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15:53, 2 January 2010 Nice project - only one thing is missing: it'd be nice if you'd explain how it works! I mean, what is a AMX mouse, and how does it transfer the data to the CPC?
I've had a look at the original AMX Art software. At first glance, it seems to be joystick compatible... so my first question would be:
Is that all about it? It works like a simple joystick?
Or did I miss something important? Like a mouse-detection which switches between special-mouse-protocol-mode and normal-joystick-mode?
If it's really simply using the joystick-style protocol. What I've found out is that it seems to check the joystick port once every 300Hz, and seems to treat joystick up/down/left/right signals as mickeys in the corresponding direction(s).
So I guess, on vertical movement, the mouse interface generates a LOW pulse of 1/300s duration (per mickey) on UP or DOWN joystick input.
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Oh, and how does the scroll wheel work exactly?
The document says it connects to "5" (joy2up) and "6" (joy2down).
First of, isn't that vice-versa? 6=up, 5=down?
And, concerning scrolling, the terms "up" and "down" are rather confusing...
If you move UP-wards in a document, then text scrolls DOWN-wards on the screen.
So "Move DOWN" could have opposite meaning as "Scroll DOWN".
I guess "turn wheel away from user" and "towards user" would be much more precise.
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Finally, a lisz of the buttons would be nice, like
Joy1Fire2 (X) = which button
Joy1Fire1 (Z) = which button
Joy1Fire3 (-) = which button (middle?)
Whereas, looking at the documentation (pdf file) for the original AMX mouse, left and right buttons seem to have been arranged/used confusingly. There's a strange drawing that looks as if the Right Button is used as Execute Button... ie. much like PC mouse in left-handed mode?
Although, the drawing is top-down, so the right button is actually on the left side in the drawing... though I guess that wasn't the way how one should use the mouse, with the buttons & cable pointing towards the user? :-)