Fujitsu FMMO-202
The elephant-tortoise mouse for Japan's Fujitsu FMR ecosystem.
In 1987, the two-button Fujitsu FMMO-202 arrived alongside the FMR-50 and FMR-60 office PCs. Japanese users nicknamed it “象亀マウス”, the elephant-tortoise mouse: its high rounded back really does resemble a shell. The shape accommodated a standard approximately 24 mm ball and an Alps Electric optomechanical assembly in a small case, while supporting the palm during long sessions.
Its main feature was a proprietary interface. The mini-DIN-8 cable connected to the keyboard rather than the system unit, with the mouse controller inside the keyboard. This freed an ISA slot but confined it to the Fujitsu ecosystem; hello, Apple ADB.
An MS-DOS driver provided approximately 200 dpi, quite comfortable for graphical shells and the OASYS word processor.
The price was corporate: about ¥20,000, roughly US$150 at 1987 rates and nearly twice as much as mass-market NEC bus mice. It was therefore rarely sold separately, usually arriving with office workstations.
It also had a light-green cable, like the rest of the Fujitsu FMR peripherals, although mine has yellowed and faded badly.
Hardly exported outside Japan, the FMMO-202 is now mainly known to collectors.
Fujitsu moved to standard PS/2 in the early 1990s and the tortoise mouse passed into history. It reminds us just how varied the peripheral market was before standardisation.
