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Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 9:23 am Post subject: Optical Mod

Does anyone know if an optical mouse is truely Laser, or just a bright arse LED, if so one would be able to open one up and change this to lets say a blue LED.

im sure this has been done before, any insight?

Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 9:26 am Post subject:

It is an LED, but I don't think that blue has a long enough wavelength to work. I do know that you can get green ones, but the performance is crap.

Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 9:27 am Post subject:

I've seen some blue ones before, but they were made by some company I never heard of. There's probably a reason for that, and it's probably the reason that Webster gave... they would be crap.

Posted: Thu Mar 18, 2004 3:30 pm Post subject:

I believe that most companies go wit hred for the color because it is easier to dect movement from the mouse with red as opposed to a dark blue color.

Guide Dog Joined: 08 Nov 2003 Posts: 8419 Location: MN

all of the above are probably correct... HOWEVER, I have seen this done (as a mod) some where... not sure where off hand but I've seen it, granted I didn't ask about the preformance of the mouse after said mod was done,

really I don't think you'd have much of a problem with it, as far as it would probably matter for any one but a gamer, blue or red wouldn't have much of a differance...

*Warning any sentance that contains "I think" is very possibly wrong, and my opinions should not be trusted to be facts of any sort, it isn't even a fact that they are my opinions.*

Stray Dog Joined: 23 Nov 2003 Posts: 38

Hi,

Quote:
ROYGBIV - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.

The next one that would be a little less good at performance would be orange, but as you can see blue is 3rd to last, so performance is CRAP.

Hope this helps Laughing

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 10:51 am Post subject:

cool_dude wrote:
Hi,

Quote:
ROYGBIV - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.

The next one that would be a little less good at performance would be orange, but as you can see blue is 3rd to last, so performance is CRAP.

Hope this helps

you got some 'splainin to do lucy

as in WTF does that matter as far as color range goes. if anything infrared color would probably be even better than red. unfortunately only insects would be able to tell if the mouse was connected

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 11:55 am Post subject:

skildude wrote:

unfortunately only insects would be able to tell if the mouse was connected

I guess that's why bug zappers use ultra-violet instead of infrared lamps. The insects can't see it and therefore fly right into them?

- Ed.

Guide Dog Joined: 08 Nov 2003 Posts: 8419 Location: MN

skildude wrote:
cool_dude wrote:
Hi,

Quote:
ROYGBIV - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.

The next one that would be a little less good at performance would be orange, but as you can see blue is 3rd to last, so performance is CRAP.

Hope this helps

you got some 'splainin to do lucy

as in WTF does that matter as far as color range goes. if anything infrared color would probably be even better than red. unfortunately only insects would be able to tell if the mouse was connected

well I was thinking blue might work better actually, cause blue light has a short wave length (higher presision)... but I don't know how optical mice work very well off hand... If I had one I'd pull it apart and look at what they use for the sensor... But I think it is more a matter of light intensity (in which case a light blue would work better then a normal red...) then a matter of wave length or frequency of the light...

I suppose that the only way to know for sure is to get some poor sap to try it and benchmark it...

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 1:19 pm Post subject: Re: Optical Mod

Who wrote:
Does anyone know if an optical mouse is truely Laser, or just a bright arse LED, if so one would be able to open one up and change this to lets say a blue LED.

im sure this has been done before, any insight?

A quick search on Google led me to this page:
http://www.taconuts.org/articles/2000/dec/3/page1.php

Heres a quote from them:

Quote:

Warning: we have found that our blue LED actually worsened responsiveness on reflexive surfaces. A clear LED might make the responsiveness better, we do not have proof of this, just a theory. We will not be held responsible if you mess up your mouse. Modify at your own risk.

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 1:32 pm Post subject:

http://www.extrememhz.com/mouseled1.shtml

ExtremeMhz wrote:
The reason for this is because the red light increases the contrast of the surface it is lighting up. The tiny camera used to take pictures in the mouse is able to see changes in the surface better, offering excellent responsiveness.

so there's a link to doing it, and a reason why red leds are used.

basically, whatever color you decide on, make sure they are high intensity.

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2004 9:38 pm Post subject: humm

humm i'll have to try it out and i'll give you a before and after comparison.

thanks to all ya'll i know i can always count on advice from LWD you guys RULE! Very Happy

Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2004 10:27 am Post subject:

cool_dude wrote:
Hi,

Quote:
ROYGBIV - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.

The next one that would be a little less good at performance would be orange, but as you can see blue is 3rd to last, so performance is CRAP.

Hope this helps

Only thing ROYGBIV is used for is to help third graders to memorize the colors of the rainbow in order.

Guide Dog Joined: 08 Nov 2003 Posts: 8419 Location: MN

smokinAMD wrote:
cool_dude wrote:
Hi,

Quote:
ROYGBIV - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.

The next one that would be a little less good at performance would be orange, but as you can see blue is 3rd to last, so performance is CRAP.

Hope this helps

Only thing ROYGBIV is used for is to help third graders to memorize the colors of the rainbow in order.

you know it also happens to be the the order of light from the largest wave length to the smallest... or the highest frewuency to the lowerest... generally useful to know for chemestry/physics.

Moderator Joined: 26 May 2001 Posts: 8155 Location: Borneo

anglachel wrote:
well I was thinking blue might work better actually, cause blue light has a short wave length (higher presision).

blue is somewhere around 400nm,infrared 800nm. That is 1/10000 or1/25000mm. I don't think that is going to mater when you try to see if a mouse has moved.