STM1 mouse lead

[PeteW]

My ST mouse is fighting me at the moment. I've been playing quite a few point and click adventures like Monkey Island and the microswitches finally gave out, so I replaced those. Now the mouse refuses to scroll down unless I wiggle the cable around.

I've already shortened the cable once to get rid of a broken down section, but it's gone again after a few months' use.

So the question is, any ideas where I can get a grey cable with the right 9 pin connector molded onto it? I don't care what's on the other end, I can sort that out myself.

Ideally not overseas or very expensive!

[PaulJ]

Pete, hard to say what is overseas since you didn't populate your country but if your in the US Best has what you need. Just search for "Atari Best" If you're on the other side of the pond someone else will have to give you an answer.

[PeteW]

Apologies. I'm in the UK 😀

[exxos]

I'm not aware of anyone ever finding a source for them :(

[sandord]

My ST mouse is fighting me at the moment. I've been playing quite a few point and click adventures like Monkey Island and the microswitches finally gave out, so I replaced those. Now the mouse refuses to scroll down unless I wiggle the cable around.

I've already shortened the cable once to get rid of a broken down section, but it's gone again after a few months' use.

So the question is, any ideas where I can get a grey cable with the right 9 pin connector molded onto it? I don't care what's on the other end, I can sort that out myself.

Ideally not overseas or very expensive!

If you're okay with cutting the internal connector (leaving a few centimeters of the strands intact) and soldering it to a new cable, you'll probably have a lot more chance of success in finding a replacement cable. At least that's what I did. The wire protector can be removed relatively easy so you can reuse it on the new cable as well.

I used a joystick cable but it's too sturdy for comfortable use.

[sandord]

I'd think that any lead taken from a donor mouse (given the right thickness and colour) would do as long as there are enough wires inside.

[PeteW]

If you're okay with cutting the internal connector (leaving a few centimeters of the strands intact) and soldering it to a new cable, you'll probably have a lot more chance of success in finding a replacement cable. At least that's what I did. The wire protector can be removed relatively easy so you can reuse it on the new cable as well.

I used a joystick cable but it's too sturdy for comfortable use.

That's a good idea. If I cut the wire protector from the connector, replace the cable and then superglue the protector back, that should work.

I'll let you know what happens!

[sandord]

That's a good idea. If I cut the wire protector from the connector, replace the cable and then superglue the protector back, that should work.

I didn't need to cut the wire protector. The wire was probably glued or slightly molten to the protector so I used a drill and carefully drilled out the piece of wire that was still inside. In the end it came out clean so it apparently wasn't integrated with the protector.

[PeteW]

I wonder if an rs232 extension cable would work (with the male end removed and soldered to the mouse.

Assuming all 9 pins are connected in the cable, I should actually have 1 too many?

[PeteW]

I managed to replace the mouse cable using a grey rs232 extension cable.

Without boring you with the detail (unless you want it), I managed to reuse the original Atari 9 pin connector. As a result, it looks pretty much factory original:

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