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The $17.61 intelly-I Mouse Project
The only argument people have is that Ball mice suck because the get so darn dirty and they wreck easy, but if you want to keep that old mouse looking funky and lasting ages, if its accurate enough for you, then maintenance of mice is piss-easy, read my other article on "Reviving the Ball Mouse", as you can see from the picture below, the MS Optical Mouse may be a good mouse, but it doesn't look as funky as mine :) and mine without the light looks even worse :D
 
You want to ensure you have the optical receivers that detect the movement of the wheels on the end of the mouse rollers as it is possible that the increase of light from the mouse may affect reception of the Optical receiver, a carefully aimed LED will resolve this. See below...
As another point worth noting, it is possible that this sort of modification will result in reduction of PS2 signal integrity as the voltage drop caused by the LED could have an adverse effect.
As a few people have commented, this mouse was really a cheap and nasty experiment, and it is part of the usual attempt to have something that stands out more at a LAN, it certainly does turn heads, and annoys the Girlfriend greatly at night (very bright). Its true there is no improvement in performance of the mouse or anything like that, but at least you have the added bonus of a funky night-light if your computer is in your room!
For $20 even this is quite a cheap alternative eye-catcher in any instance, and may just be what you are looking for when you want to take your custom computer to that next level of individuality. Look forward to some more technical articles from us as we experiment with a few basic electronic projects for the PC in the near future.
As a few people have already asked this particular mouse can be purchased from K-Mart, thats where I obtained mine, however I don't know of their wide-spread availability at this time, all I can say is if you want one, go look for one, surely someone can find something similar, if you do, drop me a line with some info so we can help others, I will then post it here.
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