Before you kids get into some lame-ass flamewar, I'll say this:
I swear to god, if you start arguing about this for a thousand off-topic posts in this thread, I'll ban you all. Trackballs and mice both serve their purposes, and both have uses depending on the situation. Mice, for example, are better for FPSs, browsing, document manipulation, gaming, and general computer use. Trackballs are better for your mom. You choose the one that's right for what you're doing.
Why so serious? Someone should seriously get to work on a laptop with a popup trackball (make sure it retracts when the lid is closed.). Trackballs are, in a way, simplified ball mice placed the other way up.
Oh wait, I fucked up royally. When I said trackball, I was referring to the old school mice with the balls under them. Those are seriously out of date and really shouldn't be used by anyone (honestly I don't see any reason to use one...and I'm not even sure if many/any retailers sell them anymore). True trackball mice actually do have their uses. I think it's mostly for people with wrist problems and shit like that. I find them annoying...mostly because I don't use them often enough, so if I ever have to use one it just seems really alien.
Sorry for the mix up, guys.
The banishment of trackballs got rid of the annoying problems that arise when dick punk kids take them out!
Optical mice bring in the annoying problem of people putting a piece of tape over the laser thing so the mice don't work. Then again, that problem can be rectified much easier than a missing ball.
The banishment of trackballs got rid of the annoying problems that arise when dick punk kids take them out!
Optical mice bring in the annoying problem of people putting a piece of tape over the laser thing so the mice don't work. Then again, that problem can be rectified much easier than a missing ball.
Hmm... *Eyes extra strong gas tape* I don't think anyone I know knows about that.
Fred's random ideas: A concept mouse that is just a ball with a weight inside it (so that it doesn't roll away) and looks like a sphere which you roll around and tap the top of it to click. Highly impractical but it'd look awesome.
Fred's random ideas: A concept mouse that is just a ball with a weight inside it (so that it doesn't roll away) and looks like a sphere which you roll around and tap the top of it to click. Highly impractical but it'd look awesome.
It would need to have a gyroscope. Also, it wouldn't have a "top".
Well, you could have a sort of shell arrangement. The ball, on the inside, rolls freely - I'm not sure exactly how to achieve this, but some sort of bearing set is the obvious choice. The outer shell encloses enough of the ball to provide a comfortable grip, houses the buttons (how they would communicate with the interior workings, I am unsure at this point) and using a ring of bearings around the opening as weights(Or some sort of similar thing), with much lighter bearings at the "top", automatically rights itself so that the buttons point upwards. Some sort of marking for which way is forward would be a plan, too - though this is a bridge to burn when you come to it.
I really want to create the feeling that you're rolling the whole ball (going for form over function). I've got somewhere; you roll the mouse around and press down on the whole thing to left click, squeezing the sides right clicks and running your thumb along the side scrolls. When you touch the ball it slowly lights up and then turns off when you stop touching, when turned off, it won't move the cursor so if it's knocked or rolled, it won't move the cursor.
In that case, you could simply have a similar arrangement to those liquid ball compasses that are used on small watercraft sometimes. Have a slightly deformable exterior, but your electronic innards are contained within a self-righting ball in the interior.
It's not really what you guys are talking about, but I saw a thing where you make a fabric pouch around a laser mouse. When you roll the fabric, the mouse moves around, so it led to all kinds of different things you could do with it. (For clarification, you hold it up in the air. I'm trying to find the article and video I saw.)
I've got the design down (it's still a silly, impractical design though). You use a ball of some plastic that is clear to IR but not visible light. The plastic is ever so slightly flexible so pressing down on the whole thing clicks by making the middle slightly wider (which is sensed somehow). The mouse is only one click so far as right click would require the ball to know which direction it was facing but with one click you can just use the same tech used in graphics tablets. It's still a silly, impractical design.
I've got the design down (it's still a silly, impractical design though)...
It almost sounds like skinning a ball with a multitouch membrane would be more practical. The ball communicates via Bluetooth to a receiver, and identifies the bottom of the ball by locating a circular contact point when the ball powers on (caused by the contact between desk and ball), and tracking the motion of that point as the ball moves. Left and right clicks, scrolling and other gestures are tracked through the magic of multitouch. The only drawbacks are that the user can't be touching the ball when it powers on, and it all goes to hell and requires reinitialization if the ball loses contact with the desk.
Hmm.. for those that don't want a mouse pad, but do want a wrist rest, I wonder if there are wrist rests that can be placed on the wrist like a bracelet.
It almost sounds like skinning a ball with a multitouch membrane would be more practical. The ball communicates via Bluetooth to a receiver, and identifies the bottom of the ball by locating a circular contact point when the ball powers on (caused by the contact between desk and ball), and tracking the motion of that point as the ball moves. Left and right clicks, scrolling and other gestures are tracked through the magic of multitouch. The only drawbacks are that the user can't be touching the ball when it powers on, and it all goes to hell and requires reinitialization if the ball loses contact with the desk.
Surely, you could sort that out without too much trouble and some trick code?
Surely, you could sort that out without too much trouble and some trick code?
Yeah, I thought about this later today and felt kind of silly. It would be trivial to program the ball to always track the oldest spot on the multitouch, and treat that as the bottom. That way, if you picked it up and lifted it off the desk, it would consider the impression of one of your fingertips as the new base. If it ever loses contact with everything (falling off the desk), it just sits idle until it finds a new point to track as the base.
An added benefit of using the multitouch over a gyro is that gravity becomes irrelevant. Using the ball on slanted surfaces would be possible (but difficult... I can't imagine why you'd try to use a sphere on an incline as a pointing device...), and you could use it in space as well.
Just think: "In Capitalist America, mouse have ball. In Soviet Russia, mouse is ball!"
I bought one of these a while ago due to it's thinness for £2 and I'm really liking it. The underside isn't actually adhesive but sticks to my wooden desk really well and means I can crank my mouse DPI all the way up to 2000DPI and not get that sudden jerk when I start moving it due to the super low friction. I thought I might need something larger but, with the increased resolution, I'm having no problems. Might get a couple more to give as nerd gifts.
Moved to a Nova Winner 3 but I get initial friction issues. Thinking of getting either the Razer Sphex or Steelseries 4HD. Probably going with the 4HD as it's hard bottomed and will work on my uneven desk.
Comments
I swear to god, if you start arguing about this for a thousand off-topic posts in this thread, I'll ban you all. Trackballs and mice both serve their purposes, and both have uses depending on the situation. Mice, for example, are better for FPSs, browsing, document manipulation, gaming, and general computer use. Trackballs are better for your mom. You choose the one that's right for what you're doing.
I, for obvious reasons, use a trackball.
@Rym: That was actually a very good joke.
I'm in the "I have an optical mouse so I don't use a mousepad" camp. I never really liked the things to begin with.
True trackball mice actually do have their uses. I think it's mostly for people with wrist problems and shit like that. I find them annoying...mostly because I don't use them often enough, so if I ever have to use one it just seems really alien.
Sorry for the mix up, guys. Optical mice bring in the annoying problem of people putting a piece of tape over the laser thing so the mice don't work. Then again, that problem can be rectified much easier than a missing ball.
Aren't they cute :P
Ok.. how do you let a ball know what direction is forward when the user spins it round?
After some work, a sphere is an absolutely stupid shape for a mouse.
When you touch the ball it slowly lights up and then turns off when you stop touching, when turned off, it won't move the cursor so if it's knocked or rolled, it won't move the cursor.
It is still a completely impractical design.
An added benefit of using the multitouch over a gyro is that gravity becomes irrelevant. Using the ball on slanted surfaces would be possible (but difficult... I can't imagine why you'd try to use a sphere on an incline as a pointing device...), and you could use it in space as well.
Just think: "In Capitalist America, mouse have ball. In Soviet Russia, mouse is ball!"
I bought one of these a while ago due to it's thinness for £2 and I'm really liking it. The underside isn't actually adhesive but sticks to my wooden desk really well and means I can crank my mouse DPI all the way up to 2000DPI and not get that sudden jerk when I start moving it due to the super low friction. I thought I might need something larger but, with the increased resolution, I'm having no problems. Might get a couple more to give as nerd gifts.