Kensington Expert Mouse versions: need help identifying

[Voixdelion]

Hi again geekfellows!

Once again I have spent the better part of the last few days correcting errors in various listings on ebay for lazy people who cannot be bothered to research thoroughly - While I am glad to save complete strangers the annoyance of dealing with received or returned items that were not what was expected, this is getting a little tedious in terms of Kensington not giving each generation a unique nomenclature.  

I am currently interested in one item that is listed as 64215 for pc but is attached with an 8 pin mini din cord?

I thought that this came with the serial 9-pin d-sub /ps2 adapter like the one I currently have, but I think this model was also released for apple/mac as well.  I used to understand that the apple counterparts carried the name "turbo mouse" but it would appear that at least one 2 button apple design also was called "expert" as well.

Did variants of the version 5 line carry the same internal workings with just a different attached cord or is there other circuitry that differentiated them specifically as Mac or PC compatible?  How many different input variations, in fact are there?  Is the 8 pin cord on this expert mouse even one that it shipped with and did it also have the 64215 model number?  I can only piece together the story since Kensington has nothing available on the specs of their older stock.

EDIT>> That just gave me some inspiration, but I'll post it separate from this question...

Thanks again for any clarity you can contribute!

[kishy]

8 pin mini DIN is correct for early ones. I'll get a pic up soon of my early 64215.

It is PS/2 and serial, the cable is just kinda proprietary.

[kishy]

Alright, so there is a "version" number. 5.0 in my case.

This is PS/2 and DE-9 serial, compatible with "PCs". I doubt it is also ADB compatible with a different cable so I'm not going to investigate that.

[Voixdelion]

Mine is the same too.

He said that his had 8 pins on BOTH ends of the cable, though :dizzy:- what port would that connect to on a PC?  I've seen it only on modems with my LC-475 Mac circa early 90's.  Is that the "Apple Data Bus" ?  The info I saw specified the ADB connection as 4 pin (looks like S-video plug with wider plastic plug or something - I'll see if I can find that page again, maybe I was just overwhelmed with trying to sort out what was what.)  I was thinking maybe they just grabbed the first cord that looked like it would fit the port without knowing what it was supposed to be...

I'm tempted to bid on this anyway but how much $ depends upon whether I have to shop for and ship a cord as well, plus there isn't any certainty this is working since they obviously don't know what to plug it into to test it.
 but it still might be a better choice (even broken) than these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00000K4LD/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=all

Yowza.:madgrin:  I don't want one THAT badly!

[kishy]

ADB = Apple Desktop Bus.

The modems you're talking about actually went on a serial port...or maybe it was a dedicated modem port, I forget now. I had a 475 so I know what I/O they have, roughly at least.

ADB is 4 pins. Wikipedia page supplies a diagram of the connector. I suspect someone indicating 8 pins on both ends...

a) didn't look at the other end, and it may be PS/2 but they assumed it's the same because it's round

b) genuinely has such a cable, but it's not intended for this use, but since it fit the plug they assumed it went with the trackball

c) genuinely has such a cable, and we've tracked down a trackball for an interface we aren't familiar with

[ricercar]

Apple Desktop Bus cabling is the same hardware as SVideo. The signals are different; don't plug one into another. Also don't hotplug ADB.

Apple serial connections, DIN-8, were called Printer and Modem, but the only real difference was in the AppleTalk Protocol hardware gating (I forget what it's really called: stop start via hardware) available only on the Printer port.

EDIT handshaking? Maybe AppleTalk has odd handshaking. I retired all my 680x0 Macintosh gear and now I'm forgetting more than you ever knew about vintage Macintosh.

[Voixdelion]

... someone indicating 8 pins on both ends...

a) didn't look at the other end, and it may be PS/2 but they assumed it's the same because it's round

b) genuinely has such a cable, but it's not intended for this use, but since it fit the plug they assumed it went with the trackball

c) genuinely has such a cable, and we've tracked down a trackball for an interface we aren't familiar with

I think this is why I have spent so much time here lately - That was PRECISELY my line of thinking...  When I discovered (after asking the seller to visually verify) that option A was out, I inquired further along the lines of option B while presenting the information that I was familiar with in order to encourage such an admission, but just in case of option C I should ask around where I knew there to be well-informed folk on such topic.

And thus, we are come hither.  

Apple Desktop Bus cabling is the same hardware as SVideo. The signals are different; don't plug one into another. Also don't hotplug ADB.

Apple serial connections, DIN-8, were called Printer and Modem, but the only real difference was in the AppleTalk Protocol hardware gating (I forget what it's really called: stop start via hardware) available only on the Printer port.

Thanks for the specifics on that - better than anything I read to try and figure it out and it took all of  a few sentences... Sheesh, why didn't they just say that?

After conferring here, I strongly suspect (unless there is information forthcoming still from others who object) that the true nature of the issue is in fact option B.  But it never hurts to double check.  

This means  if I bid, i bid low, and primarily for the purposes of spare parts.

Excellent.  Great sounding board, this board.  

Thanks again!