3 ms·
Is that the same optical mouse you could find in Xerox-Olivetti 8088 PCs? What the pictures do not show is the raster pattern mouse pad it required. Basically s
by anilakar 3y ago
Is that the same optical mouse you could find in Xerox-Olivetti 8088 PCs? What the pictures do not show is the raster pattern mouse pad it required. Basically same tech as in ordinary mice but the optical encoders looked directly at the surface, not at grated discs rotated by a rubber ball.
I much later found again the same mouse pad and started using it for nostalgia reasons. Sadly the mouse itself, IIRC, was not directly compatible with standard serial mice.
My dad worked almost his whole career as a Xerox (and later outsourced) service tech and I remember having all kinds of cool stuff discarded by them at home. Not many kids had their 486 full of SCSI discs.
- kps 3y agoMine is optical. (Unlike other common optical mice, like Sun's, the Xerox ones work fine on a printed background.)
- AlbertCory 3y agoNo, it had a rubber ball in it at the introduction. I even have a paragraph or two in Inventing the Future about how we brought a box of spare mice to the NCC, since the balls would get dirty from all the people handling them.
- knuckleheadsmif 3y agoIt originally shipped with a mechanical mouse. Later on Xerox changed to an optical mouse with crappy cheap buttons. It did rely on alternating patterns but blue jeans worked well. :-)