mjkobb@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Michael J Kobb) (10/25/89)
Okay, well I've just come from our friendly campus computer center. Anyone want to comment as to why a replacement mouse for my Mac Plus, if I trade in the dead one, costs $75 when it only contains: 4 pieces of custom plastic, two axles w/rollers and light gates, two led's, two sensors (phototransistors?) one smaller axle w/roller, four resistors, two IC's, a micro-switch, and a molex plug mounted on a PC board, plus a rubber-coated ball-bearing and a spring???????? I can't believe they're serious. --Mike
pff@beach.cis.ufl.edu (Pablo Fernicola) (10/26/89)
In article <879@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> mjkobb@media-lab.media.mit.edu (Michael J Kobb) writes: >Okay, well I've just come from our friendly campus computer center. Anyone >want to comment as to why a replacement mouse for my Mac Plus, ... IT IS MADE AND SOLD BY APPLE!!!!! That's why. > ... costs $75 when it only contains: 4 pieces of custom plastic, Don't forget the Apple logo. > >I can't believe they're serious. > >--Mike They sure are. I'm not just bitching that their prices are high. It just that more and more I get the feeling of being ripped off by Apple. I'm seriously considering going for a NeXT when upgrading my machine. As someone posted earlier: "I will show Apple the same amount of consumer loyalty as they have shown customer loyalty." Pablo pff@beach.cis.ufl.edu -- pff@beach.cis.ufl.edu Pablo Fernicola - Machine Intelligence Laboratory - UF "If we knew how it works, it wouldn't be called research." -, _/: \ o.O , =(___)=
steveg@tove.umd.edu (Steve Green) (10/26/89)
Well, break out the multi-meter for this one. I have seen a handfull of mice die and everyone of em was a broken wire at the base of the mouse. First, open the mouse and check continuity of each wire. One or many wires will probably be bad. (It has usually been the green wire for me) The fix is very simple (assuming this is the problem). All you have to do is give a tug on the wire that is broken. The insulation will break and the wire will come out. Now try to approximate where the break occured, and pull the entire cable until that point is in the mouse assy. This wont come at first because the cable insulation is attached to the stress relief at the base of the mouse. You will have to slide a knife up the cable and cut at the points of attachment. There should be very little problem in doing this so that the stress relief remains intact. Now, slice the cable insulation (from the inside) untill the other side of the broken wire appears. Now just solder the wire back, and give it a shot. Dont forget to check the other wires. Honestly though, I have done this about 5 times and the repair is works great assuming you dont mind that your mouse cable is about 2-3 inches shorter. #include <std_disclaimer.h> /* Claim ignorance */ -- -steveg@tove.umd.edu ..uunet!tove.umd.edu!steveg "Ignore the message: 'ld warning: file /tmp/kernAAAa06386 has no relocation information' if it appears."
gord@bnr-rsc.UUCP (Gord MacKay) (10/28/89)
Jameco Electronics (July or August 1989 of Byte) was advertising mice for $29.95. However, these are not ADB compatible. They will only work with the good old Macs. -- Gord MacKay (bnr-vpa!bnr-rsc!gord) Phone: (613) 763-4719 Bell-Northern Research Usenet:utgpu!bnr-vpa!bnr-rsc!gord P.O. Box 3511, Station C, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1Y 4H7
mjkobb@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Michael J Kobb) (10/30/89)
Well, since I started this whole thing off, I thought I'd update people as to what has happened. I received many suggestions by mail, in addition to the ones posted here. One procedure (I'm sorry I don't remember who sent it) I followed almost verbatim: You check the continuity of the wires with a multi- meter (or a light bulb if you don't have a meter) to find out which one was broken. My mouse adds one more point to the "It's usually the green wire" trend. Then, pull on that wire. The insulation breaks and the copper part comes out. You can use this to see where in the cable your wire broke. My mouse, being a conformist, broke in the stress-relief grommet, like most apparently do. Then, you just pull the cable further into the mouse (you have to sever the connections of the cable to the grommet, which you can do with an X-ACTO, or similar tool. Strip the insulation on the cable back to the point where the break occurred. Now, here's where I deviated from the normal procedure. I couldnt reattach the wire to the Molex plug that joins the cable to the PC board, and I didn't much feel like soldering directly to the pins of the plug because I hate soldering wire to pins. SO, I unsloldered the molex plug from the PC board, which left a neat row of holed on the board. I just soldered the wires direct to the board and scrapped the plug entirely. All in all, 30 mins... Works great. --Mike
mjkobb@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Michael J Kobb) (10/30/89)
In article <905@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> mjkobb@media-lab.media.mit.edu (Michael J Kobb) writes: >a neat row of holed on the board. ^^^^^ Holes, of course... -Mike
allbery@NCoast.ORG (Brandon S. Allbery) (11/01/89)
Speaking of ill mice, I have a mouse which doesn't like to move to the left.
When I opened it up, I found that one of the roller bars inside the mouse has
found itself some slack, and as a result sometimes doesn't contact the ball.
Questions:
(1) Can I do something to fix this? I didn't see anything off-hand, but I
didn't take the whole mouse apart, either.
(2) If not, what would people recommend as a replacement? I've been eyeing
the MSC A+ optical mouse to avoid this particular problem in the future, but
I'm open to suggestions. (Just don't suggest a joystick or a trackball.)
Thanks in advance,
++Brandon
--
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