A very unusual IBM mouse (not PS/2)

[Findecanor]

I picked up this mouse at a flea market today, for .. nothing! The seller gave it to me because I was the only person who had ever showed any interest in it, and that is something that I can not refuse. Thanks!


The label on the underside. Made in Japan. For IBM Japan?


It is a ball mouse. There is nothing special about the ball, but the rollers within the ball housing are metal!


I have never seen this connector before. It has an almost square profile and six holes for connector pins:


It has the width, breadth and height of most other mice, except that it is a box. The entire mouse weights about twice as much as my Logitech ball mice.

I wonder what kind of machine and applications that this mouse was meant for... If anyone has a use for it, I would be happy to pass it along for the cost of shipping.

[Morning Song]

Googling the part number on the label there returns an "IBM RT-PC mouse" for what it's worth. The all-numbers part number starting with 6 reminds me of the Model F keyboards, so possibly that era? I don't know if there's any true pattern to IBM Model numbers, though.

[ch_123]

I was thinking it was an RT mouse even before I read Morningsong's post. The RT 6150 was IBM's first Unix workstation. The RT keyboard had the same connector as it.

And sure enough -



As for the Japan bit - IBM's mice used to be made by Alps. Early ones were made in Japan or Ireland, then they were made in Taiwan. Then IBM started using Logitech stuff instead, in addition to their own custom designs.

[microsoft windows]

That mouse doesn't look too ergonomic.

[EverythingIBM]

I can see why it's not very well known...

[microsoft windows]

Approximately 23,000 RTs were sold over the lifetime of the product,

That's one rare mouse you got there.

[ch_123]

A series of inept business decisions by IBM led to the failure of the RT 6150.



[size=-3](and their entire PC and workstation line as a whole. But that's another story...)[/size]

[ch_123]

The RT was a bit of a disaster, albeit a business one as opposed to a technical one... Like pretty much all the computers IBM was making around then.

[ch_123]

Pinout here.

H.11 - What is the pinout of the 6150/6151 Mouse/Tablet port?
 
   [ Has anybody gotten a NON-IBM RT mouse running on an RT?
     Or have a 3 button mouse that works on an RT? - MW ]

     Here is pin-out and information on the RT locator port.
     More information is available from "IBM RT PC Hardware Technical
     Reference" Volume 1 P/N 75X2032,  Chapter 9  pages 9-24 thru 9-29,
     and from Chapter 5, pages 5-131 thru 5-135 and page 5-145.

    [ The connector is a AMP type, I don't have the P/N of how to get the
     parts to construct one - MW ]

        Connector Specifications:
        (view is looking into the connector (male receptacle) socket on the
         back of the RT system unit.

______
|1  3  5|
|2  4  6|
-------

  1 = ground.
                 2 = Transmit to device.
                  3 = +12 Volts
              4 = -12 Volts
                       5 =  +5 Volts
         6 = Receive from device.

    The RT standard locator device is a two button mouse.
    The middle button on a three button mouse can be simulated by
    pressing both buttons simultaniously, mostly used for X-windows.

      Resolution: 25, 50, 100 or 200 counts per inch.  Default=100.
      Sampling rate: Programmable 10,20,40,60,80 or 100.  Default=100.
      Data modes:  Stream (default), remote.
      Scaling: Linear (default), exponential.
      Protocol: RS232C, 9600 baud, async, full duplex,
         1 stop bit, odd parity.

      - Self test at power-on or when requested by system.
      - The locator device is semi-intelligent and has 14 different
        commands that it understands.
      - 11 bit framing protocol.

Also, YGPM