From: wizard@rectec.net (David Templeton) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Topolino PC mouse adapter Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware Date: 23 Sep 1998 12:37:17 -0400 Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 227 Sender: barrett@belvedere.cs.umass.edu Message-ID: <6ub83t$5ka@belvedere.cs.umass.edu> Reply-To: wizard@rectec.net (David Templeton) Keywords: hardware, mouse, commercial X-Review-Number: Volume 1998 Number 21 NNTP-Posting-Host: belvedere.cs.umass.edu X-NNTP-Posting-Host: belvedere.cs.umass.edu Path: rcfnews.cs.umass.edu!not-for-mail PRODUCT NAME Topolino "New Version" BRIEF DESCRIPTION The Topolino is a PC Mouse Adapter. It allows you to plug any Microsoft, Logitech, or Mouse Systems compatible serial PC input device into your Amiga's mouse port and use it as if were a standard Amiga mouse. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Feo Electronik GmbH Address: Frisonistr.5 D-88250 Weingarten Germany Telephone: +49-751-5573031 FAX: +49-751-5573032 E-mail: info@raach.com World Wide Web: www.raach.com NORTH AMERICAN IMPORTER INFORMATION Name: Wonder Computers International Inc. Phone: 613-721-1993 Fax: 613-721-1994 E-mail: mark@wonder.ca World Wide Web: www.wonder.ca LIST PRICE $39.95 USD DEMO VERSION NONE SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE Requires a Microsoft, Logitech or Mouse Systems compatible Serial PC Input device. SOFTWARE NONE. COPY PROTECTION NONE MACHINE USED FOR TESTING A2000 rev 4.5 / Bomac Tower (Extra Baby AT 230w Power Supply Option) Full ECS Chipset 1MB Chip RAM CSA Derringer 030/50 MMU 882/50 w/32mb 32 bit RAM. GVP Series II ROM rev 4.13 w/8mb Fast RAM. Toshiba 1.2GB SCSI Hard Drive. Maxtor 345s SCSI Hard Drive. C= A3070 Tape Drive. Toshiba 4x SCSI CD-ROM drive. Iomega SCSI ZIP drive. 1 - Internal C= A3000 High Density Floppy Disk Drive. 1 - External Golden Image Master 3A-1D 880k Floppy Disk Drive. C= 2320 Flicker Fixer. Multiface III Multi I/O card. C= 1942s BI-Sync Monitor. Motorola 56k ModemSURFR external modem. Citizen GSX-140 color 24 pin printer. INSTALLATION Turn OFF your Amiga, Plug the Topolino into your Amiga's mouse port, plug your serial PC input device into the Topolino, then turn ON your Amiga. An adapter cable is required for installation on an A2000. REVIEW Every since I purchased a Kensington Expert Mouse for the WinTel box at work I have wanted one for my Amiga. There are a few trackballs out there for the Amiga but nothing that comes close to the quality of the Kensington Expert Mouse v5.0 (Trackball). Most of the hacks available on the Internet for converting PC serial devices to the Amiga, require serious modifacations to the input device's circuitry. Ripping the guts out of a $100 trackball was out of the question. So I settled on using Sermouse v2.21 (available on Aminet). Sermouse is a software driver for PC serial input devices. It is a very stable product and works quite well, but it does have a couple of drawbacks. First, it requires you to plug your mouse or trackball into the serial port just like on a WinTel box. If you already have a modem plugged to your Amiga's serial port you will need to buy an I/O card, like the Multiface III or GVP I/O Card. Second, the device is only recognized by applications run from Workbench. Which means it is useless for games, guru screens, etc.. Enter the Topolino! Here is a quote from the Topolino WEB page: "The protocols used by the companies Logitech, Mouse Systems and Microsoft are supported, therefore every commercial input appliance can be connected." "Trackballs, Glidepoints or radio-controlled mice do not cause any problems." The Topolino works as advertised with the Kensington Expert Mouse V5.0 and my cheesy $10, 3 button PC mouse, except I could not get the 3rd button to work. I suspect this was the fault of the mouse and not the Topolino. Most really cheap PC mice do not have the MMB connected. DOCUMENTATION No documentation was provided. The company contact info is on a very small sticker on the top of the Topolino. LIKES I like the fact, it allows virtually any input device made to be used on the Amiga. DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS My only complaint is the lack of documentation. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS It compares to Sermouse v2.21. Sermouse can be downloaded for free from Aminet but it requires a spare serial port. BUGS The "New Version" Topolino appears to be bug free. I purchased my original Topolino from Software Hut and it would not work with the Kensington Expert Mouse v5.0. In addition to the bug with the Kensington Expert Mouse, it had a couple of other annoying little bugs. Sometimes it would prevent Magic Menu from working and at the same time kill the scroll back buffers in AmIRC. A cold reboot always fixed this problem. VENDOR SUPPORT I contacted the dealer where the original Topolino was purchased, (Software Hut) and the North American Importer (Wonder Computers in Canada). Both were very helpful, but they did not have the "New Version" Topolino in stock yet. I contacted the FEO Electronik about the bugs and they indicated they were aware of the problems and had made a "New Version" Topolino, but it was not available in the USA at the time of this article. They offered to replace my old version Topolino with a new one if I would mail it to them. I returned the Topolino to FEO Electronik and was extremely surprised when a new one arrived in less than 3 weeks from Germany. WARRANTY There was no documentation or warranty information provided with my Topolino. FEO Electronik appears to be a company that is willing to stand behind their products. This is very refreshing in a shrinking Amiga market. CONCLUSIONS The Topolino is a great idea that has evolved into a GREAT product. It does exactly what it claims. It allows you to use any PC serial input device on your Amiga as if it were a normal Amiga mouse. It would be nice if the Topolino came in a small Antistatic bag and included a one or two page flyer with some installation instructions, a list of devices the Topolino has been tested with, along with the results, and customer support information. I rate the Topolino a solid "A". If they would include the documentation mentioned above it would be an "A+". COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1998 David A. Templeton, wizard@rectec.net. --- Accepted and posted by Daniel Barrett, comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews Web site: http://math.uh.edu/~barrett/reviews.html