, and I guess most Sun 3s excepting the 3/80 use
this DA15 connector. The 2/50 came with an adaptor box that plugged
into the DA15 socket on the back of the CPU and brought out two RJ-11
jacks. The adaptor box works on Sun 3s too.

Type 4: keyboard has mini-DIN plug and socket(s) for mouse; mouse
daisy-chains through keyboard

There's also an adaptor box that plugs into the DA15 socket that
brings out a mini-DIN socket so you can use a Type 4 keyboard and
mouse on your Sun 3 -- I guess Sun ran out of Type 3 keyboards before
the service life ended or something. Or maybe people with Sun 3s just
wanted to use Type 4 keyboards? (Ewww, but then I don't like the Type
4 keyboard.)

Somewhere along the way (I think midstream Type 4, or maybe when the
Type 5 keyboard was introduced?) the mice changed to a high-resolution
flavor with a denser grid on the optical mouse pad. Predictably, old
and new mice and pads don't work with each other.

-Frank McConnell
Received on Sun May 16 1999 - 00:09:41 BST