Mouse on AT&T 6300 ?

[roger.h.levy]

In article <1991May8.210337.10850 at ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>, dewg6808 at uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Daniel Elvis Weber) writes:
> This is in regards to the note posted earlier concerning having problems
> getting the mouse to work on the AT&T PC6300.  Unfortunately, I have the 
> same problem and not the solution.  I am posting this to provide more 
> particulars about the behaviour of the mouse driver in the hope that it 
> might provide somebody with some clues as to what might be going wrong.
> 
> If a solution has already been determined, but e-mailed to the original
> author, could you either post the fix or send me mail?  (Ah yes!  That
> famous phrase: "Once you get a solution can you e-mail to me too?  Me
> too?" :-) )  Also, just to be fair, this message will be cross-posted to
> other groups if no answer has been forthcoming in a week.
> 
> Add-ons (concerning this problem):
> 	1 Serial Port courtesy DAK.  (Supposedly COM2)
> 	1 Logitech Mouse - Model No. MB (82-9F ?)
> 
> THE PROBLEM(S):
> Problem 1)
> The Microsoft Mouse Driver does not appear to recognize a mouse attached to
> the mouse port on the keyboard of the AT&T PC6300.  The error message
> displayed is: "Driver not installed - Microsoft Mouse not found!"  However,
> when the mouse is attached to the built in serial port (COM1) it *is* 
> recognized.  This makes using a mouse frustrating if one has other devices 
> that need to use the serial port (e.g. a modem) because one has to disconnect 
> whatever device is currently attached and replace it with the mouse.  Several
> sessions of this kind of swapping prove to be tedious.
> 
> Also, the diagnostics program that came with MS-DOS when the machine was
> purchased claims that the mouse, when attached to the keyboard, *is* attached
> and working, even though it is obvious that all of the tests it performs fail.

I'm puzzled why and how one would attempt to connect the same mouse first
to the keyboard and then to the built-in serial port.  The connectors are
physically and electrically different.  If your mouse is in fact the AT&T
keyboard mouse or equivalent, use the keyboard.  If it's a serial mouse,
use the serial port.  I think the 6300 is getting an unfair rap if its
critics can not appreciate these differences.  Also, it's usually the case
that you must use matching hardware and drivers.  Is there a reason to
believe that Microsoft drivers should work with this mouse?

In my experience, the 6300 works fine with keyboard, serial, and bus mice
when they are properly installed with compatible drivers.