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No-click Mouse?
TheRealZappa writes "For quite a while now I have been looking for a mouse that would not make any "clicking" sound when the buttons are pressed... Does it even exist? So to all you quiet-pc amateurs and hardware hackers... Can it be hacked? Can it be bought somewhere?" Sure it exists, I think they call it a "trackball" or "touchpad". Seriously, I've never had a non-broken mouse that didn't click.
Why not use the stuff they put on touchscreens? It works via the capacitance-change caused by contact with your skin, as I recall. Wouldn't click unless you failed to trim your fingernails...
Perfectly Normal Industries
I have yet to see a trackball that doesn't use "mouse buttons."
Perhaps you could inject some silicon under the buttons, i guess that would stop the clickdown sound. Anyway, I just listened carefully to my mouse and it makes 2 clicking sounds, one when the button is pressed and one when it is released. Try to examine an old mouse, rip it into pieces and see where the sound comes from ... Another solution is to waer headphones while sitting in front of your computer ...
Life sucks.
just break the catch that clicks under the mouse buttons, i've done that a few times on accident, pulling up the buttons(nervous habit). you lose some tactile response, but i don't see how to get around that, smooth motion is usually what is quiet.
I'm not sure exactly how it works, but Apple makes a mouse that has no clicking noise. You merely tap the top of the mouse and there's no moving parts whatsoever. It's USB, but I can't say for sure whether or not it works with PCs.
I used it briefly at a store, and found it difficult to click with, and there's only one button obviously, but it might be something you could use as a model for a two button mouse if you decide to try building one on your own.
Wouldn't that seriously impair your ability to click on link?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH!
To celebrate the occasion of my 1000th post, I will post no more forever on Slashdot. Goodbye.
I'm using a Thinkpad T20, and the mouse buutons are very quiet. Maybe the buttons could be modified for a regular mouse?
"Sexy Man" is not a moderation option. -- arose
You may still be able to get a Cirque 'glide-pad' touchpad for a mouse - while it has buttons, you can use a tap on the pad as a click, and re-assign the buttons to different actions (such as cut and paste). Under Windows, the drivers provide the 'click' throught the PC squeaker - but this can be turned off.
I haven't seen any for sale for a few years now, though. (On the other hand, I have several, and NONE of them have failed in years of every day use - though the touch surfaces are all well polished and slightly concave now. They're the most reliable mouse I've ever encountered.)
Liquor
Sanity is a highly overrated commodity.
Mouses use momentary on click plunger switches soldered onto a circuit board. Replace the switches with quiet momentary on plungers and cut them to proper height. Probably best to use plungers with stiffer springs to keep a tactile feel of on/off. Spray the moving parts with silicone grease and enjoy your silent mouse. Then put a fan in it to cool your sweaty palm
If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.
the geeky thing to do would be to use your standard mouse, or maybe a serial mouse, plug it into a set of driving-game pedals (1 gas, 1 brake). Epoxy your mouse buttons in the up position, and don't use the click function until you hack together a driver that lets you do variable-force clicking. :)
moox. for a new generation.
Not to troll, but why do you want a no-click mouse in the first place? The clicking sound is audio feedback that improves usability. Same reason that keyboards click. More feedback (tactile, visual, audio) is more useful.
It's one thing if you're asking out of curiosity or just to see if you can do it. But if you think that there's a real, measurable benefit to a silent-click, I think that you might want to spend some time reconsidering.
I guess the general question would be: "Under what circumstances would having a silent-click be beneficial?"
Mix a mouse with the "silence machine"!
I'd rather be sailing...
I've seen a mouse like this before. It's the StupidaMouse, the mouse with no buttons ("so users will stop clicking on things and crashing their computers"). [HTML]
In Soviet Russia, Jesus asks: "What Would You Do?"
MSR were doing research into new UI's and ways to interact with them, and they played around with as well as the buttons, and the wheel, making the primary button also sense capacitance. It would only show the tool bar when your finger touched the button.
There is no reason why someone couldnt build a mouse that used this technique to sense the contact with a finger.
I'd pay a hundred dollars for a mouse like this.
I'd give it to my roomate, and then I would be free of the 'click click click click click' of Diablo!
The question is if you use a no-click mouse do things like one-click shopping still apply?
"Your honor, since my mouse made no noise it was one tap shopping."
*Not a Sermon, Just a Thought
*/
You are looking in the wrong place. Instead of trying to make the mouse quieter, just buy ear plugs. It's cheaper and easier.
While touch pads are pretty awful as pointing devices, if you want absolute quiet, they may be your best bet. Many of them can be configured so that when you gently tap on them, it counts as a click.
Buttonless mouse! :)
Seriously, what use can buttonless mouse have?
Why can you want it?
I never cared about that bloody noise. But now you've started talking about it, it is really pissing me off!
My Genius mouse and my 5-years old keyboard are too noise (now I know they are)!
Some of the older Sun mice (usually attached to type 5 keyboards) are pretty quiet, but I don't know if you'd have much luck attaching to a PC. However, it shows the technology is there, probably using strips of metal for contacts rather than microswitches as used in most mice.
Sure it exists, I think they call it a "trackball" or "touchpad". Seriously, I've never had a non-broken mouse that didn't click.
Once again proving Michael is stupidest editor on Slashdot. Michael, it's THE BUTTONS that are clicking, NOT THE MOUSE BALL. Why do you think a trackball or touchpad would not have clicking buttons? Is there some intrinsic property to a very large ball that would cause it not to have clicking buttons?
Do you actually read what the people are asking before adding your inane comments?
Yes, this is Flamebait, go ahead and mark me down. But it's worth losing the 3 points to make this point.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
The LogiCAD spacebass 6d CAD thang will work.
I'ts a 6degree of freedon ball for CAD work, but can work as a standard mouse. The button is silent.
Pick one up on eBay.
-twb
Laptop keyboards tend to be of the mushy, non-clicking variety. The hard disks and fans tend to be quieter than desktop equivalents. And, to answer your question, the the pointing device (whatever you call it) on my IBM Thinkpad and its 3 buttons are essentially silent. Mushy, but with some physical feedback so you know contact was made. Satisfying to use. Anyways, something to consider.
I seem to recall that Mouse Systems made simlar mice for other systems as well, including Macs and PCs, so you may have some luck finding an old Mouse Systems mouse with clickless buttons that will work with a relativly modern computer.
There are also a couple of PS/2 style mice from IBM that have silent buttons: both the standard wedge shaped PS/2 mouse (Model 6450350) and the Psersonal System/2® Mini-Mouse (Part No. 95F5443) have silent buttons, and can easily be used on any modern PC with a PS/2 mouse port. Both of these mice are simple opto-mechanical two button jobs, so anyone needing a multi-button or scroll-wheel fix is SOL.
Finally we have the early Microsoft Serial Mouse (FCC ID: C3K7PN 9939) with a 25-pin serial connector and buttons that curved over the front edge of the mouse. This mouse also had clickless buttons. Upon disassembly one finds that the buttons are simple dome microswitches, which must mean that you can get such microswitches in both clickfull and clickless versions. Again, this is a simple opto-mechanical two-button mouse.
Boy, the only post so far that actually gives descriptions and model numbers of mice with silent buttons gets a score of 3. What the hell is that? I would think that the one post (out of 64) that successfully answers the question would get a 5, not a 3.
This is why Reality Master 101 is the dumbest poster on slashdot! He didn't even think of the touchpad! Mod me to -1 if you want, but I had to say that!
HER: Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
ME (still typing): Uh huh.
HER: Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah
ME (wondering my MySQL is giving me an error, click click click): Yeah.
HER: Blah blah blah are you even listening to me?
ME (same error, WTF!): Yeah, of course I am.
HER: No you aren't. Your using your computer again.
ME (stops typing): No I'm not.....
HER: Blah blah blah blah blah
ME (switching windows): Yeah.
HER: Blah blah what was that? Your using your computer! I just heard your mouse!
Me: Um... that was a bird outside or something.
Busted again.
(To get past Lameness Filter: asj daskj daksl djklsajdlksaj d casdka scj asjklachjka sdklj klgjcdfjgxlkamj xalkjdklajdak ldklg vjgc lfkj alkjsd as lclaj daldkj cflfhslkf jclcf jlksfjsdl fcjslfsjfslfslkd fjxl kjsdklfjsdf.)
However, laptop keyboard keys do well without clicks...
Miskeying "...ball" as "...bass" looks like a Dvorak typo...
Non clicky buttons could easily be made using optical technology- a paddle attatched to the button interrupts a beam of light- just like the shutter wheels do on the ball tracker. You could make one easily by adding a few transistors and cannabalizing another mouse for the optical parts and it would work without extra software.
You can't right-click - whichever finger you use!
Anyway, I believe that No-click is covered by "Prior Art" courtesy of your friends and mine, Amazon :-)
--
(if you're still looking for the point, it was back there, in the post. </sig>)
Just fix the buttons so that they remain in place, and drill out two small holes to the tops of each button. Then, remove the momentary switch from the buttons and run a small piece of metal or wire up so that it is just above the surface of the mouse. That way, when you go to click, your finger completes the circuit and no noise or moving parts are required.
:)
Best of all, you still get the feedback of a small *zap* so that you know you actually clicked the button
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