Lamers' MouSTer Aims to Be "the Ultimate Mouse Adapter" for Your Vintage Computer

Rygol, a member of the Lamers demoscene group, has unveiled the mouSTer — describe as "the ultimate mouse adapter for retro computers," and boasting compatibility with every USB mouse and gamepad on the market.

While many vintage computing enthusiasts are perfectly content with emulators, others believe that only the real-steel original machines are of interest. This, however, comes with a problem: While many vintage computers of the '70s onwards are still in functional working order, joysticks, mice, and gamepads are becoming increasingly rare — thanks to the wear and tear placed on their moving parts.

The solution: Adapters which allow you to use modern USB peripherals with vintage computers and games consoles, which is exactly what the mouSTer is — following a few false starts.

"It all started with an idea to create the most convenient modern USB mouse adapter for as many retro machines as possible," Rygol explains. "Willy started working on it in his spare-time six years ago. Unfortunately, It met almost all conditions but one — reliability."

"Up to Silly Venture 2019 which turned out to be a breakthrough: the demand for a functional Atari ST adapter turned out to be quite large. The project received a new name 'The mouSTer.'"

Rebuilt from the ground up, the mouSTer adapter supports "every mouse [and] game USB pad," including Sony's PlayStation 4 controllers; offers support for loading new configurations via USB storage device as well as firmware updates through the same process; and can emulate a mouse in Amiga, Atari, and joystick/gamepad modes.

The ultra-compact hardware is tested and functional, though Rygol indicates that there is work still to be done before it can be launched as a product: A test production batch of a new PCB size, fine-tuning the configuration, and the creation of a proper housing to replace the heat shrink plastic used on the prototypes.

Rygol's full write-up, which credits fellow Lamers member Willy with leading the project, can be found on Retrohax.net.