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Microsoft vs Logitech serial mice - Differences and troubleshooting

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Nama

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I have an old Zenith Laptop ZFL-181-93 which has a single DB25 RS232 serial port.
I recently decided to hook up one of my Logitech compatible mice (Dexxa brand - I have a couple and have tested them to work on another machine) to the machine via a DB25 to DB9 adaptor and then a DB9 gender changer. I tried various (a lot!) different mouse drivers in MS-DOS 3.20, but I can not get it to work. The buttons seem to be recognised but movement is non existent. I used a mouse test program to confirm. However when I plug in my Microsoft two button serial mouse, everything works perfectly.
I guess the easiest solution is to use the Microsoft mouse, but I actually need this specific mouse for another machine, hence my need to get the logitech mice to work.

I have found some info here regarding the logitech mouse, but provides me with no insights.
https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse477/00sp/projectwebs/groupb/PS2-mouse/mouse.html

Wondering if anyone has experienced this before or knows of a solution.

Thanks
 
Have you tried ctmouse? It has a good reputation for working with anything and has low memory usage. Only caution is I think you'll have to use the older v1.9 branch with an 8088-based machine.

I suppose it's remotely possible that there could be some obscure hardware issue like the Dexxa mouse requires more power than the MS mouse and the funky-tastic method that serial mice use to power themselves isn't working for them because of some property of the Zenith laptops' serial port.
 
Eudimorphodon said:
Have you tried ctmouse? It has a good reputation for working with anything and has low memory usage. Only caution is I think you'll have to use the older v1.9 branch with an 8088-based machine.

I suppose it's remotely possible that there could be some obscure hardware issue like the Dexxa mouse requires more power than the MS mouse and the funky-tastic method that serial mice use to power themselves isn't working for them because of some property of the Zenith laptops' serial port.
Click to expand...


Hi, thanks for the reply. Yes, ctmouse was one of the first ones I tried, and the one that I'm using for the MS mouse...works very well. After it launches it accurately detects wether the mouse that is plugged in is Microsoft or Logitech...so that's something! I also have a genuine logitech mouse and that also doesn't work so possibly not a Dexxa specific issue. I wonder if it's my arrangement of DB25 - DB9 pin adaptor, then a gender changer that means some signal is getting lost??? Doesn't sound right though as the same arrangement works with the MS mouse.

Thanks!
 
Are you sure you are not plugging into a parallel port? You should not need a gender change unless you 9 to 25 pin adapter also changes genders.
 
Shadow Lord said:
Are you sure you are not plugging into a parallel port? You should not need a gender change unless you 9 to 25 pin adapter also changes genders.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately my only adaptor also changes gender. Yes, 100% sure I'm using the RS332 port.
Thanks!
 
hi jafir,
Yes, the mouse works fine on my 486 in DOS or wWindows 3.1. I just tried that version of the logitech driver (I've tried others), still no go. "Mouse is not responding" so driver doesn't load.
I've even grabbed the mouse driver from my 486 and tried that...still no go :-(

May see if I can try a different arrangement of adaptors.
 
I'm genuinely starting to wonder about my theory about it being some kind of power or grounding problem. You said the buttons work, maybe for some reason the LEDs in the movement sensors aren't lighting up.

If you can check continuity through your adapter stack and make sure it connects every control line? Months ago I read a datasheet that talks about how mice generate the power they use from the RS-232 signal lines, maybe the logitech and Microsoft mice have slightly different schemes.
 
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