X-Y output optical mouse sensor thingies

[Alex Eisenhut]

Does anyone still make something like the Broadcom Avago ADNS-2051?
https://mm.digikey.com/Volume0/opasdata/d220001/medias/docus/876/ADNS-2051.pdf

What I like is
" output format is two channel quadrature (X and Y direction) which emulates encoder photo-transistors."
Like there's a lot of similar parts but are 20+ years old and obs/NLA.

I can buy some from Aliexpress, but are there modern ones with X-Y output? Preferably standalone that power up in a usable state and doesn't need software configuration?
Thanks!

[Clear as mud]

I don't see any after searching for a while. I'm a little surprised.  They were still available about 3 years ago when I looked, but I guess the mouse manufacturers don't use them anymore.

[Doctorandus_P]

Like there's a lot of similar parts but are 20+ years old and obs/NLA.

I am not surprised at all. It' simply not cost effective to use a separate uC to interpret quadrature signals and convert them to USB as is done for mice. Especially for penny pinching mass consumer products. And for a "high performance" / "gaming" mouse, cost is less of an issue, but the latency for extra conversion is not optimal.

I think those things were a perfect example of a temporary solution for a shifting market, and it's been so long ago now that mice with balls have become obsolete that it's no surprise these chips are obsolete too.

Maybe it's possible to find a chip that is able to generate quadrature outputs after you send some configuration bytes to it, but you'd have to search datasheets, or websites of manufacturers.

[magic]

These days mice are integrated down to one chip which tracks the surface and talks USB to the host. More complex ones may use a SPI sensor and a USB MCU.

If your MCU is USB host capable, you only need a host software stack with HID driver and you can use a mouse-on-chip