On Fri, Nov 1, 2019 at 1:35 PM Win Heagy via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I have a 3b1 that I think is mostly complete and working, but I'm missing the mouse. Is there anything unique about the mouse (other than its looks)? Can another mouse be made to work with it? I've seen the mouse listed on eBay but for $$$$.
I wasn't quickly able to find any schematics of the keyboard, just the mainboard, but the 3B1 mouse plugs into the 3B1 keyboard via a proprietary connector. It's _not_ a generic mouse physically. The keyboard connects to the CPU via serial interface (through a 6850 UART) so it's possible that the mouse is an ordinary serial mouse of the era. There must be some magic in the keyboard that reads mouse events and sends them up the serial line to the CPU. The other trick is it's a three-button mouse which was not common in personal computers of the era. -ethan