Tetrium wrote:

These definitely last forever! I've been using mine for around the same amount of time. Some of mine are supplied with an OEM stamp, like Fujitsu-Siemens, but mine is an SBF69 but I recognize your mouse as well. I think these are great! 😁

Yep old Logitech is nothing alike today`s logitech, that is total trash, but they did get big amounts of money, so now they can produce only expensive trash that does not last long...

My MX518 finally died - so I bought a Mouseman (which still works on PS/2), and then two new old stock MX518s...

Here are pictures of the two PS/2 mice that I mainly use.

This is the mouse that I use on my main retro setup - a Dell-branded Microsoft IntelliMouse:

And this is the mouse that I use the most on my testbench setup - a KEIO optical wheel mouse:

King_Corduroy wrote:

I have two PS/2 Mice I absolutely love: […]
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I have two PS/2 Mice I absolutely love:

Logitech / Compaq M-S69

And for my 90's computers I use a Compaq MUS4J

Both are ball mice, after switching to optical 6+ years ago I finally got sick of them. Optical mice just don't have the right weight or balance to them (or something, they are just kinda weird feeling) and they are WAY more sensitive than a ball mouse which makes them pretty useless for anything other than playing FPS games. Now that I've switched back to ball, I've had to clean it once or twice but the feeling is just perfect, optical mice have nothing on ball mice. 😁

How fitting that the guy with the avatar showing the logo of the world's worst PC manufacturer prefers the world's worst mouse design! I recently bought a ball mouse myself but really only to remind myself how much they sucked. 😉

My retro mainstay is a Logitech MX518 with a PS/2 adapter. There's no difference really between the feeling of it and my main PC's mouse (Logitech G503 Naughtius Maximus Biggus Dickus Proteus Spectrum) except the lower DPI and since the max DPI of the G503 can charitably be called "excessive" that's not much of a loss. What I'd really like to have is an original Razer Viper, Krait, or Diamondback but those don't speak PS/2.

Any votes for this one?

One of the first I ever used, very simple IBM two-button mouse from the late 90's. I love it.

Considering that's the ball mouse I have and it's a reminder of how much I hate them, nope, not voting for that one. 😁

I suppose there are worse things you could buy new for $8, like the new Justin Timberlake album or something, but it's pretty bad.

After more then a decade I finally replaced my main mice for G403 Hero, so my still perfectly working MX518 now can be my full time retro PS/2 mice (one of the last mohicans, which still works with USB=>PS/2 adapters).

To my surprise, almost all those no frills Logitech and Logi-OEM mice work with a passive USB2PS2 adapter. And they are plentiful.

Logitech Trackman Marble plus:

They released it in a native USB version, as well as native PS/2 (I have both on my desk - one in PS2 for the old kit connected to the VGA kvm, the other in USB for my present-day workstation). There's also a more modern charcoal grey USB variant (Trackman Wheel) that I have at work, and a cordless USB/PS2 dual-protocol one (Trackman Marble Wireless) that I use on my garage/workshop setup.

I like trackballs. Plus, I find that the lack of constant movement like with a mouse gives me considerably less wrist problems.

I've been using Genius NetScroll 220 Laser mice for more than 10 years now. This is the second one I have now, the first one I destroyed in a rage if I remember correctly...

The main problem when it comes to longevity is the scroll rubber, which after (very long) time gets loose and at some point unusable.
Unfortunately, last year I wasn't able to find any new NetScroll 220. So what I did was I bought a NetScroll 100, which is a USB mouse, was easy to find and was very cheap. It looks a bit different but the scroll wheels are identical. I removed the scroll rubber from NetScroll 100 and put it onto my NetScroll 220.

Maybe I should stockpile rubber-compatible Genius mice to have a lasting supply of new rubbers 😀

ynari wrote on 2018-01-26, 22:54:

My MX518 finally died - so I bought a Mouseman (which still works on PS/2), and then two new old stock MX518s...

what dies is the cable, just need to buy a cheap genius mouse open it and remove cable with the connector ans swap it.even the connector is universal, maybe pins need to be rearranged but thats how i saved my beloved mx518

better yet, just get a cable+skates set from china instead of gutting some other mouse.

Well, I finally unwrapped my last Logitech MX310. Needed a nice mouse for the new desktop PC I've built for my parents.

Really wish I had bought more of them at the time. With this one I will have 5 of them in use + 1 MX518. Love all these mice, and found that it is surprisingly easy for me to go between the symmetrical MX510 (back/forward buttons on different sides) and asymmetrical MX518 (back/forward buttons on the same side). Being able to use them as PS/2 and USB is a nice bonus, although I have not needed the PS/2 functionality in quite some time.

Guess when the mice start wearing out, I'll be looking for those cable+skates set replacements. Hopefully they will still be avaiable.

Logitech SBF196

was never able to figure out the "twitching" issue with M-SBF96, where it can randomly go haywire for 1-2 seconds and then be fine for a while again, and that's several variants of that mouse doing the exact same thing. either it doesn't like being used on 90s boards or it doesn't like modern mouse mats. zero issues with a similar low-end USB logitech mouse...

auron wrote on 2022-04-25, 15:16:

was never able to figure out the "twitching" issue with M-SBF96, where it can randomly go haywire for 1-2 seconds and then be fine for a while again, and that's several variants of that mouse doing the exact same thing. either it doesn't like being used on 90s boards or it doesn't like modern mouse mats. zero issues with a similar low-end USB logitech mouse...

I actually think I recognize this issue. I looked up the model number and it sure looks like the mouse I had been using back then.
What my mouse seemed to do was indeed go mad, making ludicrous turns so in any FPS I was playing that moment I'd be spinning around like a madman for a second or so, after which everything went normal again.

I had no idea what was happening but just assumed it was because of my cheap mousemat or something or because it had trouble focussing on the part of the mousemat the laser was illuminating and it just happening to go across some spec of dust or something, causing the spinning.
But it has always remained unexplained and assumed I just happened to have gotten a wonky mouse or something and tbf I had forgotten about this issue until you mentioned this here.
I really liked that mouse otherwise.

possibly, same issue described here: Quake 1 and Logitech SBF96 mouse

i considered dust as a cause, but that would be awfully specific to that particular model as none of my other mice have this issue, including a cheapo logitech M100 USB one. from what i recall mouse mat surfaces in the 2000s tended to be made of a glossy-ish plastic instead of what you get today, which maybe works better with that old sensor? or perhaps it needs a logitech driver to work reliably? i thought about cable wear as a possible cause as well, but it never got worse over the years.

auron wrote on 2022-04-26, 01:28:

possibly, same issue described here: Quake 1 and Logitech SBF96 mouse

i considered dust as a cause, but that would be awfully specific to that particular model as none of my other mice have this issue, including a cheapo logitech M100 USB one. from what i recall mouse mat surfaces in the 2000s tended to be made of a glossy-ish plastic instead of what you get today, which maybe works better with that old sensor? or perhaps it needs a logitech driver to work reliably? i thought about cable wear as a possible cause as well, but it never got worse over the years.

It's a shame he never mentioned which specific movements seemed to trigger this behavior with the mouse.
I'm not sure if a specific driver would cure this behavior. I guess it could be possible. But I think it's definitely something about the design of this mouse.

My favourite mouses, for PS/2 I prefer optical.

Radical Vision wrote on 2018-01-26, 22:46:

Tetrium wrote:

These definitely last forever! I've been using mine for around the same amount of time. Some of mine are supplied with an OEM stamp, like Fujitsu-Siemens, but mine is an SBF69 but I recognize your mouse as well. I think these are great! 😁

Yep old Logitech is nothing alike today`s logitech, that is total trash, but they did get big amounts of money, so now they can produce only expensive trash that does not last long...

I think it is a very good idea that the mousepad is leather