Not pretending to know the exact state of the mouse availability back then, I'd say the average should be the serial mouse plugged to COM port on Multi-I/O card.

Somehow I managed to preserve the very same mouse I had back then with my Cx486SLC2-50 PC.
It's "Identity systems" mouse supporting both MS- and PC-mouse protocols, with the switch on the bottom.

The Microsoft Mouse 2.0, the 2 button "kidney" mouse shipped in 1993, and by 1996 it had a scroll wheel i think. Though price seemed a bit steep to me at the time $80 or so, when I was using cheap clones at $10-20

BitWrangler wrote on 2023-03-24, 14:57:

The Microsoft Mouse 2.0, the 2 button "kidney" mouse shipped in 1993, and by 1996 it had a scroll wheel i think. Though price seemed a bit steep to me at the time $80 or so, when I was using cheap clones at $10-20

+1

My father had this one on his 386DX-40 running Windows 95.. Also had an PS/2 to DE9 adapter.

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Micro … e_2.0A-8521.jpg

Personally, I had a generic Genius mouse (RS-232) in the mid 90s. Not the classic boxy model (GM3, GM6) but a "cheap" 90s era incarnation.
Not period correct, maybe, but worked nicely on that humble 286-12 PC with 4MB RAM, DOS 6.20/Windows 3.10, 80 MB AT-Bus HDD, Pro Audio Spectrum 16, SCSI CD-ROM, Mustek handy scanner, HP LaserJet Plus, 14k4 (?) Creatix modem..

Pretty sure that Genius mouse is what I had on my 486 in the mid 90s on windows 95.

Also Logitech, I remember lots of these too. The rectangular one also came in a two-button version.

Pretty much every beige/white serial thing prior to the mousewheel's a 486 period mouse.

Mouse Systems was another big 90s brand of mice (.......and keyboards)

There's probably a generation grown on the Packard Bell ripple mouse (an extruded half-ball with wavy buttons)

Anything with a ball and crappy tracking and the requirement to clean the fuzz/grime off the rollers would be period correct.

As-in... I hate ball mice and always have, even when I was a kid.

As soon as Logitech released their first optical mouse, I had one. Then when they released a wireless optical, I bought that as well.

I probably had some optical mouse before I had a Logitech one.. maybe a Microsoft or something.

There were optical serial mice that required a special gridded mousepad so, even during 486 times, optical was "period correct".

I think I had that boxy genius mouse on a 386sx 20 in 1991, so it might be a bit old for a 486 66.

Fellowes, Belkin, Kensington and progressively lower tiers of peripheral suppliers were knocking out ones like that until the millennium, and for a few years after the bottom feeders were still pushing them, probably at like $3 by then.

Edit: Though I should say it would have started late 80s early 90s as "The" mouse, but then got knocked down to second fiddle mid 90s, with such as Kensington's knockoff kidney mouse, then down to third when the scrollwheels came out, then 4th as optical, finishing as the economy option, or retained to catch business of companies with a lot of older systems where they weren't sure this fancy new USB serial bus connection interface thing would work.

Jo22 wrote on 2023-03-24, 15:06:

+1 […]
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BitWrangler wrote on 2023-03-24, 14:57:

The Microsoft Mouse 2.0, the 2 button "kidney" mouse shipped in 1993, and by 1996 it had a scroll wheel i think. Though price seemed a bit steep to me at the time $80 or so, when I was using cheap clones at $10-20

+1

My father had this one on his 386DX-40 running Windows 95.. Also had an PS/2 to DE9 adapter.

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Micro … e_2.0A-8521.jpg

Personally, I had a generic Genius mouse (RS-232) in the mid 90s. Not the classic boxy model (GM3, GM6) but a "cheap" 90s era incarnation.
Not period correct, maybe, but worked nicely on that humble 286-12 PC with 4MB RAM, DOS 6.20/Windows 3.10, 80 MB AT-Bus HDD, Pro Audio Spectrum 16, SCSI CD-ROM, Mustek handy scanner, HP LaserJet Plus, 14k4 (?) Creatix modem..

genem01.jpg

i have that exact kidney mouse, but it has the glossy finish, meaning it's a older serial mouse

Windows9566 wrote:

i have that exact kidney mouse, but it has the glossy finish, meaning it's a older serial mouse

Cool! 😎 I remember there's also an older model that was common, too.
I think I've seen it amomg my father's old hw/sw collection, too.

It's this models, also available for serial&ps/2.

Source: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mic … t_BUS_Mouse.png

For anyone interested in old Optical/non ball PC mice you can watch those, newest to oldest:
Who's responsible for the optical mouse? (it's not Xerox) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIKZCQnplDA
Jack Hawley's Unstoppable Computer Mouse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POSPaiutNlQ
LMOX2, The Other Weirdest Mouse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UXmDuiqMW0
Q500, The Weirdest Optical Mouse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd6lxwjX2Bk

i have a dove bar mouse too, it's the serial/ps2 compatible version, a bit scratched and slightly yellowed

In the early '90s I had a 2-button mouse from the now defunct "Mouse Systems" company... classic design

In this pic is mouse IBM were delivering with the PC330 486DX2 Systems in 1994 I think...

I had a 3-button that said Clix on the top of it with coloured arrows.

jakethompson1 wrote on 2023-03-24, 19:48:

Also Logitech, I remember lots of these too. The rectangular one also came in a two-button version.

This is the answer. People that didn’t care just used whatever came with the computer. Enthusiasts had stuff like this because it meant they had to buy it separately. I was lucky that growing up my dad was into computers so we got on the Logitech train early. Im still using that exact 3 button mouseman on my current dos rig, recently found it in my fathers attic. Cleaned it up, redid the solder joints and it works like new. Something rather novel about using my actual childhood mouse.

Ohh that Logitech Mouseman! I think I had one of those! I had completely forgotten about it.

BitWrangler wrote on 2023-03-25, 21:23:

In this pic is mouse IBM were delivering with the PC330 486DX2 Systems in 1994 I think... https://www.vogons.org/download/file.p […]
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In this pic is mouse IBM were delivering with the PC330 486DX2 Systems in 1994 I think...

also the keyboard come from the PC330 466DX2?because i have the same keybord but come from IBM PC330 P75....