So I think these things have a magnet for me or something... First a computer with EDO RAM, then a 210 from dell whose parts I still can't identify, now this: a computer mouse WITH A PHONE IN IT!

No idea how it works, but I'll try and explain it as well as I can:

First is the mouse. Scroll wheel, two buttons, and it's blue. There's a single cable coming out from what I recall. Now, where the palm generally rests, there's a flip switch, and you get a cellphone keyboard. Then the cable itself has like 4 outputs;

- PS/2 port for the mouse
- Two audio cables (one is black, the other is red)
- A dual-socket telephone thing

And it also comes with earphones and a floppy disk with drivers. Have you ever seen something like that?? Considering it's only 6$ IIRC and I'm going back there another day to go pick up some stuff, I might buy it to do tests on it. And how would such a device work? Would there be linux drivers?

Boggles my mind to be honest when I see all this "exotic" hardware... Like when I saw five-button mice for the first time...

Do you own any strange or "exotic" hardware?

I have seen mice with USB "phones" in them, audio in/out and a keypad for dialing numbers. Designed for use with VoIP software, they are just USB input devices and audio.

This sounds like it is an actual phone though, to connect to the POTS. In that case, the phone line probably connects to the mouse directly, bypassing the computer entirely. If that is the case, then you shouldn't need any drivers at all since the computer just sees a normal mouse.

The thing that threw me off though was the black and red audio cables as well as the headset, making me think you have to plug those in the mic/line-in ports of the soundcard, then use the computer to make the calls via POTS and what's recorded by the soundcard gets sent off.

Anyone?

I'm planning to go back today or tomorrow to pick one up and see how it works... Hmm.

Considering there's only a diskette in there, it makes me wonder how it works, not much room for a full program or something to allow people to call off of their mouse talking through the computer... Unless it's like a Win3/95-era driver/program, that stuff was tiny and worked well.

Isn't stuff like Ekiga able to use VoIP phones? Hmm, even then I think the buttons for the phone numbers are just like extra functions, and there's a small program that makes a phone call via a modem or something. Even then I don't think I know where my modem is, and it was a piece of shit winmodem.

Hacking time then. =D

i have tried a voip phone with both skype and ekiga
both work fine audio wise (its just a USB microphone and speaker)

but the buttons weren't recognised by linux at all