I had one, it is USB and PS/2.
The cable has a USB connector on it and it comes with a USB to PS/2 adapter in the box with it, Im not sure if it works with the COM Serial port.

A serial+PS/2 compatible mouse needs a specific PS/2 to serial adapter (it's not a standard, so differing pinouts exist...). Then it has logic to detect which port it's connected to (by voltage level on specific pins) which decides whether it will talk serial (probably MS standard) or PS/2.

So if you have the right adapter, plug it in, run standard serial mouse drivers (mouse.com, but ctmouse should also work) and it should work. If it does work with PS/2 and not with serial, you probably don't have the right adapter.

The mouse is USB and PS/2 not Serial and PS/2

Alex_03 wrote on 2024-10-03, 15:48:

I recently got this Microsoft IntelliMouse Trackball device. I was intrigued by it because it says that it is serial and ps/2 co […]
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I recently got this Microsoft IntelliMouse Trackball device. I was intrigued by it because it says that it is serial and ps/2 compatible, so I could use it for my systems without ps/2 ports. Does the serial mode require specific drivers? I have not been able to find any, or a user manual that tells you what serial settings to use.

So far with my limited knowledge I have not had success using it as a serial mouse, it does work as a ps/2 mouse in windows 98. I have a DB9 - ps/2 adapter, no idea if it is the right thing for the job.

The system I want to use to test this mouse is a ms-dos 6.0 system with windows 3.1 installed on it. I have another serial mouse that works fine in win 3.1, but it is a horrible optical mouse.

Any help on this subject would be appreciated!
Alex

Post a photo of the backside of the trackbal mouse please.

Something like this https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/-P4AAOSwydVm7M0r/s-l1600.webp

Which clearly indicates 5v +12v & -12v. Which definitely makes it a ps2 & serial mouse, not USB.
If it is anything like that, odds are good that the adapter you're using to convert the connector to serial is not the right one if not even the standard microsoft mouse drivers can't find it.

edit: added relevant section of photo in case the ebay link goes stale.

Oh thats not the mouse I was talking about, I thought you meant one of these.
https://www.trackballmouse.org/images/microso … all-optical.jpg

As has been said above, it needs a spercific PS/2 to Serial adapter and it will just work

MS can do a wide variety of similar sounding or similar looking mice with various interface support. The "kidney" scroll mouse, I've seen that in MP/ser, ser/ps2, ps2/usb, and serial, PS/2 and USB only which are OEM models. (Came with a Dell or something) I think I have one of everything but a serial only at the moment. They all look like the same mouse apart from slight color and texture differences. Then also they do completely different mice years apart with the same name.

I had one of these a long time ago, and as others have already said, it needs a specific PS/2 to Serial adapter.

dionb wrote on 2024-10-03, 18:23:

A serial+PS/2 compatible mouse needs a specific PS/2 to serial adapter (it's not a standard, so differing pinouts exist...).
So if you have the right adapter, plug it in, run standard serial mouse drivers (mouse.com, but ctmouse should also work) and it should work.

Agree ! I have a MS Intellimouse PS2 mouse that says Serial / PS2 compatible and it only works serial with adapter it came with, every generic or Logitech adapter I tried failed.
MS uses some odd pinout different than Logitech or some generics....
added: Think this was discussed in depth a few times a few years ago.

Here is the photo, it looks just like the one posted above.

Is it possible that there is a pinout somewhere? I have the skill and equipment to make a cable adapter if the one I have is not right.

So it's a few hours later and I have successfully made an adapter. I followed this thread: Microsoft PS/2 to serial pinout?

My mouse was not quite the same, but I reverse-engineered the circuitry and matched it up with the schematic they had. The mouse now works in windows 98 and windows 3.1.

Good work !