Re: TI-H: ADB Mouse

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Re: TI-H: ADB Mouse


>No.  I don't think you use a Mac.

NOT use a MACINTOSH! Right I never use my PowerBook 1400cs or my 
Performa 550/CD. I have a PC and got SOFTWINDOWS 4.0 to emulate it on my 
Mac! At least it runs on a Mac.

>Macintosh mouses don't have any driver
>chips at all.  Macintoshes have smart firmware that can recognize a 
mouse
>or keyboard and install the generic driver.

That isnt all as acurate as you think. ALL Macintosh Keyboards & Mice 
have an ADB (Apple Desktop Bus) interface chip. That chip converts the 
key or movement data to a simple protocol that is read by the computer's 
ADB chip. The toolbox can get that data simply and easily and run it 
through the Tool Box's generic driver. 

For special mouses, drivers
>can be written that use the Took Box (Rom routines) to make a driver.  

Duh! but they still use an ADB chip, cause Mac mice/keyboards don't plug 
in to the serial communications port(s).

>Mac
>mice are just like IBM mice, but Macs were made to use them.  IBM mice
>ccann be modified to work on macintoshes easily.

Right! Sure they Are. I KNOW THAT. The hardware is pretty well the same, 
but NO PC MOUSE HAS AN ADB CHIP. It therefore wasn't designed for the 
ADB port. Even if you plug it into the serial port and write a driver 
for it, it will fail the first time you start without extensions on. The 
only way to fix that would be to go deep into the wonderful world of 
programming and create a replacement for that generic driver that would 
somehow be called on startup when the drve boots up or maybe mess with 
the system file.

The ALPS GlidePoint has a custom ADB chip, like most joysticks and 
nonstandard mice, but it EMULATES the data output of a standard ADB 
Macintosh Mouse, so it works with the generic driver. I was asking if 
the PC serial version of the ALPS glide point could emulate the common 
Microsoft Mouse Driver. If so, someone may be able to look at that & see 
how it works and create an AVR or PIC that would either interface to the 
PC Serial or the Macintosh ADB.

The ALPS GlidePoint for Mac is only $10 through Mac Mall. They even give 
them away for free with certian bundles. If someone knew how to work 
with the PC Serial version, then it could probably even connect via the 
graphlink. An AVR would be best though, because I believe we would want 
to access it's internal data and find the x,y coordinates of the point 
of contact rather than movement (or read either. Thatway some programs 
could use it to guide movement and others would react to the EXACT 
position of the finger on it's surface (we would need to leave some room 
on the edges unused to get the full screen because you can't tough all 
the way to the edge).).


Richard Piotter

E-Mail:
richfiles1@hotmail.com
richfiles@usa.net

The Richfiles:
<A 
HREF="http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/5081/Richfiles.html">The 
Richfiles TI Page</A>
<A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/8510/Richfiles.html">The 
Richfiles Model Building Page</A>


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