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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.
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.
Wrong.
There's one of those beside me right now, and it still makes the clicking noise. They do have movable parts, and I've used one on a PC before (it was headless, and I needed a mouse for 5 minutes, so I grabbed the closest USB mouse).
How it works is pretty simple: the whole top is a button and it is hinged slightly lower than the middle, so you can rest your hand on it, and when you apply pressure, it "clicks".
They're kinda cool, and they glow all pretty (transparent), but the cord is like 6" long and they only have 1 button.
S
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?"
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?"
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
*/
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.
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.
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.
Except when the windowing system is designed primarily for use with 1 button.. UNIX does not inherentnly mean it uses X.
slashdot!=valid HTML
Plenty...if you design an OS whose paradigm isn't precise action but instead precise movement. It would require a bit more training, but could be very useful. I've written some apps for Win CE with a constant tap philosophy -- once the stylus hits the pad, it's movement of the stylus that alters menus and commands, rather than the tap itself. A guy even wrote a keyboard that works this way, and it's pretty quick once you get use to the paradigm...i was faster with that than I am with Fitaly.
Also, nothing says you can't rely on synnergy between keyboard and mouse to drive commands. I play a lot of FPS like this -- use the moust as a targetting device but control everything else with the other hand. That way the pressure of a finger on the trigger won't mess up motion.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
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
int func(int a);
func((b += 3, b));
Even better - buy your wife/partner/roommate/neighbour earplus.
-- SIGFPE