User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Sat Feb 17, 2018 2:26 pm

Picked this up this week: a NOS never-opened, never-used original Commodore 2-button mouse I'm guessing made some time in the early 1990s. When I received the mouse it was in bubble wrap with tape that had never been opened. I know this because the tape was slightly yellowed and required a surprising amount of force to break its gluey seal off it's bubble-wrap cocoon.
IMG_3812.jpg
I don't know the model number for this particular find. On the bottom it says MUS15E S41 #023 AA. No idea what that means. Note the foam insert still protecting the giant rubber ball inside from moving around.
IMG_3814.jpg
IMG_3816.jpg
This is one of the later-model designs. It is more ergonomic and form-fits nicely to a cupped hand. It rather reminds me of some of the future Microsoft mouses (which I used to adore BITD).
IMG_3815.jpg
Note the bright color compared to my old (I thought pretty awesome looking) tank. This new mouse is almost white but not quite. The difference is pretty stark - much more like the case colors of the eventual 600/1200 models.
IMG_3817.jpg
This NOS mouse is higher than the tank, and a tiny bit shorter by maybe 7 or 8 millimeters.
IMG_3820.jpg
I don't really need this mouse at this time - but it's NOS! - and that's always something special in my book. I'm going to save it and use it at some stage in the future. For now, I've put it back in its cozy cocoon.

User avatar
Shot97
Detroit, MI, USA

Posted Sat Feb 17, 2018 2:37 pm

The tank was always off white, it's not yellowing. That's how the 500 is supposed to look as well. People get all excited about white because certain pictures make the machines seem more white than they actually were. White balance and such. I can easily get my Amiga to look exactly white by shooting it in sunlight, shoot it under normal household lighting and it goes more beige. Now my GVP drive actually has yellowed due to previous owners combined with the cheap plastic. I've even used retrobright on both just for the hell of it, it helped out the GVP drive quite a bit (but it's still yellow) but didn't do a damn thing to the 500, that's how it always looked. That tank looks how it always looked to me.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Sat Feb 17, 2018 2:41 pm

Yes - I do believe the older Amigas had more brown in them. I rather like that, to be honest. The whiter mouse is much closer to the end-of-days Commodore when their later all-in-ones really were quite stark.

My NOS Amiga 1200 I used to have was almost pure white. All my pre-1200 machines are intentionally beige/brown on the lighter scale of beige. At some point they went lighter, probably trying to "be like everyone else". I might save this newer mouse to use with my NTSC 1200 on the (currently) rare occasions I break it out. It'll look really good with that machine.

User avatar
Zippy Zapp
CA, USA

Posted Sat Feb 17, 2018 3:07 pm

I don't believe I have seen that exact mouse, cool find, intric8.

That does seem to match the A1200 color scheme better. My A1200 was also pretty white. The mouse I have with my A1200 is currently the Black variety, which matched the black power supply that came with my A1200.

I still like the tank mouse. It was a fine to use at the time, since we didn't know any better, and it is still good today.

User avatar
Shot97
Detroit, MI, USA

Posted Sat Feb 17, 2018 3:28 pm

My dad knew better; we had an awesome 3rd party mouse with an odd switch on the bottom for an "ST" and "Amiga" mode. Anyone know off the top of their heads what was incompatible about the two? I imagine it must have been just one wire crossed if this mouse had a switch to it.

While that mouse was a thousand times nicer to use than the tank, I will say that it lives up to its name, and it still survives where as that 3rd party one has long since died.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Sat Feb 17, 2018 5:11 pm

Most of my tanks work flawlessly.

A couple I've kept for parts, but track like crap. It's usually the A1000 L-connectors that seem to be the toughest to find in good working shape. So many of those just got killed over the years, and they are the hardest to replace. The laser upgrade doesn't fit in that housing.

User avatar
Zippy Zapp
CA, USA

Posted Sat Feb 17, 2018 5:19 pm

I remember those Amiga/ST models. I think QuickShot made one. IIRC it is really easy to convert a mouse between Amiga and ST as it is only the difference between 2 pins being swapped, I think the X and Y were reversed between the two, IIRC.

Since i was the one buying the stuff when Amiga was new, because my Dad was good with the C64 for what he used it for, I just stayed with what was included. I did have a couple of friends that had fancy 3rd party mice, but when you are young and just starting out in career you are broke. heh.

User avatar
jeancj73

Posted Tue Mar 06, 2018 11:50 am

Hi Eric, good to see you got it. I am relieved that it survived the trip from Belgium to the USA. I have some additional tank mice. :-) 3 of them are nearly as white to what you have now, near to mint condition and 1 is perfectly mint in bubble wrap and new old stock as well. The latter will be used for my nice a500 setup with fully equipped GVP a530 and pc 286 at add-on card. :-) Take care, Jean





Return to “Conquests”