Mechanical manipulators
1982
Hawley Mark II X063X Mouse
The Mark II X063X Mouse was the first in-house development of the Hawley Mouse House by Jack Hawley, co-designer of the Xerox Alto computer mouse and co-author of the 1973 Xerox patent for mouse with two inclined wheels. The mouse had the price of $415, which inspired reviewers to call it the “Rolls-Royce among mice”.
1983
DEC VS10X-EA Mouse
The DEC VS10X-EA mouse was released in 1983, and it is heavily based on the Hawley Mouse House by Jack Hawley, co-designer of the Xerox Alto computer mouse and one of the authors 1973 Xerox patent for a two-wheel tilt mouse. In fact, the DEC VS10X-EA is a modification of the Hawley Mark II X063X Mouse of the same year. Comparison of the two mice reveals no technical differences except the shape of the case and connector. The mouse was supplied with the DEC VAXstation 100 graphical terminals[1] used in creation of the X Windows System, a graphical windowing system for Unix-like OS.
1983
Microsoft Green-eyed Mouse
Microsoft’s first mouse was released in 1983 and was also the first product from its hardware division, which the company opened a year earlier. Because of the two green buttons, this model is known as the “green-eyed mouse”.
1983
Sharp MZ-1X10 Mouse
Sharp MZ-1X10 mouse, known to be the the first mouse in Japan, practically at the same time when the Microsoft’s first mouse, known as the “green-eyed mouse” because of its two green buttons. The real manufacturer of both mice was the Japanese company Alps. The MZ-1X10 mouse was intended for use with Sharp MZ-5500 computers, which were based on the Intel 8086 processor, running MS-DOS and aimed at business users.
1984
Mindset Mouse
Mindset Mouse came bundled with the Mindset personal computer. The Mindset computer was released in 1984 by Mindset Corporation, and was on sale for only a year. In technical terms, it was partially compatible with the IBM PC, based on the Intel 80186 processor and a non-standard graphics subsystem that had enhanced capabilities, including hardware acceleration of some typical graphics operations.
The real manufacturer of the mouse was the Japanese company Alps – the manufacturer of the first Japanese mouse, MZ-1X10, introduced to the Japanese market one year earlier.
1985
Microsoft Gray-eyed Mouse
This mouse, which went on sale in 1985, became a second generation of Microsoft mice. The company simply called its early models “Microsoft mouse”, sometimes also specifying the method of connection to the computer. Therefore, the official name of this one, “Microsoft Serial Mouse”, was rather confusing, and the mouse became known among users as the “Microsoft Gray-Eyed Mouse” (to differentiate it from the first generation mice with a pair of green buttons known under the “Green-Eyed Mouse” nickname). Also sometimes this mouse is referred to as “Microsoft Mouse 5.0”, apparently due to the variants of the first generation mice with different interfaces. The real manufacturer of the mouse, as in the case of the first generation, was the Japanese company Alps.
1986
TRS-80 Digi-Mouse
The Tandy TRS-80 Digi-Mouse was designed for the Tandy 2000 computer. The Tandy 2000, released in 1983, was a personal computer equipped with an external keyboard, up to 768 KB of RAM, and a 16-bit microprocessor. The mouse was manufactured by the Japanese company Alps. The underside shows a steel ball, three metal balls that help the mouse slide, and a removable ring that allows the ball to be removed for cleaning. The snap-on ring has not yet been invented, so it must be unscrewed with a screwdriver.
1986
QuadLYNX LX-200
The QuadLYNX trackball was manufactured in California by Honeywell, a subsidiary of Disc Instruments. Introduced in 1986 or a year earlier (some advertising materials are dated 1985), the trackball proved to be a long-liver and subsequently went through many reissues under the model number <>, differing in the connection interface, electronics unit, and often subject to rebranding.
1986
Manager Wired Mouse
The Manager Wired Mouse from Connecticut’s Torrington Company was released in 1986, and shares similarities with many other mid-80s mice in color, size, and body shape. The gray-beige rectangular body has three long, striped buttons on the beveled front third of the body, equally accessible to both right and left hands. The Manager Wired retailed for $109, or $129 with optional software. Unlike most mice, the Manager uses two wheels to detect and register mouse movement.
1986
IBM RT Mouse
The IBM RT (from RISC Technology) was a high-performance IBM workstation for engineers, and a mouse came with the workstation. It had 2 buttons and a mechanical encoder. The left and right mouse buttons had a somewhat unusual role in IBM software. The left mouse button was used to select objects (or list items), which is basically the same as the typical use of the main mouse button. Pressing the right mouse button scrolled the screen (but dragging with the button held down was apparently not provided).
1986
TPX Mouse
TPX Mouse is a computer manipulator developed by the Brazilian company TPX for computers of the MSX architecture. It was mainly used in TK90X computers.
1987
Microsoft Dove Bar Mouse
The mouse, nicknamed the “Dove Bar Mouse” by users because of the similarly shaped soap bar, went on sale in 1987, becoming the third generation of Microsoft mice. The design was developed by Microsoft in collaboration with Matrix Design (which later merged with Hovey-Kelley, the designers of the Apple Lisa mouse, to become the design company IDEO). The mouse’s production, as with previous generations of Microsoft mice, was outsourced to the Japanese company Alps. This is probably the first mouse for which the designers set the ergonomics as their main goal. First of all, this resulted in the shape of the body inspired by a sanding block, which automatically ensured a comfortable hand position, worked out on many generations of people.
1987
Sharp KI-OM0002CE01 trackball/mouse combo
In 1986, Sharp announced the release of the 16-bit personal computer X68000 for the Japanese market based on the Motorola 68000 processor. The computer went on sale in March 1987. It was positioned as a personal workstation, and immediately attracted attention due to its rich graphics capabilities and audio synthesis (not inferior to the best game consoles of the late 80s), complemented by the unusual design of the system unit in a dual vertical case. Included with this computer was an unusual convertible mouse, which could additionally work as a trackball. Since the device was not intended for separate sale, it received the difficult-to-remember model number KI-OM0002CE01 (when subsequent generations of X68000 computers were released, the mouse model number increased by one, but the mouse itself did not undergo substantial visible changes).
1987
IBM PS/2 mouse
This mouse, released in 1987, was the first to implement the PS/2 interface, which is still used in a number of desktop computers to connect keyboards and mice using a 6-pin mini-DIN connector.
1988
Turbo Trackball
The Asher Turbo Trackball uses an ADB interface to connect to a computer and is therefore designed to work with Apple Macintosh computers. The manufacturer positioned this trackball as a <<universal, reliable, easy-to-use and highly accurate device for complex desktop publishing, graphics, CAD/CAM and many other applications.>>.
1989
Mera-Poltik MMP 813
Computer manipulator MMP-813, or Poltik Mouse – this was the name of the authentic manipulator “mouse”, created in the Republic of Poland at the Zakłady Mechanizmów Precyzyjnych <<Mera Poltik>> enterprise. Depending on the modification, the mouse could work with computers compatible with IBM PC, or with computers capable of receiving a quadrature signal.
1989
Mera-Poltik MMP 832
The MMP 832 manipulator is a two-key version of the Mera-Poltik MMP 813 device. The manipulator is mainly used for working with graphic programs and computer-aided design (CAD) programs. Working with a computer is carried out mainly on the principle of selecting commands from a special “menu” displayed on the computer display in text or symbolic form. The command is selected by pointing the cursor at the corresponding text or symbol and accepting the content by pressing one of the manipulator keys.
1989
Manager Mouse Cordless
The Manager Mouse Cordless from Numonics, released in 1989, is a logical extension of the ideas introduced in the Torrington Manager mouse. The problem with such devices, which used infrared technology, was that they required a clear line of sight between the mouse and the computer’s receiver to work — a potential problem on a cluttered desk. Consequently, wireless mice did not become widespread until this problem was solved by replacing IR radiation with radio frequency communication.
1989
Vatek Color-Mouse
The Vatek Color-Mouse was released in 1989 by Vatek USA Inc., a computer hardware distributor incorporated in California the previous year. According to the mouse’s creators, this made Vatek the first company to officially introduce a multi-color mouse to the market. This priority is not indisputable: Hawley Mouse House’s 1982 advertising materials feature a drawing of the Mark II X063X Mouse in dozens of color combinations. But in reality, not many color variants of the Mark II were released; besides, Hawley Mouse House did not emphasize multi-color, while Vatek not only positioned its product as such, but even reflected it in the name of the mouse. Finally, Vatek’s statement can be taken literally, in the sense that the company was the first to introduce a computer mouse to the market under the name “color mouse”, which is indeed undeniable.
1991
Microsoft Dove Bar Transparent Mouse
A version of the Dove Bar mouse in a transparent case was introduced by Microsoft as an anniversary edition. Microsoft developed the Dove bar mouse in collaboration with Matrix Design (later IDEO) with the goal of “reinventing the mouse” without changing the internal mechanism.