So a few weeks ago, I bought a 500mhz iMac DV. I've never got around to bringing it home from work, so it's just been sitting there. I had issues with the mouse (Apple Pro Optical) when I last tried to use it, but put it aside until earlier this week. It turns out, like for many other people, the mouse cable has broken internally, due to insufficient strain relief, so it only worked if you push the cable into the mouse. Not a good solution.

I came across this page, which talks about how to get into the mouse. Basically, it's epoxied closed, and there's no way you can put it back together properly once opened. I found another version which uses a little more finesse and a hacksaw to get into it, but really, I didn't care, I have several of these mice, and frankly I prefer Microsoft ones. But being bored and having the tools, I opened mine up and fixed the cable. Like the guy says, it is *really* fine cable. After ascertaining that it all worked, I pondered what to do next...

Yesterday, we had a cleanup at work, and chucked many, many Apple keyboards and mice in a dumpster (along with about 10 x PowerMac 7200/75). The heaving was fun. I saved one of the original ADB mice, gave it a bit of a clean and opened it up. 4 screws in the bottom, not some diabolical work of the devil like the Apple Pro Optical mice. Somewhat to my surprise, the circuit board from the optical mouse, made 12 years later, was exactly the right size to fit inside it. Huzzah!

While the microswitch for the button click is in almost exactly the same place (and is the same component between the two eras!) The lens for the optical mouse is in a slightly different place to where the mouse ball was, so I knew I'd need to cut through the case and the ring. To keep the ring in place when this was cut out, I used a fine soldering iron to weld the ring into the case by gently and carefully swirling it through the plastic (ABS if I'm not mistaken)

While doing this, one of Apple's state reps was visiting the office on an unrelated matter. He asked what I was doing. I suggested he would probably consider it a crime against nature.

I got a scalpel and cut the strain relief off the ADB cable, making my one minor mistake.. I cut through the top side, not the bottom, which means you can see the cut. Oops, oh well. I took that home, along with the ADB mouse case, the optical mouse circuit board, lens and USB. A few (ok, 45) minutes later with a Dremel-style tool, I had an appropriately sized hole in the bottom for the lens assembly. If you're doing this, remember that it needs to be slightly smaller to hold it in place (or use hot glue. Mine is held in by the PCB, despite what it might look like). Then it was just a matter of applying some hot glue to hold the PCB and wire in place (and to insulate the braiding on the wire), put the four screws back in, and hey presto, a 100% Apple mouse ;) Yes, I'm not the first person to do something like this, but this one is 100% Apple.







:D

Update: from the mouse, I now have many of the components needed for a WinLIRC receiver. M'hey :D