Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!DBNUAMA1.BITNET!VBRANDT
From: VBRANDT@DBNUAMA1.BITNET
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Atari ST mouse: is there an alternative?
Message-ID: <8903061707.AA18570@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: 6 Mar 89 17:07:21 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 50
X-Unparsable-Date: Mon, 06 Mar 89 17:01:58 SET

In Info-Atari16 Digest V89 #44, Lee J. Dickey writes:                          :

>I had a 1040 ST for about two years, and had no trouble to speak of with
>any aspect of hardware.  In November, I traded up to a Mega ST2.  As
>many of you know, I like to use Gulam and prefer using keystrokes to
>using the mouse, so my mouse does not get a lot of wear.

Same here (except that I upgraded in July '88, and to a Mega 4).

>... noticed that the arrow liked to go to the right but not to the left.  I
>did what I had done several times before with the mouse on the 1040,
>clean the lint from the ball and the rollers.  I even took off the cover
>and cleaned the rollers and disk from above.

Well, my arrow didn't like to go up or down. This problem came and went.
I, too, opened and thoroughly cleaned the beast.

>But this time the problem persists.  I have not mis-treated the cord,
>which lies slack on my desktop, so I doubt broken wires in this case.

Same here. Worse, sometimes the mouse arrow starts 'wandering' in little
(one-pixel) increments.

>Now, I am worried.  Any other suggestions?  Since this is a "one way"
>problem, I suspect a diode in the motion detection circuit inside the
>mouse.  Any insight or suggestions would be appreciated.

Since my mouse sometimes moves on its own, I suspect the optical detector
(don't know the tech term, the thingie that sits behind the little wheel
opposite the light source :-).

Solution?  I have no idea. Maybe some friendly EE can come up with a more
accurate description of how the mouse works (or even a part # to replace).

##### WARNING: FLAMES AND UNPROVEN ALLEGATIONS AHEAD #####

Strangely, Atari Germany offers a "DM 50 new mouse trade-in policy", whereas
normally they won't even sell motherboards. Maybe there are some mouse pro-
duction problems ?????  Also, since they changed from the 'Japan mouse' to
the 'Taiwan mouse', quality has decreased drastically. After a year of regular
(ie daily but not excessive) use, the left mouse button usually fails. So this
is 'power without the price' ... maybe it's only Atari Germany behaving weird.
(Wouldn't be the first time ...)

##### ENDWARNING ####

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