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ADB Optical mouse by Kensington
Posted by: joethezombie on 2018-04-04 16:40:04
Today I was going through boxes from the great haul of 2016 and came across this mouse.  It's a Kensington mouse, but it's optical!  :-O

It looks like a regular Apple ADB cord, and there's no labels on it.  It is fantastic!  I love this mouse.  Anyone know what model it is?  I'd like to find more, but Googling Kensington ADB optical mouse doesn't lend any real results.

IMG_1874.jpgIMG_1876.jpg

Posted by: Dandu on 2018-04-05 05:22:49
I have one like that, but my model is an USB mouse, with an ADB adapter : https://www.journaldulapin.com/2017/04/12/optical-usb-adb/

Posted by: ArmorAlley on 2018-04-05 05:47:04
It is a nice thing to have.

Nowadays, it is as easy to get one of BMOW's USB-ADB adaptors and use your USB mouse of choice. Mine is the Microsoft Intellimouse from 2000.

Posted by: joethezombie on 2018-04-05 08:08:30
Yeah, I bought a Wombat from BMOW a while ago, but I have to say I love living the dongle-free life with this little guy!

Posted by: Tarantulas on 2023-12-09 09:54:54
Today I was going through boxes from the great haul of 2016 and came across this mouse. It's a Kensington mouse, but it's optical! :-O

It looks like a regular Apple ADB cord, and there's no labels on it. It is fantastic! I love this mouse. Anyone know what model it is? I'd like to find more, but Googling Kensington ADB optical mouse doesn't lend any real results.

View attachment 16170View attachment 16171
Very cool!
Posted by: Tarantulas on 2023-12-09 10:21:28
I have one like that, but my model is an USB mouse, with an ADB adapter : https://www.journaldulapin.com/2017/04/12/optical-usb-adb/
Do you know the model number?
Posted by: ArmorAlley on 2023-12-09 11:51:16
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Is it just me or does anyone else notice a mismatch between the ADB cable and the mouse?

Can it be that an ADB cable was stuck into a laser mouse?
Platinum grey was most definitely out of fashion in the late 1990s. This mouse would have had a white or translucent USB cable.

Here is a picture from one of the links above for the Mouse
1702151144314.png

1702151157731.png
And this picture is from Archive.org for kensington.com for the Mouse•in•a•Box.
I bought one of these and it came with a ball, alas.
The PDF for the Mouse•in•a•Box Family is also here.


Final thought: you might just very well have Kensington's development model of an ADB optical mouse!
Posted by: Dandu on 2023-12-11 06:25:23
Do you know the model number?
Posted by: olePigeon on 2023-12-11 09:44:25
Interesting that it says USB/ADB. I wonder if there's a built-in USB to ADB adapter inside the housing.
Posted by: Tarantulas on 2024-01-04 08:51:41
So is the other end USB or ADB? Or does it include an adapter to turn one into the other?
Posted by: Dandu on 2024-01-04 09:58:34
The mouse has a USB-A connector, and there's a proprietary adapter with a female USB connector and a male ADB connector that only works with this mouse.

Posted by: Tarantulas on 2024-01-04 09:59:37
So is the other end USB or ADB? Or does it include an adapter to turn one into the other?
Sorry... scrolled up and saw your original post.
Posted by: Tarantulas on 2024-01-04 10:00:14
The mouse has a USB-A connector, and there's a proprietary adapter with a female USB connector and a male ADB connector that only works with this mouse.

That's interesting to know that it only works with that specific mouse.

Now I want to see the board inside the mouse LOL
Posted by: Arbee on 2024-01-04 14:00:59
That sounds like some mice in the early 2000s that had a USB-A connector and a works-only-with-that-mouse adapter to PS/2.
Posted by: JustG on 2024-01-04 14:10:55
Didn't Kensington also make a hybrid USB and ADB trackball with a similar adapter? I wonder if the adapter and circuitry are the same between the two products.
Posted by: ravuya on 2024-09-26 13:09:50
That sounds like some mice in the early 2000s that had a USB-A connector and a works-only-with-that-mouse adapter to PS/2.
Yeah, I've seen some PS/2 mice that contain a "USB" microcontroller and optical sensor. They just fall back to PS/2 after a couple seconds of not getting a USB poll, or probably after getting a PS/2 reset. Probably the same thing is happening here, or the ADB cable has a magic resistor in it to hint to the controller which mode to be in.

Here's an example one, the PAW3515DB: https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pdf/558660/PIXART/PAW3515DB.html
Posted by: Powerbase on 2024-09-26 13:20:19
Today I was going through boxes from the great haul of 2016 and came across this mouse. It's a Kensington mouse, but it's optical! :-O

It looks like a regular Apple ADB cord, and there's no labels on it. It is fantastic! I love this mouse. Anyone know what model it is? I'd like to find more, but Googling Kensington ADB optical mouse doesn't lend any real results.

View attachment 16170View attachment 16171
That definitely doesn't look stock, most likely modified. It'd be interesting to see what's on the inside.
Posted by: daanvdl on 2025-03-07 04:20:10
Didn't Kensington also make a hybrid USB and ADB trackball with a similar adapter? I wonder if the adapter and circuitry are the same between the two products.
For completeness and future reference, I reverse engineered the pinout back to the two microcontrollers on the mouseboard or the Kensington 64210.
The MiniDin8 breakout cable pinout is:

Pin 1ADB Data
Pin 2ADB VCC (5V)
Pin 3USB VCC (5V)
Pin 4USB DATA-
Pin 5USB DATA+
Pin 6GND
Pin 7NC
Pin 8NC
1