I found a data sheet for one of the early HP mouse
chips that
said you can! The optical mouse sensor chip had quadtrature
outputs in addition to (I think) a PS/2 interface. I may have
been old enough that it required an additional chip to add
sipport for a scroll wheel. Anyway, I have a couple of mice
with that chip in, and one day I'll get around to making
a quadrature "tail" to connect to (say) the Atari ST.
Obviously you can make an optical mouse with quadrature outputs, and it
doesn't suprise me at all that some of the sensor/controller ICs have
such outputs avaialbe (as well as PS/2 or whatever).
I suspect the problem is knowing which mice have them. It;s hardly going
to be mentioned on the box or in the adverts. For some odd reason
computer shops dislike you dismantling hardware before buying it :-). And
a lot of commodity products exist in several versions, made in dfifernt
factories, having the same appearance and funcitonality to the
average user , but none-the-less totally different inisde. SO even saying
that 'The 10 quid opticla mouse from PC World has a sensor chip with
quadrature outptus' is not enough. Some might, others may use a totally
different IC.
On another point, mouse 'tail' cable is thin anf flexible, and I've not
foudn a source of 8 or 9 wire cable that's as flexible (Yes, the cables
on the old quadrature mice were, but I've not seen a company that sells
it by the metre). So making a new cable is not as easy as it sounds.
-tony