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.

Comments

I don't know what brand you've been using...

[Daniel Wood]

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.

I have yet to see a trackball that doesn't use "mouse buttons."

Cirque

[Liquor]

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.)

replace the switches

[Perdo]

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

Re:replace the switches

[dattaway]

If your mouse uses those cheap shiny disks directly soldered onto a circuit board, you can replace those disks with those soft, graphite contacts found in some of those cheap soft touch keyboards.

Well, you don't actually replace the disk as it is needed to hold the graphite composite button in place. Pry that disk up, place a thin slice of the graphite pad underneath it. Make sure the graphite composite surface facing the board is carved into a concave shape. This will allow pressure to turn it on-off. Presto--no more click! Just soft pressure!

Re:Apple makes one..

[TheTomcat]

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

I've seen it before

[red_dragon]

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]

Argh!

[Reality Master 101]

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.