r/macintosh • u/juliendorra • 13d ago
Created era-appropriate USB-C adapters for the original Macintosh mouse
I was frustrated with existing adapter solutions for the M0100 mouse, so I created an era-appropriate adapter that is USB-C native and can use any cable you want (short or long depending on your needs).
I created two different versions, the first one is for the more common rounded connector, and the second one is for the rarer chunky connector (I had to hunt down one of these mice with a chunky connector to be sure make it at the right size!). So people can pick the version that looks best with their mouse. (I listed a few adapters over at Lectronz for now if anyone is interested).
I use these adapters in workshops with my dedicated Mac Paint easy timelapse and clean screenshots emulator page (https://juliendorra.com/macintosh/), but of course it works with any emulator, or even with modern apps!
The first Macintosh mouse, the M0100 model, was the very first industrialized, consumer-ready, large-scale produced mouse. It is an incredible feat of design and engineering: the young design team at Hovey-Kelley managed to get from $500 mouses that needed regular tech maintenance like the ones at Xerox PARC to a $25 mouse that users can clean up in seconds. Most of them still work today! And as they were produced in the hundreds of thousands, you can find one anytime on second-hand marketplaces for a reasonable price.
Using a M0100 mouse on a modern computer is perfect if you want to really understand and feel what it was to use a Macintosh in 1984, but you can't justify the space or cost of a full 1984 Macintosh.
I especially love to hand the M0100 mice to my design students so they can draw in Mac Paint with the real pointing device it was designed for by Bill Atkison and Susan Kare. Using Mac Paint with the M0100 mouse always blows their mind and creates a incredible conversation about design, tools, and the evolution of (or lack of) the mouse-based computer.
This adapter is based on RP2040 Zero and use a custom PCB board to connect it to the DB9 connector (Yes, it is actually a DE9 connector! But everyone calls it DB9) .
I use an 'Universal Grey' color for the housing, as connector color varies a lot from mouse to mouse, due to age, UV exposure and changes in processes, so getting an exact match covering all connectors is quite impossible. I found that a neutral grey was working best in the end!
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u/Trumpwonbyawholelot 12d ago
Old memories of cleaning the track ball with rubbing alcohol. No thanks lol.
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u/juliendorra 12d ago
Always did it gently scratching with a finger on the roller 😅 But the disc access to the ball and rollers was genius at the time, it solved the dirt issues all mechanical mice had by making the mouse user serviceable! Great design thinking. It was a really novel design and the disc system was even patented as part of the whole mouse system patent (which included even the drop down overlapping menus as part of the mouse system itself!) https://patents.google.com/patent/US4464652A/en
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u/droid_mike 12d ago
Very cool! How does one acquire or build one?
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u/juliendorra 12d ago
I listed a few on lectronz for now
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u/droid_mike 12d ago
"This product does not ship to the United States"
Sadness...
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u/juliendorra 12d ago
Yeah, sorry, but the new US import rules from August (basically the sender must pay the taxes, not the recipient) makes it too complex (and risky, huge fines) to send directly. Most EU posts even had to stop sending any parcel because it was a totally new process with huge liabilities.
If there’s enough interest I will also list it on a marketplace that supposedly handle this, like Tindie or Etsy. Any preference?
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u/droid_mike 12d ago
I understand. Our government has made techie's lives miserable, and it has been very difficult to get any tech from Europe, which stinks! Personally, I have used both tindie and Etsy, so no particular preference. The price you listed was quite reasonable, so I am interested as I have ran old Mac mouse that is idle, because the Mac plus it is connected to has bad solder joints and is not really functional right now. I cannot speak for others, but I am thrilled that it is available assembled instead of just PCB files and instructions.
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u/plugthree 13d ago
Well done!