And, if you happen to have a C128, you get a lot of extra bonuses that make the experience even more sensational. Those include:
- 2Mhz "Turbo" mode
- Dual-screens. Low-resolution for the game, High-resolution for the new auto-map feature.
- Num-pad support for movement
I found an excellent use for the mouse this year when I took a deep dive into GEOS and built my C128D GEOS Battle Station.
To my surprise, when I tried to initially use it, the "brand new" never-used mouse was actually dead. After taking the mouse apart I discovered that one of the original capacitors had simply fallen off (or had never been attached properly at the factory!) back in the day. I couldn't believe it. Thankfully a friend of mine sent me a replacement cap in the mail and after I soldered it into place the mouse sprang to life.
The mouse-pointer movement of the 1351 is exactly what you would expect from a modern mouse. It's smooth, accurate and glorious. I did notice that the mouse buttons were kind of soft and "mushy" but mostly functional.
Once EotB released I set up my C128D to run the game. Within the first day it was obvious the 1351's buttons microswitches really sucked. In the game you need to use both buttons quite often. And the right mouse button was so crappy, I had to teach myself how to use it by holding it a very particular way or the button wouldn't work at all when I needed it most.
When you're in the middle of a battle the last thing you need is janky button action. It was getting me killed! And, frankly it was ruining my experience.
After some research and talking to more friends I found some button microswitch replacements on Mouser.com.
After taking some measurements and looking around I settled on two microswitch replacements to try:
this one - CUI Devices TS14-1212-50-BK-260-SCR-D
and this one - Omron B3W-4000.
After a few weeks they arrived. Having some time off from work this holiday, today I got to work on replacing the original switches.
The CUI Devices switch was noticeably higher than the originals. But, they were very stiff and produced a loud "click!" which I like. The Omron switches looked to be the same height as the originals and produced a much quieter and softer click.
You may need to turn it up and use headphones to hear the audio of the switches properly.
Once I pulled the left-button switch off, I used my digital calipers to see how thick things were. It told me the original was 4mm thick (not including the legs, obviously) and that my chosen replacement was 4.6mm. What's interesting about that is the data sheet on Mouser said the switch was 5mm. I was glad to see it was slightly shorter in the end and went ahead with things.
With just the left switch installed, I put the case back on and ran to the C128. I fired everything up to make sure the button still worked before moving onto the 2nd one. So far so good! The button click is very loud now, but solid, firm, and extremely dependable. It was a massive improvement. I'm betting some folks wouldn't like the new sound, but it is such a huge improvement in action it's hard to express in words. I ran back to the soldering table to install the 2nd switch.
Sometimes, it's the simple things. And now, back to Level 8! I'm not worried about random monster encounters as much anymore.