[net.micro.mac] Lisa

guido@boring.UUCP (08/07/85)

Has anyone else experienced problems with the mouse of the Lisa (used
as Macintosh/XL with 10 meg internal hard disk under MacWorks 3.0)?
When the machine is on for an hour or more, almost every click is
turned into several short clicks.  Very annoying, since dragging an
icon in the Finder has over 50% probability of launching an
application!  (Similar problems with word selection in MacWrite.)

It seems that the mouse button's switch is not adequately debounced by
the Lisa hardware.  I have suspected the mouse, but the same mouse
worked fine with a normal Mac, and the mouse from that Mac gave exactly
the same problems when attached to the Lisa.  So it's probably the
Lisa.

Does Apple know about this problem?  (Our dealer certainly doesn't know
what to do about it at this moment!)  Does anyone have a solution
(perhaps adjusting a potmeter inside the Lisa)?

As they say, thanks in advance, I'll summarize to the net, don't
followup but reply, I love mail, and "happy Mac'ing!"

	Guido van Rossum, CWI, Amsterdam (guido@mcvax.UUCP)

jed@mb2c.UUCP (John Duncan) (08/13/85)

>
> Has anyone else experienced problems with the mouse of the Lisa (used
> as Macintosh/XL with 10 meg internal hard disk under MacWorks 3.0)?
> When the machine is on for an hour or more, almost every click is doubled...

I too have the problem.  My XL is on 5 days a week, 24 hours.  I thought it
was just the mouse and was too lazy to get it fixed or try another one.  I
just treat it very carefully.  I am running the March 20 version of MacWorks/XL.

(sorry for the posting, but mail was rejected by mcvax)

John Duncan (mb2c!jed)		Michigan Bell		(313) 968-9002

guido@boring.UUCP (08/17/85)

A while ago I wrote:
>When the [Lisa] is on for an hour or more, almost every click is
>turned into several short clicks. [...]
>It seems that the mouse button's switch is not adequately debounced by
>the Lisa [...].

I have received several replies to this, some saying "my Lisa's mouse
also bounces", some saying "you just have to get used to the different
feel of the mouse on the Lisa", some saying "I don't have this problem".
(I don't think I could be asked to get used to it: I was unable to move
documents in the Finder because an application would always launch :-)

The most useful letter(*) told that, though it is probably really a Lisa
hardware (?) problem, it can usually be solved by "mouse swapping".  While
all mouses work fine with the Mac, only some of them work adequate
with the Lisa, so you have to find a Mac whose mouse the Lisa likes.
The original Lisa's mouse can then be used by that Mac with no problems.

In my case the first mouse swap I tried solved 95% of the problems;
very short clicks still have a chance of bouncing, but holding the button
down for a few tenths of a second makes it absolutely reliably.

Still, this is a problem that should really be solved in the Lisa
(I don't know if MacWorks or the hardware does the debouncing).

Happy swapping!

	Guido van Rossum, CWI, Amsterdam (guido@mcvax.UUCP)

(*) Sorry, I believe it was from enea!ttds!arndt, but I cleaned up my mail
    directory somewhat overzealously, so I can't give the proper credit.