oldmouse blog minis; trackballs; tablets & touchpads; index / miscellanea
1960s: Engelbart's first mouse; Telefunken "Rollkugel"
1966: Orbit X-Y Ball Tracker
1970s: Mystery wheel mouse; Hawley Mouse House
1972: Alto I [2]
1981: Xerox 8010 Star [2]
1982: Logitech; VisiOn GUI; Mouse Systems; KoalaPad
1983: Hawley Mark II X063X; Lisa; Microsoft; Microsoft green-eyed mouse
1984: Macintosh
1985: NeXT Computer; Microsoft grey-eyed mouse
1986: Hawley DEC mouse; GEOS GUI; Atari ST mouse; Commodore 1350 Mouse
1987: IBM PS/2; Microsoft 'Dove bar' mouse
1996: USB (see: Connectors)

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Transparent Mouses

See-through computer mice used to be created as prototypes during the development of the devices, but the cases of the production models were opaque plastic, most often a shade of beige. Photos of a clear Hawley mouse [external link] and a three-button Apple prototype [external link] can be found on the Web and several transparent Lisa mice reside in at least one private collection. When a few manufacturers marketed clear mice, at last curious users could see the mouse workings without taking the mouse apart and risking getting it back together improperly and/or, gasp, voiding their warranty.

Transparent mouses seem to have inspired the transluscent variety in later years. Here are a few in the album.