** 1 page review / 865 words **

The Atari mouse port - A touchy subject

Matthew Bacon reviews a PC replacement for your Atari, mouse that is!

As most Atarians know the original Atari mouse wasn't the best design in the world. It was slow, unresponsive, not especially ergonomically designed, but nevertheless loved just the same. Since the time when Atari was one of only a handful of computer manufacturers to use a mouse within a GUI (amazing as this may seem!) "pointer device" technology has moved forward...

Pointing devices now come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, including trackballs, touchpads and much more besides. Over the years, the Atari platform has see quite a number of replacement mice, some good and some bad. Just before the Spring AMS 99 show in April my trusty mouse gave up the ghost so I took the opportunity to browse around the Atari stands to pick up a replacement.

My search took me to the ASP stand where I found two exciting products, the Touchpad and MouseBurSTer. Touchpad is a PC/serial replacement mouse with a difference. It employs the latest pointing technology, a touch sensitive pad approximately 4.5cm2, which translates movement (via your finger, pen or any other solid object) into cursor movement on screen. Although it does takes a little getting used too, the Touchpad is subsequently intuitive in use. You'll soon forget the days when you had to move your wrist and arm halfway across your desk just to move the cursor from one side of the screen to the other.

** TOUCHPAD.GIF here **

The touch pad not only registers movement but also mouse clicks. A single tap registers a single left mouse click while two taps in quick succession registers as a double-click. Alternatively to register mouse clicks you can use the three microswitch buttons below the touch pad - whatever you're comfortable with. The left button acts as the left mouse button, the middle button acts as a double-left mouse click and the right button acts as the right mouse button.

Unlike a traditional mouse, the Touchpad doesn't have any rollers to get clogged up so it doesn't need any maintenance. Its small size and stationary location make it ideal for anyone with limited desktop space (mine sits quite happily above my disk drive) and anyone with small hands - such as children.

Only two things stopped me awarding the Touchpad a higher mark:

** UL **
* The high price (although there are plenty of cheaper and more expensive pointing devices on the market).
* I found it to be rather cumbersome when using an art package or resource editor.
** /UL **

MouseBurSTer

Thanks to Mario Becroft's MouseBurSTer adaptor has made it possible to use almost any PC serial pointing device on any Atari machine. For some time there have been software solutions to allow the use of serial PC mice on Atari machines. However, these were usually plugged into the serial port which meant other serial devices such as modems couldn't be connected, and also required configuration and driver software which may or may not be compatible any other software you may run.

** MBURSTER.GIF here **

I am pleased to report installation could not be simpler...
** UL **
* Turn off your computer (very important!)
* Remove your Atari mouse
* Connect one end of the MouseBurSTer to your mouse port and the other to your new PC mouse
* Turn your machine back on.
* That's it, true Plug and play.
** /UL **

Clever stuff

Although in most cases the MouseBurSTer will work first time there are (typically) two different standard PC serial pointing devices, Microsoft compatible and Mouse Systems. Both are supported by MouseBurSTer which can be configured by means of 4 tiny DIP switches which set:

** UL **
* Switch #1: Configures the type of mouse
 OFF: Microsoft compatible mouse (MS)
  ON: Mouse Systems compatible (PC)
* Switch #2: Middle button (or wheel button) mode
 OFF: Middle button works as real button   ON: Middle button works as double-click
* Switch #3: Mouse wheel mode
 OFF: Wheel does nothing
  ON: Wheel acts as double click (for Genius Netmouse)
* Switch #4: Atari/Amiga(!) mode
** /UL **

Should you experience any difficulty configuring MouseBurSTer, a FAQ (frequently-asked-questions) section is thoughtfully provided which suggests possible solutions.

All things considered the MouseBurSTer is an excellent adaptor which enables Atarians to use a wide range of PC compatible pointing devices - at a price.

** product boxout 1 **
Mouse BurSTer

Designer: Mario Becroft
PO BOX 332, Kumeu, Auckland 1250, New Zealand
Tel/Fax: +64 9 412 9700
Email: mb@tos.pl.tos
http://www.ak.planet.gen.nz/~mario/

UK distributor: ASP
40 Evelin Road, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 1JR, England
Tel: +44 (0)1235 534152
Email: chrisc@zetnet.co.uk

Cost: œ19.00

Pros
Access to inexpensive, high resolution PC serial pointing devices, no software drivers or patches required, easy to install

Cons
Price, packaging rather insubstantial, although documentation is well written and informative

82%
** /product boxout 1 **

** product boxout 2 **
Touchpad

Supplier: ASP
40 Evelin Road, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 1JR, England

Cost: œ17.00
ASP reports stock at the current price is low!

Pros
Extremely smooth, saves work space, comfortable to use (ergonomically designed), reduces repetitive hand movement around your work space

Cons
More expensive than standard mouse, takes a while to get used to.

79%
** /product boxout 2 **