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So I`ve got that mouse with serial connector. It is named serial so it should be easier to connect than even a ps2 mouse, right?

I can`t find any instruction on it. Or should I see instruction on ps2 mouse and plug in the same wires? Btw mouse has only 4 wires connected inside, as usual PS2 mouse. I want to connect it the same way as ps2 mouse to get easy readings of rotary encoder. serial mouse

UPD1: I`ve tried to connect it like a PS2 mouse according to this schema with no success. So either a mouse is dead or it uses some kind of different connection? PS2 to serial mouse

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  • It might be easier, but you have to figure out how. For PS2 you can use copy-paste existing code, and get it to work in minutes. Commented Jul 4, 2016 at 12:30

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A serial mouse is designed to connect to a PC's true serial port - it's an actual RS-232 device using ±5V. As such it won't connect directly to the Arduino's RX/TX pins, you'll have to go through an RS-232 transceiver chip.

It also gets its power from the RTS line, but I never knew what the current draw of one of those things was - be careful trying to power it from the Arduino!

Different mouse manufacturers used different protocols. The original standard used a three-byte protocol at 1,200 bps 7N1. The encoding had the following properties:

  • The leading bit of the first byte of the packet was set - all future bytes had the leading bit cleared.
  • The first byte had the buttons' states, and the most significant bits of the X and Y deltas;
  • The X delta was encoded in the second byte;
  • The Y delta was encoded in the third byte.

    http://paulbourke.net/dataformats/serialmouse/

Other manufacturers added things like extra buttons and scroll wheels that didn't fit in the packet structure. So they modified the protocol, but stuck with some features of the original:

  • The data rate was (usually) still 1,200 bps, although sometimes they used 7N2 or 8N1 instead.
  • The leading bit was still used to indicate start of packet;
  • The X, Y (and Z) wheels still indicated deltas.

    http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Serial_RS232_Mouse

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  • Thanks for the answer! So I should get a grip on a RS-232 transceiver chip and serial mouse protocol. Fair enough. Commented Jul 4, 2016 at 12:34
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    If you really want to pursue it, but it would be easier all around to use a PS/2 mouse, not only electrically but because most Arduino's don't have a 2nd UART to spare, and implementing the PS/2 mouse synchronous signalling in software is small and more efficient that implementing a serial UART in software. Commented Jul 4, 2016 at 16:31

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