ADB Optical mouse by Kensington

[joethezombie]

Today I was going through boxes from the great haul of 2016 and came across this mouse.  It's a Kensington mouse, but it's optical!  :-O

It looks like a regular Apple ADB cord, and there's no labels on it.  It is fantastic!  I love this mouse.  Anyone know what model it is?  I'd like to find more, but Googling Kensington ADB optical mouse doesn't lend any real results.

 

[Dandu]

I have one like that, but my model is an USB mouse, with an ADB adapter : https://www.journaldulapin.com/2017/04/12/optical-usb-adb/

 

[ArmorAlley]

It is a nice thing to have.

Nowadays, it is as easy to get one of BMOW's USB-ADB adaptors and use your USB mouse of choice. Mine is the Microsoft Intellimouse from 2000.

 

[joethezombie]

Yeah, I bought a Wombat from BMOW a while ago, but I have to say I love living the dongle-free life with this little guy!

 

[Tarantulas]

Today I was going through boxes from the great haul of 2016 and came across this mouse. It's a Kensington mouse, but it's optical! :-O

It looks like a regular Apple ADB cord, and there's no labels on it. It is fantastic! I love this mouse. Anyone know what model it is? I'd like to find more, but Googling Kensington ADB optical mouse doesn't lend any real results.

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Very cool!

 

[Tarantulas]

I have one like that, but my model is an USB mouse, with an ADB adapter : https://www.journaldulapin.com/2017/04/12/optical-usb-adb/

Do you know the model number?

 

[ArmorAlley]

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Is it just me or does anyone else notice a mismatch between the ADB cable and the mouse?

Can it be that an ADB cable was stuck into a laser mouse?
Platinum grey was most definitely out of fashion in the late 1990s. This mouse would have had a white or translucent USB cable.

Here is a picture from one of the links above for the Mouse



And this picture is from Archive.org for kensington.com for the Mouse•in•a•Box.
I bought one of these and it came with a ball, alas.
The PDF for the Mouse•in•a•Box Family is also here.

Kensington: Products: Mouse·in·a·Box® for Mac

Final thought: you might just very well have Kensington's development model of an ADB optical mouse!

 

[Dandu]

Do you know the model number?

 

[olePigeon]

Interesting that it says USB/ADB. I wonder if there's a built-in USB to ADB adapter inside the housing.

 

[Tarantulas]

So is the other end USB or ADB? Or does it include an adapter to turn one into the other?

 

[Dandu]

The mouse has a USB-A connector, and there's a proprietary adapter with a female USB connector and a male ADB connector that only works with this mouse.

Une souris optique ADB et USB pour Mac - Le journal du lapin

Au début des années 2000, Kensington a proposé une souris pour Mac assez spéciale, capable de fonctionner en ADB mais aussi en USB.

www.journaldulapin.com

 

[Tarantulas]

So is the other end USB or ADB? Or does it include an adapter to turn one into the other?

Sorry... scrolled up and saw your original post.

 

[Tarantulas]

The mouse has a USB-A connector, and there's a proprietary adapter with a female USB connector and a male ADB connector that only works with this mouse.

Une souris optique ADB et USB pour Mac - Le journal du lapin

Au début des années 2000, Kensington a proposé une souris pour Mac assez spéciale, capable de fonctionner en ADB mais aussi en USB.

www.journaldulapin.com

That's interesting to know that it only works with that specific mouse.

Now I want to see the board inside the mouse LOL

 

[Arbee]

That sounds like some mice in the early 2000s that had a USB-A connector and a works-only-with-that-mouse adapter to PS/2.

 

[JustG]

Didn't Kensington also make a hybrid USB and ADB trackball with a similar adapter? I wonder if the adapter and circuitry are the same between the two products.

 

[ravuya]

That sounds like some mice in the early 2000s that had a USB-A connector and a works-only-with-that-mouse adapter to PS/2.

Yeah, I've seen some PS/2 mice that contain a "USB" microcontroller and optical sensor. They just fall back to PS/2 after a couple seconds of not getting a USB poll, or probably after getting a PS/2 reset. Probably the same thing is happening here, or the ADB cable has a magic resistor in it to hint to the controller which mode to be in.

Here's an example one, the PAW3515DB: https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pdf/558660/PIXART/PAW3515DB.html

 

[Powerbase]

Today I was going through boxes from the great haul of 2016 and came across this mouse. It's a Kensington mouse, but it's optical! :-O

It looks like a regular Apple ADB cord, and there's no labels on it. It is fantastic! I love this mouse. Anyone know what model it is? I'd like to find more, but Googling Kensington ADB optical mouse doesn't lend any real results.

View attachment 16170View attachment 16171

That definitely doesn't look stock, most likely modified. It'd be interesting to see what's on the inside.

 

[daanvdl]

Didn't Kensington also make a hybrid USB and ADB trackball with a similar adapter? I wonder if the adapter and circuitry are the same between the two products.

For completeness and future reference, I reverse engineered the pinout back to the two microcontrollers on the mouseboard or the Kensington 64210.
The MiniDin8 breakout cable pinout is:

Pin 1	ADB Data
Pin 2	ADB VCC (5V)
Pin 3	USB VCC (5V)
Pin 4	USB DATA-
Pin 5	USB DATA+
Pin 6	GND
Pin 7	NC
Pin 8	NC