Does anyone make "retro" USB mice in the style of the old, boxy ones from the 80s?

[CLAVDIVS]

I mean things like the Mouse Systems mouse that was barely more than a grey brick with buttons. Those really chunky, blocky looking ones from the early days of mousing. Does anyone make modern USB mice like that? I could really use one for a retro-styled casemod I'm working on.

[Findecanor]

I have seen a optical mouse kit for putting inside an old Amiga "tank" mouse.
That style of mouse was also used with Commodore PCs, and C64/128 BTW.

Edit: It turned out to be for upgrading the old mouse for use on old Amigas, sorry.
There is also a similar kit for the Atari ST mouse.
But at least there are adapters from Amiga and Atari to USB.

[Tha_Pig]

There are kits that allow you to convert an old mouse to optical usb one.
Here is a video on how to convert an old Apple mouse, but I guess with a little work it could be used on different old models.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIvFI8KJivM

[joedon]

Any update, OP? A retro mouse with optical is a nice idea.

[Findecanor]

There might be a kit for the one-button Apple Desktop Bus Mouse II later on this year ... but that may not be old style enough.
Edit: The guy behind it has disappeared ... Never mind.

[CLAVDIVS]

Any update, OP? A retro mouse with optical is a nice idea.

Nothing so far. What I might end up doing is just using a vintage mouse with a USB serial port.

[BWorp]

I bought one of these recently:



They are no longer being made, but there seems to be a lot of new old stock floating about on ebay etc.

HOWEVER, as cool as it looks in pictures, it is absolute garbage. I did a little review here

Basically, the whole thing feels really light and flimsy, and there's only 2 screws in the entire thing. The PCB is just wedged inside the thing by a couple of plastic pillars. It all just falls out when you open it.
The finish on it is yucky - it has that shiny, smooth, slightly brushed look like cheap knock-off toys, and the red light of the sensor shines through the case!!!. Literally, the mouse has a visible red glow when in use.
That being said, the click of the buttons is actually sort of satisfying, and the scroll wheel works better (for now) than many other cheap mice I've owned.

[Ilostmytoeinvietnam]

This is something that I have been wondering myself as well. I think that if there was a Modern Bluetooth mouse in a classic mouse enclosure, that would be cool. This is an old thread I know, but I was wondering if their was any updates on if anyone has found anything yet.

[zrrion]

Someone is making an NES styled mouse, which is kinda close.

[Findecanor]

Yeah, but it is styled after a NES gamepad.

[-Space-NATO-]

Yeah, but it is styled after a NES gamepad.

has anyone tried it? is it comfortable?

[Hak Foo]

If you can go mid-90s, the new Pro Intellimouse has the classic shape but comes in a colour that looks filthy and worn out the moment you take it out of the box.

[Yasu0]

Anybody got any new 2020 input on this subject? Any good retro mice out there? It would seem to be very much simpler to mass produce one of these versus a retro keyboard.

And how bad would it be really, to just use a genuine old mouse versus a retro one? Isn't it just a case of ps2 to usb passive adapter.. I don't remember the old ball mice really being that bad. Just clean the gunk off the wheels once in a while and you're golden. As far as the missing scroll wheel, its easy enough to just use spacebar and shift-spacebar to scroll the old deskthority.

[gipetto]

I used a ball mouse far longer than I should have and they maxed out at 200 dpi, so acceleration was a must with modern screens or you would have lots of pixels you couldn't actually click on. i did a hack on linux a year ago to use a ball mouse and had to use a 6x sensitivity on my 1920x1080 screen.

[Yasu0]

Screw it I'll try a few and see what it does. 80's mice are cheap enough to be worth it just for the fun of it. Not at all priced like some of these old keyboards..

[Yasu0]

Got a 1985 Logitech C7 (USA), 1987 IBM PS2 (Japan), and a 1989 Logitech series 9 (Ireland). Will post how they work out. I don't remember old mice being bad at all, but may be that my rose tinted glasses are coming into play.

Based design dates on this site- https://www.oldmouse.com/

Same like you gipetto, I used ball mice way past when normal people switched to optical. Some of the others at the company I was at also preferred them over optical mice. I'm talking design dept guys who mouse'd lines that actually mattered.

[gipetto]

I had an ami mouse serial 3 button, looked identical to this ebay advert, loved the shape

https://www.ebay.ie/itm/Vintage-Altrix- ... 4221098218

the shape was such that it could fit any hand comfortably, if your fingers were long they would overhang the buttons. with modern mice they all taper to the front and you are forced into a fingertip grip. the lack of a wheel wasn't a big issue, easier to scroll in many respects because the wheel doesn't deflect when you middle click. I still have the shell here, was planning on doing a pcb transplant some day.

[hellothere]

I happen to love trackballs. The one I have is virtually unchanged in appearance since the 1990s. The company that now makes it is X-Keys. Take a look. They do have a beige one and one that has fun colors. There are also ones with light-up trackballs.

Also, in the 1990s, Microsoft produced what has been called the best trackball ever, the Trackball Explorer. There is a company that makes one that looks more-or-less the same. Here ya go.

When I think of a "vintage mouse," though, I think of something like this.

Remember that vintage mice are in now way considered ergonomic and that's one of the reasons you won't find a currently manufactured "vintage" mouse with new internals. Lawsuits ...

[Yasu0]

Here is the IBM.. feels fine initially. I guess I'll find out how fine it is when it gets some real extended use.

[Scarpia]

You could DIY it and get the best of both worlds — buy the retro mouse you like best and a cheap optical mini mouse, and swap out the guts.

I did exactly that for a retromod a while back:

https://imgur.com/gallery/mQFKe

[Yasu0]

Nice one. I may try that on one of the Logitech series 9 mice, if the guts of that red wireless fit.

[cakeanalytics]

The IBM mod looks very cool. Would be even better if one could add a scroll wheel without breaking the retro look.

[Rayndalf]

The IBM mod looks very cool. Would be even better if one could add a scroll wheel without breaking the retro look.

A prototype scrollwheel mouse was built from the same shell.
viewtopic.php?t=18726

[kps]

A couple decades ago, when obsolete Apple M0100 mice were a dime a dozen, I made this by transplanting the internals of a Microsoft mouse:

m0100a-01-mouse.jpg (8.09 KiB) Viewed 126267 times

[cakeanalytics]

The IBM mod looks very cool. Would be even better if one could add a scroll wheel without breaking the retro look.

A prototype scrollwheel mouse was built from the same shell.
viewtopic.php?t=18726

Very cool! Definitely adding it to my projects queue.

[Findecanor]

Retro Games Ltd have announced the TheA500 mini, an ARM-based "retro console" in the shape of a tiny Amiga 500 with built-in Amiga games.

It is going to come with a replica of the Commodore "Tank" mouse that speaks USB, and also a gamepad inspired by the CD32's but A500-beige. I'm expecting them to sell the gamepad separately, and I'm hoping that they are going to sell the mouse separately as well.

[TNT]

https://www.etsy.com/de/listing/9935688 ... hop_review

The same guy who made this is working on a "modernized" Version with 2 mouse buttons.

Kinda like this, I hope.

A couple decades ago, when obsolete Apple M0100 mice were a dime a dozen, I made this by transplanting the internals of a Microsoft mouse:

m0100a-01-mouse.jpg

[AnnoyedWalrus]

I just thought I should share some progress that I have made on a 3D printing project I started a couple of weeks ago. It is mainly so that I will feel accountable to someone and finally finish a project.

The plan was to transplant the innards from a Logitech M325 with a broken scrollwheel that I used to use with my Laptop into a 3D printed shell, designed to resemble an old IBM mouse.

20211126_212421.jpg (2.48 MiB) Viewed 120992 times

Please forgive the colourscheme, it's just for the protoyping phase. When/if I manage to make something that works I'll have it printed on a SLA printer.

[gipetto]

heh, i like it, don't know if i'd find the shape comfortable though. I could live without a wheel but i'd have to have a middle click to scroll with.

[Findecanor]

Two Amiga "tank" mice are on the way!

The TheA500 Mini "mini console" has a USB mouse which is also available separately (so far only pre-order) in many locations, but I think we could say with 95% confidence that it will be shipped.
However, it is slightly smaller than the original (which can be seen in Retro Recipe's video)

Then there's a Kickstarter for a wireless Tank mouse. The buttons are slightly narrower to make room for a touch-sensitive scrolling strip between them.