Guys and gals, don’t get rid of your serial mice just yet

Hey everyone.

So as some of you may know, I’m into retro and vintage computing. Just recently I took the AMD K6 machine I had been using for Windows 98, and I wiped the hard drive and put MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows for Workgroups on it. Remember the early ’90s, folks?

Anyways, I had mouse issues in Windows. The mouse pointer would appear right in the center, but wouldn’t move. I tried different mice (I was using the PS/2 port), different drivers, nothing helped.

Then I thought, “Hmm. I do have a Microsoft serial mouse in my box o’ supplies, maybe I should try that.”

So I plugged it in. Still nothing. Hmm.

Well, don’t worry, this has a happy ending. I had to go into the BIOS and set the serial port to AUTO, and then in Windows I had to choose a driver that listened to COM1.”

Presto! Working mouse!

So take it from me. You might need to use Card File again some day. Be prepared.

Conversation 3 comments

  • Paul Thurrott

    Premium Member
    07 March, 2021 - 4:23 pm

    <p>lol I doubt it. :)</p>

  • samp

    16 March, 2021 - 7:22 pm

    <p>Maybe we should salvage CRT displays and floppy disks 🙂 Some things are best left in the past</p>

    • erichk

      Premium Member
      17 March, 2021 - 12:14 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#618449">In reply to samp:</a></em></blockquote><p>Well ……………………..</p><p><br></p><p>Yes, in most cases I agree with that logic.</p><p><br></p><p>For me this is a large nostalgia trip. I find it extremely fun to play games from the 1990 – 2000 era on period correct hardware.</p><p><br></p><p>But yes, some of the things we had to deal with from that time frame are just a nuisance now. When my coworker gave me his AMD K6-2 system, it also came with a CRT monitor, which I used for a while. But I couldn't stand the size of the thing any longer, so I replaced it with a modern flat panel that also happens to have a VGA port in addition to the usual HDMI.</p><p><br></p><p>And floppies … I'm using them on these systems right now, but I ordered two Gotec USB floppy disk drive emulators from Amazon, and sometime in the future I see myself replacing the actual floppy disk drives with these devices. Way more convenient.</p>

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