Smartmouse USB (WBE)
The Smartmouse USB: (Category Other Programmers)
Down here you can see the WB Electronics Smartmouse USB.
For those who didn't know, WBE is the manufacturer of the Infinity programmers.
This is WBEs latest addition to their completely renewed product range. With the Smartmouse USB, they have now completed their line-up of USB devices.
The Smartmouse USB does not only behave like a Smartmouse interface, but it can be switched to Phoenix mode protocol also. And to make it completely universal, it is switchable between 3 different speed settings. All done by software selection.
As you may know, Phoenix and Smartmouse interfaces are Serial interfaces and as such are always expected (by the software) to be connected to a COM port. So they had to come up with a trick to let the software think it is communicting with a true COM port. That trick is in fact nothing else but a driver to create an extra (virtual) COM port on your PC. In my case it created a COM-3 on my PC.
The installation of the driver is done while installing the software that comes with the unit. That software allows you to switch modes (Phoenix or Smartmouse) and speeds (3.58, 3.68 or 6.00 MHz). That is where it sets itself apart from competitors like the Maxking USB Phoenix for instance. No switches or jumpers, just simply software select your preference.
I have tested the Smartmouse USB with MKFind and with Cardinal and both worked flawless. Simply configure the software to use the newly created virtual COM port (COM-3 in my case) and off you go.
Just one remark:
Initially I did have some trouble getting the Smartmouse USB to work. That was probably due to some driver conflict, caused by the large number of USB drivers on my PC. I then removed all USB drivers from my PC, disconnected all USB programmers and installed everything again. I started with the Smartmouse USB this time. That immediately worked trouble free. I then reinstalled all the other USB programmers that I have normally connected to my system and everything went smooth. No problems whatsoever. So if you experience any problems during installation, if the software will not create an extra COM port on your PC, you are probably looking at some kind of driver conflict. In that case, Just remove the drivers and reinstall them again.