Old School
Originally uploaded by The Put-Man.
About six months ago I accidentally dumped a soda on my old Kensington ADB (Apple Data Bus - pre-USB) Turbo Mouse Trackball. And I nearly cried when I realized I had frapped one of the sensors - after tear-down & cleaning, it was only capable of side to side movement.
Dead. Kaput. Finito. Nyet. Nada.
I was crushed.
Then Christmas came, and in going through many old boxes of assorted junk, unpacking ornaments and such I came across...A STANDBY EXTRA! It was filthy, scratched, and sticky with lord-knows-what. But the circuit board was GOOD!
So...today I carefully disassembled BOTH trackballs (yes, that's right, I didn't have the heart to throw the old one out - win one for the packrats) - then I carefully scrubbed down the replacement circuit board with isopropyl alcohol and an old toothbrush, then sprayed it with canned air, and reassembled all the best bits, all cleaned up. Plugged the connector into to my old (circa 1998) ADB to USB adapter...and...Lo & Behold...Mac OS 10.4 had no problems with this franken-mouse contraption!
Ahhh...the joy of being able to ZOOOM across the screen with a flick of a finger...just like an old school arcade game. Like meeting an old friend I never thought I'd see again...it's the little things that bring us joy.
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