Wombat ADB-USB Input Converter

Bridge keyboards and mice with classic hardware!

The Wombat is a bidirectional ADB-to-USB and USB-to-ADB converter for keyboards and mice.

Connect modern USB keyboards and mice to a classic ADB-based Macintosh, Apple IIgs, or NeXT
Connect legacy ADB input hardware to a USB-based computer running Windows, OSX, or Linux

No special software or drivers are needed – just plug it in and go.

Now you can finally use a modern optical mouse with your vintage Macintosh, or amuse your coworkers with a retro ADB keyboard on your work machine. ADB-USB Wombat is an indispensable tool for Apple collectors and enthusiasts.

Optional accessories for your Wombat:

ADB-USB Wombat is great for breathing new life into your vintage Apple hardware collection. If you love old Macs, you know ADB keyboards are expensive and hard to find, and ADB mice are sticky and trouble-prone. With the Wombat, you can substitute modern USB input peripherals instead. Or if you swear by your old Apple Extended Keyboard, you can use it with your modern computer. Visitors are sure to smile when they see you running 1980s Apple input peripherals on your current-year machine.

No external power source needed
On-board power key for remote turn-on
Upgradable firmware
Works with your favorite mice and keyboards

The Wombat was developed by Steve Chamberlin, here at Big Mess o’ Wires. See the blog archive for technical details on its software and hardware.

Compatibility

The Wombat hardware is compatible with all Apple computers, keyboards, and mice with an ADB connector (a 4-pin mini DIN), including most early Macintosh computers and the Apple IIgs, as well as some NeXT computer models. It is also compatible with standard USB keyboards and mice with a USB-A connector. When in ADB-to-USB conversion mode, it works under Windows, OSX, Linux, Chrome OS, or any other operating system that supports USB HID input peripherals.

Security dongles, joysticks, and other less common devices are not supported. The Macintosh Plus, Mac 512K, and Mac 128K computers use an older non-ADB connector for keyboards and mice, and are not supported.

USB to ADB

Connect USB keyboards and mice to a classic ADB-based Macintosh, Apple IIgs, or NeXT computer. Requires an ADB cable (not included). Set the Wombat board’s jumper to USB input mode, as shown on the diagram. Power will be supplied from the computer. Use an ADB cable to connect the board’s ADB port to the computer’s ADB port.

A single USB peripheral can be connected directly to the Wombat board’s USB-A port at CON1, or a standard USB hub can be used to connect multiple peripherals at once. When in this mode, the Wombat supports one USB keyboard and one USB mouse, as well as any number of ADB keyboards and mice, all used simultaneously.

Standard bus-powered USB hubs are recommended. Some externally powered USB hubs (with their own independent power supply) can backfeed power into the Wombat even when it’s off, causing problems.

Right Click Behavior – Most ADB mice had only one button, so the USB mouse’s right button is handled one of two ways. Macintosh mode sends a control + click event to the host, which opens context menus in Mac OS 8 and later. NeXT mode sends a true right click event to the host. The default is Macintosh control + click mode. Toggle between the two modes by clicking the USB mouse wheel button (button 3).

Mouse Wheel Behavior – ADB mice did not have a mouse wheel. USB mouse wheel movements will send up/down arrow key events to the host. This works well for document scrolling and file dialogs. If necessary, this “mouse wheel arrow keys” behavior can be disabled using the custom key mapping tool, described below.

Beginning in firmware 0.3.9, a long press of the mouse wheel button (more than half a second) will change the Wombat’s built-in mouse movement hardware scaling. Each long press increases the scaling by a factor of 2. This is helpful when using certain USB mice whose tracking speed is too slow or too fast even after making adjustments in the host OS’s mouse control panel.

ADB Power Key

Power Key – Original ADB keyboards had a power key – a square or rectangular key with a triangle logo that could be used to turn on some later models of ADB Macintosh computers. There’s an equivalent button on the Wombat board that will function as a substitute power key, even when the computer is off.

Connections for Standby Power

Standby Power – If the Wombat is powered from an auxiliary source (optional), it can continue working even when the computer is off. In this case, the PRINT SCREEN key or F13 key on a USB keyboard will also function as the power key to turn on the computer. To use this configuration, set the board’s jumper to USB+PWR mode, as shown on the diagram (board version 1.1 or later only), and connect a standard USB charger to the board’s USB-B port at CON2. For correct operation, an auxiliary power source must always be present when the jumper is set to USB+PWR mode.

ADB to USB

Connect ADB keyboards and mice to a modern USB-based computer. Requires a USB-Mini-B cable (not included). Set the Wombat board’s jumper to ADB input mode, as shown on the diagram. Power will be supplied from the computer. Use a USB-A to USB-Mini-B cable to connect the board’s USB-B port at CON2 to the computer’s USB port. This is the same cable commonly used to connect mobile phones and other devices to a computer. In this mode, nothing should be connected to the Wombat board’s USB-A port at CON1.

A single ADB peripheral can be connected directly to the Wombat board’s ADB port, or multiple peripherals can be daisy-chained, using the ADB pass-through connector found on all Apple ADB keyboards. When in this mode, the Wombat supports one ADB keyboard and one ADB mouse, as well as any number of USB keyboards and mice, all used simultaneously.

The ADB peripherals will appear as standard HID input devices to modern Windows, OSX, and Linux computers. No special drivers or other software are needed.

Firmware Updates

The Wombat firmware can be updated to fix bugs and add new features. Download the firmware.hex file from the downloads section below, and copy the file to the top-level directory a USB flash drive. The USB drive should be formatted with the FAT32 filesystem. Most USB drives already come preformatted this way.

During the firmware update process, the Wombat board can be powered from an ADB-based computer and ADB cable attached at CON3, or from a standard USB charger and USB-B cable attached at CON2. If powering from an ADB cable, set the board’s jumper to select USB input mode. If powering from a USB-B cable, set the board’s jumper to Standby Power mode (USB+PWR).

Disconnect all power from the Wombat board. Plug the flash drive directly into the board’s USB-A port CON1 – do not use a hub. Hold the board’s power key button while you connect the power source to turn on the board. Continue to hold the button for a few seconds, until the A and B status LEDs begin blinking rapidly. The update process takes about 10 seconds. When finished, the LEDs will blink slowly together, once per second.

During a firmware update, both LEDs are used to indicate update status:

slow alternating blinks of A, then B (1 blink/sec) – bootloader is searching for a firmware file
fast alternating blinks of A, then B (8 blinks/sec) – bootloader is updating the firmware
slow synchronized blinks of A and B together (1 blink/sec) – bootloader finished successfully

If B blinks several times while A remains off, it indicates a bootloader error:

2 blinks – no valid firmware exists on chip, can’t start main Wombat program
3 blinks – no firmware files found on USB drive
4 blinks – error in firmware file (checksum mismatch or illegal data)
5 blinks – error while updating firmware in chip memory

LED Status Codes

The A and B LEDs on the Wombat board display status and error information. (The A LED is labeled RUN on some boards). During normal use, the A LED will turn on when the Wombat has a working data connection (ADB or USB) to the host computer. The B LED will blink whenever there’s keyboard or mouse activity.

Help Commands

You can interact directly with the Wombat by typing help commands on an attached ADB or USB keyboard. Open an empty text document or command prompt on your computer. The Wombat will “type” its responses to your commands, so they appear on the screen.

Control-Shift-Capslock-T – Cycles between key mapping types US-GENERIC (ANSI QWERTY), ISO-GENERIC (UK and other non-US QWERTY), ISO-FR (AZERTY), and ISO-DE (QWERTZ)

Control-Shift-Capslock-G – Shows the currently active key mapping type

Control-Shift-Capslock-V – Displays the firmware version number

Control-Shift-Capslock-I – Displays the USB vendor and product ID or ADB handler ID of the keyboard and mouse

Control-Shift-Capslock-C – Enters keydump mode. While in this mode, the USB key code is displayed for each key that you press, along with the corresponding ADB key code it’s mapped to (or vice-versa). This can be helpful for troubleshooting key mapping problems.

Control-D – Exits keydump mode.

International Keyboards

Non-US international keyboards are supported by the Wombat. These include country-specific keyboard layouts like British, Canadian French, Danish, Greek, AZERTY variants, QWERTZ, and others. You’ll need to select the appropriate keyboard type in your operating system’s keyboard control panel, in order for the key mappings to work correctly.

System 7 Keyboard Control Panel

Two specific keys on ISO keyboards may require extra attention. If the key above TAB incorrectly behaves like the key to the right of LEFT SHIFT, you can switch ISO mode on/off to correct it. See details in the Help Commands section.

ISO Keyboard Key Swap

USB-to-ADB – Best results are obtained with Apple-brand country-specific USB keyboards, or any brand US-layout USB keyboards. In many countries, the country-specific PC-type USB keyboards have a different symbol layout than Apple ADB keyboards. These PC-type USB keyboards may be used, but key mappings for some symbols will be incorrect where differences exist between the Apple and PC-type layouts.

ADB-to-USB with Mac OSX – The first time you connect the Wombat to a modern Mac, a wizard will appear and attempt to detect the keyboard type. For non-US keyboards, you should select an ISO keyboard type from the wizard. If the key above TAB incorrectly behaves like the key to the right of LEFT SHIFT, even when the Wombat is in ISO mode, you may need to delete the OSX keyboard preferences to force the wizard to run again. Set the Wombat to ISO mode, delete the file /Library/Preferences/com.apple.keyboardtype.plist, restart the computer, and follow the wizard steps when it reappears.

Windows 7 Text Services and Input Languages Control Panel

ADB-to-USB with Microsoft Windows – Under Windows, when using country-specific ADB keyboards, you’ll need to select an Apple keyboard sub-type when choosing the keyboard type in the Windows preferences. The keyboard type is selected in the Text Services and Input Languages control panel. E.g. select a keyboard type of United Kingdom (Apple), French (Apple), or German (Apple) rather than the default United Kingdom, French, or German. If you don’t see the Apple sub-types listed, you’ll need to install the Apple keyboard driver applekeyboardinstaller64.exe.

Custom Key Mappings

With firmware version 0.3.0 or later, you can create your own customized key mapping tables. Change which keys behave as Command and Option, reassign the function keys to new purposes, or design other custom mappings. See the Wombat Keymap Tool for details.

What are ADB and USB?

ADB connector

From 1986 through 1998, ADB (Apple Desktop Bus) was the standard system for connecting peripherals like keyboards and mice to Apple computers. It was used by the Apple IIgs, as well as all early Macintosh models except the Mac Plus, 512K, and 128K. The ADB connector is a round mini DIN 4-pin, and is physically identical to the S-Video connector.

USB-A connector

USB (Universal Serial Bus) is the dominant standard today for connecting keyboards, mice, and other peripherals to a computer. Nearly everyone will recognize the familiar rectangular USB-A connector that’s used to plug a device into a host machine. USB replaced a variety of earlier standards like Firewire, ADB, and PS/2. Every Apple computer since 1998 has used USB for its input peripherals.

Converting between the two systems involves more than just a physical plug adapter. ADB and USB high-level protocols are fundamentally very different, and also have different signal speeds, signal formats, and voltages. ADB and USB input peripherals have different communication behaviors too. ADB keyboards and mice use event-based reporting, and only communicate when something has changed, whereas USB keyboards and mice communicate their full current state whenever asked.

Documentation

Instruction manual: Wombat instruction manual

Downloads

ADB-USB Wombat latest firmware version: adb-usb-wombat-0.3.11 (September 28 2026)

Older firmware versions: (try these if the latest version gives you problems)
adb-usb-wombat-0.3.9 (August 9 2023)
adb-usb-wombat-0.3.8 (October 21 2022)
adb-usb-wombat-0.3.7 (September 11 2021)
adb-usb-wombat-0.3.6 (June 25 2021)
adb-usb-wombat-0.3.5 (April 8 2021)
adb-usb-wombat-0.3.4 (April 8 2020)
adb-usb-wombat-0.3.3 (September 19 2019)
adb-usb-wombat-0.3.2 (September 9 2019)

3D-printable enclosure (contributed by James Kelly, Creative Commons license with attribution)

Get One Now

Check out ADB-USB Wombat at the BMOW Store.

301 comments

301 Comments so far

Mike - January 5th, 2019 12:33 pm

Ah. Shame, that. But, hey. Cheers for the explanation!
Jay - January 23rd, 2019 6:16 am

Hi Steve.

Using a Wombat with an Apple IIgs and a USB keyboard.

I don’t seem to be able to get Control – apple – reset to reboot the computer. Control reset works (using the printscreen key as reset). But combining Control – WIndows – Reset seems to only send a plain reset (no forced warm boot). For giggles tried Control – Win – TheButtonOnTheWombat- same result. Anything I could be doing wrong?
Steve - January 23rd, 2019 11:49 am

Send me a direct mail (see Contact at the page’s upper-right) and I can help you troubleshoot. The three finger salute also requires holding down all three keys for a longer moment than normal keypresses.
Chris - February 5th, 2019 9:34 pm

Is there any reason why a Unicomp SpaceSaver M keyboard wouldn’t work with this? I’d love to hook up a “modern” USB keyboard and mouse to my IIgs.
Steve - February 6th, 2019 7:55 am

I’m not familiar with that keyboard, sorry. If it’s a standard USB keyboard and not bluetooth or otherwise exotic, then it should work fine.
Chris - February 6th, 2019 9:12 am

Here’s the keyboard: http://www.pckeyboard.com/page/FeaturedProducts/UB4ZPHA They don’t list power draw, but I know the old Model M the Unicomps descend from drew more current than average.
Will - February 13th, 2019 2:09 pm

Hi Steve

Is it possible to use an ADB keyboard on an iMac (Rev a-D) running Mac OS 8-8.5? If so how? I have a Wombat but it show no activity?
Steve - February 13th, 2019 4:23 pm

Try updating to firmware 0.3.1, it has a fix for USB keyboard emulation under Mac OS 8 and 9.
Alonso - February 19th, 2019 7:58 am

Hi!
Its posible to make the power key on ADB keyboards usable in modern PCs?
I mean, can be the wombat modified to interpret the ADB power on key signal and drive it a pin header connected to the power switch header in a motherboard?
Kay Yu - March 1st, 2019 5:06 pm

Hello,
I just received it for my Apple IIgs. fantastic product! I love it.
just small annoyance to use for Apple IIe software: I have to press ‘Caps Lock’ key to make it upper case mode everytime I powered on…
Is there anyway to set this device to ‘Caps lock’ On when it powered on ?
This devide is just perfect except this one.
jake - March 9th, 2019 12:19 pm

lmao isnt it funny that adb is identical to s video? i was wondering why it looked familiar lol
Chas - March 15th, 2019 9:00 am

Has anybody tested this specifically with the Dvorak keyboard layout? How about Electric Dvorak on System 6?
TIA!
Derf - March 21st, 2019 4:16 pm

Great Product, using the Wombat 1.2.3 to type this comment from IIGS ADB keyboard. Keep up the good work. Enjoy reading your blogs, good technical descriptions.
Ralph - April 9th, 2019 10:32 pm

The fixes from firmware 0.3.1 targeted at Mac OS 9 seem to have positively impacted powermacs in general. The few minor issues I had during boot sequence do not show up anymore with adb->usb emulation. Boot keys do work! Thank you for this project, Mr. Steve.
Hal - May 6th, 2019 7:04 pm

I’m running OpenStep 4.2 in a virtual machine and the mouse jumps erratically. Apparently it’s because the software is designed for the NeXT mouse, which has a different “step”. Will your adapter mimic that after it turns it into USB mouse code? In other words, does it maintain the steps of the ADB mouse so that it won’t jump?
Steve - May 7th, 2019 6:36 am

The Wombat has been tested on real NeXT and Mac hardware. If you’re running in a virtual machine on a PC, I don’t think you’ll see any difference vs using a regular USB mouse.
Hal - May 7th, 2019 7:25 pm

Thanks for the reply. Are you saying that it wouldn’t be worth it for me to try an ADB mouse with the Wombat converter because it wouldn’t look any different to the virtual machine than a regular USB mouse does?
Steve - May 8th, 2019 7:10 am

That’s right. But I’ve never used OpenStep inside or outside a VM. A NeXT user forum could probably give you more information.
James - July 1st, 2019 9:04 am

The left shift, alt, CTRL and both apple keys are not working on my AEK II. I have tried different firmwares (3 of them). Is this a known problem?
James - July 1st, 2019 9:48 am

Follow-up to above comment. There is a scratch on the keyboard PCB through the trace for all of the above buttons. It isn’t anything to do with the Wombat board. Sorry for the pointless comment.
Jared Fry - July 23rd, 2019 6:54 am

Many of the keys of my M0116 aren’t going through and some of the keystrokes are typing a “v” when the key is released. Am I doing something wrong?
Steve - July 23rd, 2019 9:02 pm

Sounds like a keyboard or other hardware problem somewhere in the loop. For customer support issues, please contact me directly for 1-on-1 help, using the Contact link at upper right.
Krishna Draws - July 27th, 2019 5:46 pm

I updated from the 0.2.2 firmware to 0.3.1 and had some issues when using an Apple Extended Keyboard II with both a 2018 Mac mini and a 2014 MacBook Pro. On the Mac mini, triggering caps lock would cause the mouse cursor to freeze intermittently. On the MacBook Pro, an almost 1 second delay would occur every time I switched from CAPS LOCK to lowercase and vice versa – making the typing experience somewhat frustrating. Also, the caps lock light would not come on. I’ve downgraded the Wombat’s firmware to 0.3.0 and re-tested. The problems seem to have gone away -and the caps lock light comes on when the key is pressed. I’ll test this version of the firmware on my Mac mini and report back if anyone is interested.
Krishna - July 27th, 2019 6:12 pm

Just tested 0.3.0 firmware with Mac mini and my Apple Extended Keyboard II – works just great! Caps on light works, when active. Unrelated question: Is it safe to hot-unplug the Wombat from the computer’s USB port if the Wombat is connected to an ADB keyboard? Or would I need to shut down the Mac to unplug the Wombat? I seem to recall ADB ports being finicky and requiring the Mac to be shut down before unplugging them. Thanks!
Steve - July 29th, 2019 4:12 pm

Yes, you can safely hot-plug or unplug the USB side of the Wombat.
Christopher Price - August 6th, 2019 3:51 pm

Looks like you might be out of town for a bit, I am eager to get a Wombat and perhaps another FloppyEmu, is there an ETA for new stock? Many thanks, loving my FloppyEmu RevB
Steve - August 10th, 2019 7:34 pm

I expect to have more Wombats available in about a week. More Floppy Emus in 1-2 weeks.
Ruben Aparicio - August 17th, 2019 2:13 pm

Hi, does current firmware work with current Apple Keyboards?
Steve - August 17th, 2019 2:38 pm

Is there a particular keyboard you have in mind? The Wombat’s been tested with a wide variety of USB keyboards including Apple ones. It does not work with bluetooth keyboards. I don’t have any of Apple’s hybrid bluetooth/USB keyboards to try, but it should be OK as long as it behaves as a standard USB keyboard.
Tommy Thorn - August 25th, 2019 8:07 pm

This is really awesome and I love how it’s dual action. Alas, there were none in stock, but I’ll check back.
John William - September 2nd, 2019 10:34 pm

I have one question to ask! I have two keyboards on my table and it is a pain on the butt. Because of space factor. Can I use my PC keyboard/mouse to share it between the PC and Apple/gs via a click of a switch? Or can I use the apple // extended keyboard for my apple/gs to be shared between the apple//gs and/or PC using this device?

Thanks in advance.
Ruben Aparicio - September 3rd, 2019 1:17 am

Hi Steve,

I only have the current hybrid Apple magic keyboard in mind. This is currently for sale and has a very small foot print plus very good typing quality (not like the current laptops…). I can plug it with a lightning cable to a Raspberry Pi or a Windows/Linux PC besides a Mac and it worls well in USB mode. However it must be doing something different as Wombat does not react to keystrokes. It would be great if you could debug that.

cheers,

Ruben
Steve - September 3rd, 2019 6:33 am

John – The Wombat is a USB/ADB protocol translator, not a KVM switch, so unfortunately it can’t be used in the way you proposed. Ruben – As mentioned I don’t have any of Apple’s hybrid bluetooth/USB keyboards. If I can manage to borrow one, I’ll try to find time to look at it. Raspberry Pi runs a full Linux OS with bluetooth OS support, which may be why the bluetooth/USB hybrid works there.
Martin - September 4th, 2019 5:28 am

Two questions;
Is the ADB port on the Mac 8600 supported?
If I place a USB switch between this device and my keyboard/mouse, is there any reason I can’t use them with another PC?
Ruben Aparicio - September 4th, 2019 5:54 am

Hi again Steve,

I have used satisfactorily the Hybrid Apple Magic Keyboard in Linux system without bluetooth devices and it works too. Its something going on at USB level.
John William - September 4th, 2019 11:17 am

Hey Steve,

Thank you for your fast reply. I have one more question to ask. I know it have nothing to do with this device, but is there a small flat surface lifter that I can put it on top of the Apple //gs and I can just place the keyboard on top of that surface? This way I can use the keyboard and mouse on top of the apple //gs without covering the ventilation hole on top of the case of the apple //gs and lift it a little bit so air circulation can enter Apple //gs on top of the case and type and use the mouse that way.

Again…please forgive me for asking an off-topic question. I thought this would have solved my keyboard problem and lack of space but it didn’t.
Steve - September 9th, 2019 3:46 pm

Firmware 0.3.2 fixes compatibility problems with the Apple Magic Keyboard model A1644.
Ruben - September 10th, 2019 6:58 am

The new firmware is great news ! Top man ! 🙂
Jason Taylor - September 14th, 2019 10:03 am

I had the same issues as Krishna with both an Apple Extended Keyboard and two different Apple Extended Keyboard IIs. Pressing caps lock caused two USB-C MacBook Pros to lock up (running 10.12 and 10.13). I had to disconnect the Wombat to get control of my Mac back again. Downgrading to 0.3.0 fixed the issues. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help triage and test! Outside of that small issue this thing is AMAZING and very impressive!
Steve - September 14th, 2019 3:17 pm

Thanks, I confirmed this caps lock behavior. If you need to run the AEK on current MacOS, then I recommend staying with firmware 0.3.0 for now.
Steve - September 14th, 2019 4:54 pm

The ADB-to-USB mode caps lock LED and MacBook freeze problem is resolved in firmware 0.3.3.
Jason Taylor - September 15th, 2019 3:37 pm

Thanks so much! I tried it and it works great!
Richard Moore - November 6th, 2019 11:09 pm

Nevermind my previous question, I forgot that it matters how you release the buttons as well. I guess I forgot how these work after so many years.

As an interesting follow up, with the Apple Magic Keyboard, it will automatically revert to the bluetooth once the wombat is turned off (such as turning off the IIGS) physically disconnecting the lightning/usb cord is not necessary, so it’s almost like having a built in keyboard switcher.
Pedro - November 17th, 2019 7:21 am

Hello, I am
Can I use wombat adb to usb for a mod of an ibook g3?
I think it has an adb 30 pin keyboard?

If not, is there any previous adapter to do so?
Thank you very much
leighferon - November 28th, 2019 5:36 pm

im here because of gravis firebird adb mac joystick, got in goodwill for 5$…any chance this would work with joysticks?
Steve - December 1st, 2019 7:18 am

No, sorry. Please see the “compatibility” section above. Security dongles, joysticks, and other less common devices are not supported.
Richard Moore - December 3rd, 2019 10:36 am

I just thought I would update my last post. I gave up using the magic keyboard, as I think it was taking too much power and preventing a logitech universal receiver from also working intermittently. (To be fair, it might have been the USB 3 hub instead, or the distance between the receiver and mouse.)

In addition, it was a hassle to plug/unplug the magic keyboard (when both were powered up) to look up troubleshooting info on the other computer.

My new setup is using an old apple wired compact usb keyboard. It includes two USB ports (one either side of the keyboard), which i have the logitech universal receiver plugged into. The mouse is a logitech m585, it has a button that allows me to switch between using it with the IIGS, or bluetooth connection to another device (I am using it with my iPad Pro 10.5.) This new setup is working better.

The only tweak I had to do was to remap the switch/power key to F12, for easier apple-control-reset, as the compact keyboard doesn’t have the default reset key (printscreen or f13 I think.)
Richard Moore - December 28th, 2019 2:54 pm

Hello. I have been using the Wombat for a while, and I have one suggestion I hope you will consider implementing. I have a Logitech M585 mouse, it works great with the wombat, except that the scroll wheel is very, very sensitive. I tend to move the scroll wheel when I don’t intent do, which causes a series of system beeps in GS/OS, when dialog boxes appear that won’d accept up/down commands..

I would love a user option to disable the scroll wheel, or at least change the keyboard key that is pressed when scrolling up/down to a “no press” option. Using the same web tool as can be used to change the key presses would be an ideal place to configure both the keyboard and mouse scrolling.
Steve - December 29th, 2019 12:50 pm

good idea.
Richard Moore - February 15th, 2020 7:00 pm

I am still trying to troubleshoot an issue with the mouse one gsos. I get a very choppy mouse after using the wombat for awhile, but I am not sure if it is the iigs/wombat/or m585 wireless mouse.

At random (usually after my daughter is using it for an hour or so) the mouse becomes very choppy. I can fix it by shutting the aux power supply down to the wombat, and it restores normal operation (without shutting down the iigs).

At first, I swapped from a magic keyboard to an Apple usb keyboard (and eliminated a usb hub) but it is still am getting the issue. Now I swapped to a wired mouse, and will see if it reoccurs.
Richard Moore - February 25th, 2020 5:15 pm

Just a quick update. I tried a couple of mice, but for some reason they both had lots of lag when using under GSOS.

One was an older 15 year old wired mouse, the other was a brand new HP mouse just purchased from Best Buy, both were very sluggish and lagged behind the gsos system I tried both using the mice with my apple keyboard, and using it with no keyboard attached to the wombat (mouse usb or dongle connected only, no hub.). Both mice that lagged with the wombat worked without issue when plugged into my 2017 iMac, they are on the same desk as the IIGS, so I pretty much ruled out any radio interference (and should not have effected a wired mouse anyway.).

I had to revert to using the m585 mouse with my IIGS, but have been too busy to see if the occasional choppiness I mentioned above returns or not. (I moved the dongle from the right side of the keyboard to the left side to see if there was any difference. between the two USB ports on the apple keyboard.)

What other usb (wired or wireless) mice are other wombat users using? I would like to get a known good working model mouse to rule in or out if it is something with my IIGS/Wombat/ or I just happen to have two mice that don’t play well with the wombat.

Steve, has any work been done to allow the reassigning (or elimination) of key presses for the mouse wheel? I would love to try a beta firmware should you decide to implement it in a future firmware.

I had one more idea, but I don’t know if it can be implemented easily. Cold the eject button an an Apple USB keyboard be used for a reset key? I don’t know if that button has a standard code to allow it to be remapped, so it may not be possible. Still, it would be nice to reassign that key to use as a reset, vs my current configuration of f12 if possible.
Mike - February 25th, 2020 9:13 pm

I use a Logitech wireless mouse/keyboard. Works fine with pretty much everything except for Brutal Delux programs I have tried.
xboxown - February 27th, 2020 5:43 pm

Guys I have one serious question to ask. If the answer to that question is yes..then I will buy it immediately. Can I use this device to hook a normal PC keyboard to run on both on my Apple //gs and my PC?
xboxown - February 27th, 2020 5:45 pm

I want to clarify it. I do not mean a KVM switch. What I mean is this…can I use this device and turn a PC keyboard to work on the Apple //gs and then I get a KVM switch and then from that switch I can hook this one keyboard to switch between PC and my Apple //gs? That is my question just to be clear.

Thanks in advance.
Steve - February 28th, 2020 11:09 am

I’ve used a Dell wireless mouse and keyboard KM117. Also tested with many USB wired mice from Microsoft, Logitech, Dell, and no-name generics. Tested with the Dell wireless KM117 keyboard and many wired USB keyboards from Dell, Apple, Microsoft, HP, and generics.

In USB-to-ADB mode, the USB mousewheel is translated into up/down arrow keypresses, which accomplishes something similar in most software. Clicking the mousewheel (button 3) toggles control-click emulation for button 2 on/off. Some Mac software responds to control-click in a similar way to a right mouse button click in Windows.

I’m not sure I understand the question about the KVM but I think the answer is yes. In USB-to-ADB mode the Wombat is basically a black box takes USB keyboard/mouse input and generates ADB keyboard/mouse output.

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