DOUBLE MOUSE

Double your productivity by connecting a single mouse to two computers! It's simple: one mouse, two USB connections, infinite possibilities. Each click of your pointer finger will be twice as powerful with this mouse mod. This is a low cost, no soldering, HOW TO that will double your clicks per hour in minutes.

Step 1 MATERIALS / PARTS LIST

Part: PS/2 Mouse (serial)
Vendor: Radio Shack
Cost: $9.97 or less
Notes: You only really need one mouse but you need two serial cables. I ended up just buying an extra mouse because at RadioShack they are cheaper then a serial cable. Old serial mice are just llaying around everywhere waiting to be used, they can often be found on ebay.com for $1 or less.

Part: QVS USB-PS2Y USB to Dual PS/2 "Y" Converter
Vendor: J&R
Cost: $14.99
Notes: You are going to need two of these. There are cheaper options but this is the only one that I know works for sure.

Part: Duct tape
Vendor: Any will do.

Tools: A sharp Xacto blade and/or wire cutters.

Comments

[Shark500]

CPU = central processing unit
Motherboard = main board that everything connects to including the CPU
Monitor = the visual interface (the screen)
Computer = housing for the motherboard, drives, and component interface cards i.e. the video card.

i hope that cleared things up.

also you may want to only connect one set of power wires to the mouse. right tnow you are giving it double what it needs and that aint too good. atleast you had pictures so PROPS! =D

[freakyqwerty]

Yeah but instead of merging the two voltage cables(red) cut one out. Simples!

[n0ukf]

Connecting the power wires together doesn't double the voltage going to the mouse, so the mouse won't be bothered, but the regulated 5v from the two computers might not be exactly the same and try to fight each other. Though being on the USB ports, that fight would be limited to 500mA or less. Doubling the current sources won't hurt the mouse, as it will only draw what it needs from the available 5v supply. Now if you tried to feed the mouse 10v or more, then it might get heart burn and die on you. ;)

[maker12]

no no no its

CPU = brain
Motherboard = spine
Monitor = the visual interface (the screen)
Computer = skull or body!

[shveet]

actually this one guy binded 6 computers and 6 mice together and played some good old WOW

[TheCheese9921]

now I wana hook up to mice to one computer

[javandyck]

I saw an adaptor for this a couple years back. It was intended as a teaching aid. It put two independant arrows on the screen at the same time.

[LiaLinda]

I also need to be able to have two arrows on a screen each working independantly... do you recall where you saw this adaptor?  Was it at an educational facility?  Or at a store (and if it was a store, do you recall which one)? 

[Madrias357]

done it. Doesn't do anything cool.

[syme]

Idea unsure whether it would work as usb work on a set voltage and it may be damaging to devices, but why not do this with a USB extender i.e. a female usb to two male usb's, then a single usb stick can be accessed on two pc.

note. i dunno whether it would cause files to corrupt be good for someone to try with a cheap tacky usb stick lol

[AT]

That is useless to pointless; I like it.

[bmlbytes]

I just wanted to point out that you repeatedly said serial mouse. While technically these run over a serial bus, they are not considered serial mice. They are PS/2 mice. A serial mouse would have a DB9 connector on it.

[Master Of Hacks]

Error, Windows has malformed due to lack of patience. To resolve this problem, please install un-genuine software.

[TyMan210]

Error, Windows has malformed due to boot up. To resolve this problem, please reinstall Windows

[Redgerr]

"MASTER OF HACKS" ERROR: CANNOT COMPUTE

[Master Of Hacks]

PLAYSTATION 2 MICE!

[stephenniall]

was just about to say that Lol

[bmlbytes]

Although I do give you points for a good instructable!

[dodo91]

i have an idea. have you ever had two computers, and wanted to put a document on both of them. you dont have anything tho take it from one to the other to have it on both. so, ou use this concept, but with the keyboard. you put word on both computers, then type. you only have to look at one screen. this is because if you made a mistake on one, it will be on the other. you can also do the mouse, so when you click somewhere, it will click on the other computer. thats what i call killing two birds with one stone!

[Kazeem]

or you pay £5 for a memory stick instead of mutilating a set of computer equipment, and taking longer than it takes to transfer a file :P good idea all the same.... lol

[Derin]

PS/2 is not hotpluggable,even on USB.the BIOS only checks for the mouse at startup,and that is why it wont work

[bwpatton1]

ya this is frustrating when you are working on computers and forget to plug into the mouse, then you have to turn off the computer restart etc.....

[collard41]

complete rubbish. the mouses drivers are installed (or are already there) when plugged in so you di not have to restart your computer

[Derin]

meh.it does not check for new equipment unless you restart,I tried it by trying to plug my USB mouse to PS/2 with the supplied adapter,it did not regocnize the PS/2 compatible mouse

[tristan993]

this is a nice instructable but u could also just plug a keyboard and mouse into a usb adapter strip and plug that into a computer, and when u need to use the other computer just use an extension usb cord and plug that into the usb adapter

[roystonlodge]

This is such a genius idea that, if only you hadn't posted this idea for free on this site, I'm SURE you could have made a WHACK of money off a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. But, you posted it for free on the Internet, so no taxpayer-funded art money for you! ;-)

[DIY Dave]

Does anyone know how to make a PS/2 USB adapter?

[jeffconnelly]

There's an instructable on it

[=SMART=]

Haha those 9 - 5 drawings are great :P

[EnigmaMax]

couldn't you just connect two monitors to the computer?

[Spencerr]

the whole point was to work on separate computers.

[Sullen70]

I appreciate the 9-5 paintings as 'process art', but I think any UI/human factors specialist might retrieve some value in the images as data. Clever concept.

[jeffconnelly]

no, I think it's pretty secure, seeing as you can't tell when he put each dot on the screen.

[patricksanford]

actually, it can help ergonomics. the the more "dense" the image, the less he had to move the mouse, the less dense, the more he had to move the mouse assuming that the paint program was set to trace all mouse movements. it could be useful in designing GUI's in a manner that can minimize the need to move the mouse about, and thus help to avoid repetitive motion injury. set it to track the density of mouse clicks and you might be able to find out which tools in a program are used the most, and lessen the number of clicks needed to access that tool. lots of uses for this actually.

[DELETED_toolazy2p]

(removed by author or community request)

[Toulouse]

i was going to suggest synergy. it's pretty neat

[Squee]

I've used realVNC before, I might have to give synergy a try. I tried to do something simlar using a demo of a pay program but it never worked and I wasn't willing to shell out the $80 for a full copy+tech support when I could use realVNC for free. Although what I was really looking for was essentially a software KVM switch.

[heav]

yeah, I just don't understand how fi5e does control in which computer he wants the click, since didn't saw the switch part, still, software controlled mouse/ keyboard is much more elegant and practical than messing around cutting cables, etc... but any ways that's for real use, this approach is for creating some kind of strokes logger, mmmm still some software from synaptics touchpad can do the same.

[Mr. Smart Kid]

step 8" reason it did not work they come with certin duail usb/ps2 mice

[earthstation]

this is certainly an interesting project. i think i might just have to go make one sometime...