Resolved Extreme Lag: USB to ADB adapter - SOLVED in OS 9!

[MrCheeto]

Remember these? Well mine is not really helping me.

I have a new (purchased sealed old-stock) ADB keyboard and mouse and want to use them with my G4 mini. I've booted into OS X and OS 9 but both have a similar issue.

Mouse input is very jumpy, laggy, and not consistent. It seems almost as though it "reads" the ADB port at a certain frequency and you have to get lucky and land a button-press with the mouse on that frequency. Out of three-clicks, maybe one or maybe two actually register. Moving the mouse is like a slide-show or trying to draw on an Etch-a-Sketch.

Does anybody have any info on this 90's vintage no-name adapter? Drivers? What am I doing wrong?

 

[MrCheeto]

I've had a bit of a breakthrough but it doesn't solve the problem. I'm sure somebody can help me with the obvious.

1. While booting into OS 9, the problems are less apparent. The mouse still seems laggy and it only registers every fifth click or so.
2. Reducing screen resolution seems to help response. However, the mouse still moves unpredictably. While tracking upward, it will go up and then slip back down as if sliding while trying to go up hill.
3. When playing Bugdom in OS 9, it performs nearly perfectly. I can walk and turn without any weird glitches. It registers 100% of clicks.

Surely this can lead to a solution. The problem gets better with OS 9 and then goes away entirely when playing Bugdom.

Input?

Has there been any known issue with USB 1.0 devices on later Macs? Is there any way to check what USB protocol was negotiated and/or force it to manually choose a different one?

 

[MrCheeto]

UPDATE:

I installed the driver (extension) and now it works but it wasn't easy.

So I found out this adapter is based on some brand called "New Motion". New Motion made a few USB to ADB adapters but regardless most didn't have any branding on them at all.

Here's what the box looks like. Good luck, right?

It also seems to go by the name "uKey" but still requires drivers from New Motion.



I'm running OS 9 on the Mac mini and the version from OS9Lives already has "USB HID driver" extension included but it didn't play nice with the adapter. It just turned mouse movement into a strobe and turned 10-click attempts into one successful click in the system. USB Overdrive is also pre-installed, so you have to make sure that "mouse" is not enabled in that control panel or else you will get more conflicts. Running with extensions off regained about 90% functionality.

With all extensions disabled, I installed the NewMotion drivers (USB/ADB Installer 1.2.2) but would get a crash on startup that "NewMotionUSBADBModule" extension caused. I disabled that extension but retained the "NewMotionUSBADBMouseModule" on startup and I had 100% functionality!

I re-enabled all of my extensions, including "USB HID driver" and everything is working without a hiccup.

Still, I'm unable to use my macally mouse on OS X or later, since the NewMotion extensions are for Classic only.

If anybody has a clue as to how to enable such functions in later systems, please share.

To the rest, enjoy using your ADB adapter in OS 9!