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Logitech Ships 500 Millionth Mouse
ipxodi writes "Logitech marks the milestone of 500 million shipped mice. Mice first widely appeared in consumer form on the original Macintosh, but have appeared in various forms back through time to 1964 when they were invented by Doug Englebart.
My favorite mouse is also my current mouse, a Logitech Optical Wheel mouse. I also remember some oddities beyond the old bar-of-soap shaped mice of the mid 80's, like one with a crosshair attachment for clicking on specific points of a blueprintfor CAD input.
What's your favorite current or past mouse?" My first mouse was back in 1987, for my Apple //c. It cost $50, and came with a double-sided floppy that contained an interactive instructional program on side one, and MousePaint (a port of MacPaint) on side two. Memories!
My favorite mouse is also my current mouse, a Logitech Optical Wheel mouse
Any real geek could have a Dual Optical Mouse. Also available at Thinkgeek. That is definately my favorite mouse.
Things you think are in the Constitution, but are not.
For the PowerBook G4: Logitech MX500.
For the PowerMac G4: Logitech MX700.
I bought the 500 first, loved it so much, that I had to pick up a 700 for home. Now I await:
- A bluetooth 15" Powerbook
- A bluetooth Logitech MXx00 mouse
- Income to pay for it.
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Hardly any software even supported it, but hey, those that did were 1337. Beagle Graphics and MousePaint. I still have them, and I still use them (with EMU][).
-uso.
What you hear in the ear, preach from the rooftop Matthew 10.27b
It was a Genius Mouse... hooked it up to the 286 and I was clicking away. It came with some software called Dr. Halo for drawing. It was very exciting.
The crosshairs were on a puck. Connected to a digitiser pad, not a mouse. mice have balls, digipads dont.
Got hooked on these when I got into FPS gaming. But since I travel(ed) alot, it turned out to be way cool on airplanes. Small footprint, and doesn't require any 'room' to move around. Just sits in place with my hand on it, and the pointer goes where I want. Saves the arm too.
"Stop whining!" - Arnold, as Mr. Kimble
A Logitech WingMan Gaming mouse. Unfortunately, they never upgraded that mouse shape with a scrollwheel or optical ability, so, c'est la vie. I'd kill for a optical scrollwheel version of that mouse. *sigh*
Doug also invented the GUI and Smalltalk (www.squeak.org). Most of you are familiar with the GUI, but you really should give Squeak a look. It's a pretty cool development enviornment.
this sig limit is too small to put anything good h
What's your favorite current or past mouse?"
My favorite input device is my Kensington Turbo Mouse. It's a trackball, but I have been using them for years going back to the original 1.0. They are great in reducing RSI and allow precise control which is important for digital imagery work and image forensics.
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The logitech 3 button mouse without that stinky wheel is the *only* mouse for use with BSD derivatives. Yes, I am a tad biased :-)
I am very easy to get along with, but I don't have time to waste being nice to people who are being stupid. -Theo
my far the dual scroll ami mouse by Logitech, has served me well over the last year. Although it has a relatively low dpi, it's nice and smooth, and who needs over 500 dpi anyway?
I have over 70 freaks, do you?
CompUSA used to sell a mouse with an 8-way scroller on the thumb (not unlike Microsoft's new idea to scroll up & down and side to side, but this one went diagonally too). It was only $12, but it also only lasted a year. Both of them only lasted a year. I thought the scroller was cool though.
I loved getting response from the mouse when I did something. That and the if it ever became popular it would have been really cool to have interactive games. "Black and White" did have support and certain quests were unlocked if you had this mouse.
I have two of them! Work well in Linux too. I bought them after going through three wheel mice in just two years. The USB interface is good, as i can plug it into the usb ports on my keyboard so I can move it around more easily!
Nero-burning ROM for Linux!
I prefer this cordless electronic device to the Logitech Cordless Mousman! Doesn't do much for navigating the computer, though.
I dunno about you guys but it makes me nothing but upset when Logitech goes out of their way to fill the world with mice. You should see my garden, half eaten roots and stems. 500 Million. 500 MILLION. Corporations now days thing they can just walk all over us.
I remember the good ole days before the mice took over. Never again.
It's quite spooky when it's in-between optical marks, it sits there flashing. Quite spooky in a dark room.
Probably one of the better wheel mechanisms, my Microsoft wheel mouse's wheel nearly seized up, even with lubrication.
I somehow don't think the mouse will be replaced anytime soon. Tablets require too much movement compared to a mouse and people are lazy.
I had some no-name serial mouse for the family's Canon computer. It came bundled with a drawing program for DOS called Dr. Halo. It wasn't too bad. My computer only had CGA color, but my friend's had EGA, so we'd use the program to make animations at his place, usually involving stick figures killing eachother. Fuck Flash. Dr. Halo is where it's at.
(we were 12, so sue us)
$5 says that the first one is probably still functional...
"Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
I guess all the need to do now to this mouse is incorporate a Li-Ion battery with an intuitive charging setup and you'd be set.
There's never enough when you have too little
You're my new favorite troll. The Amazon product review cut-n-paste troll.
Please post logged in next time so I can add you to my friends list.
I wonder if they have thought about using Lithium ion batteries. Well I know of at least one Logitech mouse that you place on the receiver/recharger unit when you're done for the day, I guess that one needed a lot of juice. Mine eats AAAs like crazy, but luckily I have rechargable batteries. My Logitech keyboard is another story though, it can last 4 months on a set of AAs, I guess that shows I don't use it that much.
What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
It's one of the first mice produced by Engelbart. Powered by coal, and made almost entirely of cast iron and oak, it weighs nearly 1400 pounds. A true marvel of engineering for its day!
Roving Web-Teleoperated Robot
My favourite mouse all categories is the Atari ST mouse. The distinct click and stylish design was very hot when the standard seriel mouse looked like...a bar of dirty soap.
Now the world has gone to bed, Darkness won't engulf my head, I can see by infra-red, How I hate the night.
I had a solbourne portable workstation in the early nineties.. It had an optical mouse but required a specific reflective mousepad covered in tiny dots to work.. I've tried tablets, trackballs and other types of input devices, and I still come back to the mouse for daily use.
reminds me of the infamouse "mouse balls memo"
air and light and time and space
My favorite is actually a trackball. No un-necessary wrist movement avoids carpal-tunnel nicely. My preference is the Logitech TrackMan Marble Wheel, which has a scroll button as a third button. It's sort of the older version of this. Mine is a bit 'wider' left to right, and is white rather than silver/gray.
Hosting: as low as $5.95/Mo
Who is making those logitech mice and where ? Better be made in the good ol us of A.
... Assembled in CHina!
Fuck those foreign bastards that are stealing American jobs. My mouse says microsoft and it's
Fuck the evil god damn american corporations that are shipping jobs to the four corners of the globe!
Do any of your american neigbors have jobs making mice ? Didn't think so.
Damn it.
This pisses me off.
That little tiny thing (with the big ball) was the best mouse I've ever owned. It still works, too.
However, if we're talking any pointing device, nothing beats my logitech TrackMan Marble+. Oh yeah...
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
Hurray for MX series!
Well I bought and still have a mouse for my C64 back in 1986
Already did by accident. Not always first post, though (dang it GNAA)...so happy hunting.
Not the most complex mouse, but I love it for deathmatch. Sure, it does not have as many buttons as other mice, but I find the tracking on it to be excellent.*
You can still get these mice here. A good review can be found here.
* (Unless you get it on a surface that contains something white and glossy - then because of the dual optical cameras, the cursor can fly randomly about.)
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
My favorite mouse was for the Swedish computer ABC800 The mouse was a half sphear of aluminium with micro switches for buttons on the front. This computer also had the best keyb EVER! BS keyb make out of a slab of aluminium with a LEATHER wrist support. Mmmm.... leather. Not cheap but sweet!
My favorite mouse ever is the one that's in front of me now: an optical cordless Logitech MouseMan.
My blog can kick your blog's ass
I've been using the cordless optical for almost a year, and it's amazing. I initially thought I might lose some sensativity, but it turns out I can snipe just as well as with a corded mouse in FPSs and there's one less thing to clutter my desk.
I have no complaints regarding this mouse. It is truly spectacular. If you can afford it, buy it.
-R
The clearly the best mouse ever was the hemispherical, red-clown-nose mouse that came with the AT&T/Teletype 5620 terminal. What a buzz using that thing was :)
Defintely my favorite mouse ever. No silly wheel, yet scrolls. Very cool, but hard to come by.
:(
A second choice would be one of the early Amiga mice. Simple 2 button job, but shaped well and felt real solid.
I always hated the Sun-3(Sun-4? Can't remember..) optical mice. They felt real cheap....but they were kind of cool because they were optical. But they needed that damn stupid mousepad or they didn't work
teeker
I just hope to god it never breaks, because the new design they have for it sucks.
Worst mouse award has to go to the awful original iMac mouse - talk about annoying. Cos it was round, half the time you had problems figuring out which way you were actually pushing it.
For the PC, the worse have to be those old Logitech wedge-shaped ones that came in funny colours like 'marble', 'beech' and 'granite'. They were nice to look at, but handcramp usually set in after 15 minutes or so. Not good.
The original Amiga mice weren't too bad, but I remember the buttons had those metal bubble switches under them which gave a really annoying 'twaanggg!' when you released them.
Now we're all optical, and mice manufacturers have sussed that mice work best if they fit in your hand, I guess the days of trial and error designs are over - unless you still pine for a water-filled mouse with Scooby Doo on a surfboard inside it...
My first mouse came with my old Atari 520ST back in '86. I believe Atari was the first company to ship mice with little Teflon pads on the bottom, instead of plastic stumps like the Mac's mouse had. Atari's mouse felt a lot smoother than more expensive models from other manufacturers as a result, although I never thought it looked as nice as the Mac's mouse, and the buttons felt a bit cheap. Had two of 'em though, which was another advantage over the Mac's.
Today most computer mice come with little Teflon pads on the bottom.
Oh, wait, this isn't a poll.
But the truth is that I don't use a mouse anymore. I use a touchstream keyboard from Fingerworks that lets me move the arrow and cursor and type on the same interface. This is very nice.
Anyone who has even a bit of RSI can identify with my hatred, or at least ambivilance toward mice. My tendons ache at the thought of so many mice in the world..
By far the Gyration has won me over. Charges on the dock which was the primary reason -- at the time Logitech only has battery replacable mice.
:)
I use it as a TV remote on the Mac all the time from the lazy boy. Right click is mute, scrolling is channel change, wheel click is full screen toggle, scroll clicked is volume adjustment. So on and so forth...
You should see the look on the wife's face when I play Quake and I'm just waiving my hand around in the air.
http://www.gyration.com/ultragt.htm
Ah yes, I too have the fond memories of old Apple mice, although my first was on an Apple IIE it did also come with "mousepaint" which -- looking back -- couldn't have been much fun on my 13" television screen and Epson MX-80 dot matrix printer.
As for right now, both at work and at home, I use the Logitech Cordless Optical Trackman . It has neat "forward" and "back" buttons for web browsing that even work fine in Linux. But of course I've always been a bit of a trackball fan. Several case studies claim that trackballs may be slightly more ergonomic because of "hand fit" issues and "reduced arm movement." I wonder what everyone else thinks about the whole trackball vs. conventional issue?
world's oldest currently operating college webcam
Who is General Failure? And why is he reading my disk????
I swear, Microsoft mice and keyboards are the exact opposite of their OS and Office software; cheap, tough, worthwhile and available without too much fluff. I'd rank MS hardware up to Logitech's level of quality. Too bad I can't say the same for their software department...
Hate me!
I'm not sure how many people have tried this, but you really should put your mouse on the left, that's where it belongs.
The number pad on the right of most keyboards puts the mouse to far over to be realy comfortable.
Plus, for you FPS fans, it's very handy to have your right hand on the number pad and the left on the mouse. If you re-map the keys you never have to move to any other section of the keyboard.
I allways laughed at those special keypads for playing games... you've alread got one, just move your mouse over 18 inches.
(for full discloser I am left handed, but it was a righty that showed me the light)
"Failure is not an option, it's part of the standard package"
I'll probably get modded down as a troll for this, but my favourite mouse is from Microsoft - an optical wheel mouse.
They are much better at making mice than at making operating systemts.
Well, one of the first mice I ever used was one of those screwy Pen-Mice. It was an attempt to make the mouse similar to a known technology, a pen; but it failed miserably. You had to hold it just so, the buttons were annoying to work with, and the cord (which came out the top) was forever in the way. It was an interesting concept, but just wasn't right.
My current "mouse" is a Logitech Marble FX trackball. It has got to be the most comfortable pointing device I have ever used, and I like the ability to simply pull my fingers away, and the cursor doesn't move, even when I click the buttons. I could never get that from a mouse, clicking always caused me to move a bit this way or that.
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Laziness is the father.
You can rant and rave and hate the mighty megolith that is MS, but the mice they produce are far superior than anything else out there. The fit and action of the keys, as well as the drivers, are all just hands down the best.
Logitech is particularly awful; the scroll wheels ALWAYS move jerkily and haphazardly compared to MS mice.
-rt
The old square one, with the front two thirds sloped down. I used those almost exclusively from '88 till I could afford a big, honking Kensington trackball. (yes, that's actually a billiard ball in those things.) Best tracking mouse I've ever used, although I wouldn't trade the wheel and seven buttons of my Logitech MX-500 for anything. Well, I'd trade 'em for $100, 'cause I can get another one for less than that. But you get the point.
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
No wheels here! My IBM optical 3 button mouse is black, has a kick ass blue light (no cheezy red like those underperforming Microsoft and Logitech mice) and instead of a dumb "wheel" that you have to keep spinning, it uses a far more advanced stick that simply detects pressure against it. With 3 buttons, I don't have to rely on "clicking" a stupid wheel to work properly in X windows. This is the mouse all other mice wish they were. And I have one. Am I great or what?
Now where are my Minority Report Gloves?
I always thought Xerox PARC, that place that made money for everybody except Xerox, invented the mouse. Is that just common misconception?
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
...in a box in the back room where we keep the unused equipment.
And somehow they have violated entropy and managed to tie the cables of *all* of them together, on their own.
My current Logitech optical mouse is my favorite, but I do have some nostalgia for my "first mouse". It was actually a grey and black pistol-grip one-button joystick for my Commodore 64.
I learned about pointing, clicking, dragging, text highlighting, cutting/pasting, etc. with this setup and GEOS. Amazing what they could squeeze into so little memory back then. Not to mention the single-sided 176K floppies!
I'll shut up before I start sounding like a grumpy old man. OK, too late.
Logitech Ships 500 Millionth Lint Collectors
It's funny because it's true.
My first mouse was back in 1985. It has a 10cm range if it stays in one place. It has internal heating so it keeps your hand warm during winter time. If you do not feed it, it'll stop working. When I don't use it, I keep it in a metal case.
Gotta love the MX700, the best mouse I've ever come across. Why haven't more manufacturers started including charging cradles?
common sense: noun
What those who are ignorant of the subject matter think; usually wrong.
I'm not stuck on any specific model but wireless mouses have made me a much more sane person. No more mis aims in UT2003 because the stupid cord got caught in between my desk and my monitor.
As a recent convert, I'm perfectly happy with the single-button Apple mouse that came with my G-4.
My first mouse was an optical mouse of some sort that I bought to go with the copy of Windows I had started running in the late 80's. It had a special reflective pad marked off with hash marks, and you had to run it on that. Windows certainly looked handsome on that amber monitor!
I preferred the Microsoft "bar of soap" style for years because my hands are small, and the larger gunboat styles are miserable for me to operate. There must be other people around with that problem.
Anne
DUCT TAPE: The Election Supervisors' Secret Weapon
Link to my not-quite-ready-yet site - maybe 7 days premature but whatever, it's been a long day at the office.
Cheers.
blakespot
-- Heisenberg may have slept here.
iPod Hacks.com
Oh how I love thee, modern "three button" mouse. Let me count the ways. One. Twone... twroolllll... twslip-er -roll-er... twthree... dangit!!!! Three. -Unnamed poet of the twenty-first century ____________________________________________ Fight for the survival of REAL thee-button mice!!!
Real geeks don't use GUIs. I'm telnetted into port 80 on slashdot.org right now. I don't even have PF-keys. Just wires that I touch together to send an impulse right into my AT-keyboard slot on my 286.
Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. --Nietzsche
My favorite memory is all the mouse ball jokes.
I almost peed my pants reading about manages giving instructions to take your balls in your hand. Then roll them gently while inspecting them to make sure they are clean and free of debris. I don't know what happened to all of them. But I bet I could find some with a quick internet search.
Well, I'm off to google to relive my childhood...
Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
Last week, Microsoft Corp. announced a computer mouse with horizontal scrolling capabilities and even a mouse outfitted in leather.
I know "why" isn't a great question to ask on slashdot but now I really mean it. I think horizontal scrolling would be VERY nice, especially when looking at a large picture and you don't feel like moving to the bottom and scrolling, and you can't use the arrow keys to move because you only have one han... ok I'll stop right their.
Anyway, why fit a mouse with leather? Your hand gets very warm and sweaty from playing games and sometimes just doing regular work on the computer so why would you want a leather covered mouse? I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun having your hand stick to your mouse when it's too hot. And wouldn't the sweat really wear down the leather and like ruin it? Won't whatever dye they use bleed onto your hand? I dunno it just doesn't seem like a good idea.
At least, nice solid ones do. And that's all I have to say about that! :)
As I type this, I'm working with a wireless Logitech keyboard and wireless Logitech mouse that all communicate with a single receiver. The only shortcoming of wireless technologies is the possibility for a militant 3rd party to allegedly "sniff" the keystrokes and mouse movements of my wireless Logitech peripherals; this leads to password-theft. Nobody will suspect the 24hour dohnut delivery truck...mua-HA-ha-Ha-hA!
My first ever mouse was for my Sinclair Spectrum (Timex) back in 84ish and not surprisingly it only worked with a couple of art programs. It also was impossible to draw with because one of the rollers would stop going at certain angles leaving horizontal or vertical lines instead of the lovely curve you were trying for.
Mice were pretty dull affairs apart from a brief stint with an Amiga optical one that required a special mousemat that was alas prone to scratching and subsequent accuracy problems.
Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer was my fave for a while mostly because I could get my whole hand on it rather than a few digits but then the Logitech Dual Optical took over (now on my PowerBook G4) then the MX500 (no rubbing your thumb as it moves) took pride of place on desktop machine.
I briefly experimented with wireless mice but they weren't fast enough for gaming - and that Wacom Graphire with tablet + mouse was awful.
There were rumours that Apple were going to be coming out with some sort of squigy mouse that could be programmed for all sorts of squeezes and taps but alas that was some time back. Anything is better than the one buttoned puck that shipped with the iMac.
There again even that puck is better than the IBM 'nipple' or a touchpad...
[)amien
each time I put my hand on my TrackMan MarbleFX. It's the best trackball ever made : optical trackball, heavy ball, flawless sliding, 4 buttons, great shape for the hand ... I've had mine for 4 years and it still works like new, although it doesn't look like new.
:-)
That trackball has been discontinued, but I like it so much I bough 5 of them in an auction, to be sure I never ever run out of them as long as PS/2 ports are around. But at the rate my current one gets used, I might still have the spares at the beginning of the next century.
Thank you Logitech! And yeah, you guys suck pond water for discontinuing great products
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Q: Why do mice have such tiny balls?
A: Because they don't like to dance.
Thanks! Be here all week!
Someone please kill me.
How odd is that.
I have the Logitech MX700. Wireless, IR, and best of all it's rechargeable through base! The only thing I don't like about it is that the extra scrolling buttons and thumb curve are on the left side which would make this a "righty" mouse.... I'M A "LEFTY" YOU INSENSITIVE CLODS! Seriously though, it tells you when the batteries are running low by blinking a dinky red LED and a green one when you are charging. The scroll wheel is nice, rubbery soft, and has just enough feedback to satisfy my needs... I had to make a few adjustments to Quake 3 since this mouse is MUCH more sensitive then my old soap bar, but hey.... Who am I to complain?
Business \Busi"ness\, n.;
A scam in which all people involved perceive as beneficial...
Is it just me, or does anybody else feel creepy when they use a mouse other than THE ONE that you've been using for the last ten years?
I sort of feel like my hand is being violated.
In a way, I guess it's like cheating on your mouse. Maybe that's why it feels so dirty.
Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
I currently use two mouse that are my favorites, for desktop use I have a 16 year old IBM mouse from the original PS2, made in Ireland with a big heavy ball and great buttons (like the one you can see here, and for games I use the WingMan Gaming Mouse wich is a high res usb 3 button mouse with the best shape ever turned into a mouse, I can use them both at the same time in X, if you wonder how just set both mice input sections and add
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Mouse1" "AlwaysCore"
in your Server Layout section in your XF86Config
amazing what google can pull up. here's a website about Engelbart's demo of the first mouse
perl -e '$_="\007/4`\cp%2,".chr(127);s/./"\"\\c$&\""/gees
I've always preferred trackballs, moving a mouse around seems to be hard on my wrist.
Unlike the modern opticals, however, the early ones didn't let you use any old surface as a mouse pad. They came with special metal mouse pads with a tiny grid of shiny and not-as-shiny areas for the mouse to track. Get the pad too scratched or dented and your mouse started working funny. I liked the pads though, having your mouse on a futuristic metal surface instead of the usual felt-covered rubber was all part of the charm.
Mine was the mouse that came with the Amstrad 1512 , europes first really affordable mouse orientated PC clone. Ah, running GEM off a single 360K FD (no HD).. And that nice clunky mouse cursor when you ran the QBASIC 2.0 compiler..
"You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"
My favorite "mouse" is the original Logitech Trackman Marble. Three real buttons with no poofy scrollwheel. It's shallower than the newer trackmans, so you just rest your hand on it, instead of feeling like your's supposed to grip it. Your thumb rests on the ball, and only the thumb controls it, so nothing else on hand moves.
When I built a new computer a couple of years ago, I looked around for a replacement. There were none. The new Trackman just isn't the same. The new Microsoft trackball is close, very close, but not quite it. Realizing that they would never come back, I purchased three new or "opened-never-used" units on eBay. I use my original at work, a new one at home, and am keeping two for spares. I couldn't be happier.
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
I remember reading somewhere that the engineer who first developed the mouse named it the 'X-Y Positional Indicator'. Such a disappointment that it was dumbed down to 'Mouse' for consumers.
A Multiplayer Strategy Game for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
I'm trying to think back to my first mouse - I seem to recall having one for my C64 to run GeoWorks.
Since that time I have worked with a ton of models, including most of the models that Apple, Logitech and Micro$oft have produced and several by companies I can't even recall
The worst mouse I've ever handled has to be the Apple puck that shipped with every Apple prior to the Apple optical mouse. It made even the soap-bar monstrosities of the 80s look good by comparison. How they could release a mouse that made it hard to verify mouse orientation without a visual check I will never know. I have one Mac user who actually likes the design, but most of them tossed the stock mouse for a Logitech as quickly as they could run to Best Buy...
The best design? I am torn between several designs. I really love the Logitech Dual Opticals that are attached to all of my home systems, but I am also very happy with the Logitech MX700 and Logitech MX500 I have on my work systems. The only drawback to all of them is that Logitech does not have Linux drivers for them and I have not been able to get them to work correctly on my Linux boxes - I have to remember to switch mice before booting into Linux. (If anyone has a hint on making any of these, especially the MX500/700, work in Linux, I would be very grateful!)
I think it's disgusting to see they've shipped so many. How many of those are currently sitting in landfills? Doesn't anybody bother to clean one instead of buying a new one? At least the optical ones don't have that problem. Maybe they're just disposable junk like everything else in our overcivilized society. [/rant]
Wireless is the way to go. I have a Logitech wireless optical mouse, and I change the batteries maybe once every 6-8 months. I also really like the added weight the batteries give, it makes for smoother turning (especially when you have to whip-around and 180 real fast) in shooters once you get used to it. Besides, wires are for suckers :)
Another Logitech: Cordless MouseMan Optical.
Cordless, optical, feels great.
After getting one for work I got another for home. (now isn't that backwards
My big question: Does everybody really turn off their wireless mice when getting in an airplane?
--Doug
My favorite mouse is Socrates, my daughter's mouse who is currently loose somewhere in the house.
After that, it would be the first three-button mouse I used on a Sun. Those three buttons made such a difference in productivity...
For everyday use, I still prefer the Logitech Mouseman to anything else around. Except for exercising the cat. Socrates does a better job of that.
I thought the GEM desktop and mouse for my Atari were pretty damn cool...even though they didn't really do much, made me feel like I was on a "big computer" ;-)
Actually, looking back, it's amazing to see how little has changed in 15-odd years!
-psy
Yesterday, in one of the classes I am teaching, we looked at some of the first mouse diagrams and photos (see for example the patent pictures.
An interesting fact in the first mouse is that the "tail" pointed towards the hand, and later moved to the opposite side.
I remember playing a DOS based "Star Wars" game (Luke in his fighter going through the channel of the Death Star trying to drop the bomb). Playing that game gave me accuracy and speed in my use of the mouse.
Many years later, one day that I needed to take notes as I used the mouse, I switched the mouse from my right hand to the left (I am right handed). It has stayed there since. I find it more useful in that hand. Playing starcraft that way was quite interesting: panning with the right hand, selection with the mouse on the left one. Being able to use the mouse in both hands is a good skill (specially if you ever get tendonitis). You'll be surprised to see the reaction of people to the fact that there is no mouse in the right side of my keyboard. They don't even look, just reach, and then find nothing!
Would be one of the triangular 3-button "MouseMan" mice, but with an optical mechanism. I'd take that mouse to my grave.
steve
Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
FileMenu! I choose YOU!
wonder how many of the half-billion mice are in the garbage, or shipped to a street corner garbage-pile somewhere in singapore.
the fact that some mice cost ~$1 makes me think that most of the cheaper half-billion mice are being produced overseas, where health/environment regulatons allow them to drive prices down and make cheap crap.
i'm depressed today.
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
Oh wait... I mean Screw Mice, Wacom is where it's at!
I play quite a few FPS games, but the one thing that annoys me is the wheel. My standard configuration is: Left=shoot, Middle=moveforward, Right=movebackward. With nearly all wheel mice, I've found that the middle mouse button finger tends to slide back and forth and doesn't allow for positive contact all the time. My brother has a Logitech Wingman Gaming mouse, and I have a four-button contoured Mouseman. We don't know what's going to happen if we can't find replacements, because we both have the same problems with wheel mice in FPS games and refuse to give them up.
Anyone know of a good alternative? Maybe a coping strategy?
were on the amstrad xt's, (two buttons), the feel was just awful and to boot it didn't work exacly like supposed on some games(second button didn't register in some).
and then the other favorite of mine, the genius mouse with sharp edges.. buy was that fun to use with small kids hands. not.
of course, add to the list all loysy mouses that had their cords broken(near the mouse end, they make them harder nowadays though), cordless is the best thing to happen to mouses(boy was it fun when back in '92?? when underworld came and our logitech pilot got broken because the cord was getting shattered inside when my bro got a nice cordless mouse, rf type, that mouse lasted like 7-8 years or something, they stopped selling it here though, i think it was because it wasn't licensed properly to use the rf).
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
"What's your favorite current or past mouse?"
the super nintendo, actually. it had really nice light button action, good shape for long fingers, and, dude, it was purple!
real world, i probably miss the original amiga 80's bricks the most. solid little buggers. ah, workbench 1.3, where are ye now? memories...
The Logitech Dual Optical Mouseman is the finest mouse ever made. I'm a hardcore gamer and perfect CS response has always been a pipedream. I used MS Optical mice, and if you moved them too fast, the cursor (or crosshair) would move around randomly.
The Logitech Dual Mouseman has two sensors that cooperate so it never gets lost or confused. It is very high res, very very smooth, and you can move it very fast without it losing tracking.
# Erik
About half of them do...
The best thing is its weird apperance, it always draws comments from people. It is quite small though, so some people don't like to use it.
My favorite and current mouse is my Logitech MX700.e t :)
Scrollwheel.
Optical.
Corldless.
Sweee
Karma: Bizzare (mostly affected by varying internal caffeine levels.)
Check out Doug Englebart's picture : doesn't he look like Q (in James Bond)? No wonder he thought of a whacky input device like the mouse when only keyboards existed.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Was The Brain...if he ran for president, I'd vote for him. I mean c'mon, look at the alternatives!
On a more relevant note, one of the first two-button mice I've bought came with a paint program and a shareware version of lemmings, I think.
Is logitech the leading pointing device people? I know they ruled the whole "quickcam" digicam thing (which threw me fits with gnomemeeting). I suppose they've at least got great name recognition.
Not bad for a Modula-2 compiler company!
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
Maybe it's just me, but every single logitech scroller I've used has really sucked. I'll move it one click, and nothing will happen, then two, then nothing will happen, then three, and the page will move about ten lines. Sometimes though, I'll move it one click, and it will move the specificed three lines. This has happened with every single Logitech mouse I've ever used. Anyone else have this problem?
By the way, your speakers kinda suck too.
Random rants about technology: http://technorants.blogspot.com
I disliked those Sun optical mice that required a metal "mouse pad" with a grid of lines. Rotating the pad caused the pointer to track diagonally when you moved the mouse up and down. On the other hand, it was fun to flip people's pads 90 degrees and watch their pointer move left-right when they moved the mouse up-down. The marketing material was especially amusing -- it touted the "free mouse pad" when that pad was absolutely indispensible to using the mouse.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
I love it! It's awesome!
-=- Many seek good nights and lose good days.
I had the MS Explorer 3.0 for nearly a year and once the mx700 came out I bought it. Best mouse I have ever used and will probably ever use unless there is something groundbreaking that I must have.
I picked up a new Logitech optical wheel mouse at last year's ComputerFest for about $10 Canadian. It's probably the best mouse I've ever owned - I just wish I'd bought a couple. :P
The US Army: promoting democracy through unquestioned obedience
The IBM trackpoint (eraser head) mouse is by far the best thing I've ever used. Especially for data entry or having to move between interfaces and continue typing. I never have to take my hands off the keyboard. To all those trackball users who say they avoid carpal tunnel and save their arms, I say, try the trackpoint.
Typing is a breeze. The only problem I have is that I keep going home where I don't have the keyboard and am eternally confused as to where my mouse is.
I don't know how the performance would be in gaming. I think fps gaming might be tricky to master.
Extremetech did an ok series on keyboards and mice a while ago too.
Just under half
Too many damn buttons!!
The best mouse I've ever used is the Logitech MX500.
Very good tracking (optical of course), comfortable and very useful extra buttons. With back, forward and reload mapped to these buttons I can surf the web better than ever! =)
If you would have had a nice old MacWorld subscription, on the March 2003 issue, on the back was a great add for the kensington studiomouse, which is wireless, and has a cradle
Studio Mouse
Beautiful mouse, but, there, question answered, and mice evolution goes on.
Error 407 - No creative sig found
The optical wheel mouse and the dual mouse are generations old Logitech mice. They were good for early optical mice but if you're a gamer you'll notice that they frequently lose tracking. The current crop of Logitech mice (the MX series) are much better, they do not work on the variety of services that current Microsoft mice work on but they have twice the CPI and on work flawlessly on non-reflective/transparent services. Fans of the optical wheel mouse should check out the MX 300, almost identical design with a better grip.
Two buttons, easily integrated with both gui and text programs. My first mouse, dearly missed.
Besides the light pen, who could forget that lovely biege 2 button monster, with the 'PAD'
Ah, the old days. (I can't believe the mid-80's are the OLD days)
As subject reads. Don't ask me why the blue one felt better than the white one. It just did. And mostly it has this snazzy red thing at the base, which looks good in the dark. It intimidates my wife when we turn the lights off and ... play AOE.
Tracks well. Went with the cord because I'm used to having a cord there. Never tried wireless.
I've recently noticed that by putting it on a mousepad / cardboard backing of a file folder or pad of paper, it tracks smoother. It can get just a little sticky on wooden desks.
By the way, after about 2 months, I almost wore out the wheel. I don't get the tactile feedback from it anymore. It still works, just totally smooth.
you insensitive clod!
I use Macs to up my productivity, so up yours Microsoft!
Ok, I just read my own post and realized I have no idea what I was talking about, or how that was really relevant to this thread...
Up too late...
Too much code...
Too much coffee...
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
mouse == evil (aka RSI, aka no job, no food, no house (maybe))
logitech cordless optical trackman is my friend. a wacom tablet is also nice, for the right application.
...Logitec honors its 500 millionth RMA on a mouse product.
Oddly enough, the MS mouse is the one reliable MS product I've owned.
Fred
"A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
-RMS
My favourite mouse is/was the Microsoft Optical with the scroll-wheel and side-buttons.
I don't use it anymore because it doesn't match the colour of my current PC and I'm shallow like that, but I always liked this combination of button functions:
Left side button for shift, right side button for alt-tab.
With those buttons I could open a hyperlink in a new window without using the keyboard and without having to use the context menu, and then again with just the mouse I could alt-tab back to the previous window. This was useful for opening a lot of links in new windows for reading later, which is something I do a lot.
In fact I think I can live with the mismatched colour so maybe it's time to swap back...
Remember the "pregnant mouse" which shipped with the A3000's? Still have mine... (the mouse and the computer).
As opposed to the current mice which I often mistake for keyboards.
I use Macs to up my productivity, so up yours Microsoft!
The weird thing about this mouse is that it had neither a mouse ball nor an optical sensor. Instead, it had 2 cam-like wheels that spun around (only in the horizontal plane) when you moved it. There's a picture on this page. There's a better picture here, but it still doesn't show you how the little buggers rotate. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a diagram. It's DEC part number VSXXX-AA.
Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
The first Logitech Cordless Mouseman that I purchased was back in June of 2001. I loved it. Since then, I have purchased 3 more: one for my computer at work and two as gifts for friends. They are equally impressed with the mouse. Once you get used to the various features (especially the double click thumb button), it is almost impossible to use another mouse. When I try to use a conventional wired mouse, I am frustrated with the cord and the light weight. The Logitech just feels right. It has enough "heft" to be very stable on whatever surface it is used on, and places your wrist in a very natural and comfortable position. Recently I read an article in one of the popular computer magazines that called into question Logitech's claim that their mouse is designed for human hands. In fact, it is. I often wonder what species some electronics are designed for. As a side note: Whereas I don't advocate dropping your mouse on the floor, I can personally attest to the fact that I have accidentally dropped my Logitech Cordless Mouseman on the floor from a distance of 32" two times, and it still works fine. Kudos, Logitech!
When I first got a logitech bus mouse (that used a special ISA card) and I couldn't believe how much better it was than a serial mouse. This was way before PS/2 mice became popular on anything but PS/2s.
Ahh.. the days of making sure your little metal pad didn't get lost or scratched, the days of making sure your mouse was perfectly flat on the pad, the days of making sure your mouse was perfectly centered.
Believe it or not, I really do enjoy my Microsoft optical mouse (USB/PS2 interface). For a company that puts out complete horse shit for software, the hardware (mouse) portion puts out a good product.
I have something in common with Stephen Hawking...
at no extra cost, even...
You know, you CAN use it on a mousepad.. it keeps it cleaner, and moves smoother, depending.
Really. It works. I've seen it.
My best investment mouse-wise was the cordless optical mouse I'm now using. No more cleaning, no more cable getting stuck somewhere.
The Amiga Pregnant Mouse was indeed the best. mouse. ever.
-jerronimo (too lazy to log in)
Call me sick, but I really liked my old round vaxstation/decstation mouse. Don't know if they ever made a ps/2 version.
In the word's of the boys over at Ratpoison (allthough I'll spare you the worst PNG on the web...):
"In the past when working with improper window management I have found that reaching for the rodent and lifting my eyes off my FSF emacs block cursor can trigger undesired distractions, particularly when I'm working in non-Lisp dialects (well except for mercury and Pop-11) because any idle brain wave will be spent bitching to yourself silently about the lameness of the artificial language you are forced to be thinking in presently."
Say goodbye to the Rodent!
Otherwise, I do like the four-button-optical-scroll-wheel jobs for all those FPSers.
"Talk minus action equals nothing" - Joey Shithead, D.O.A.
"Talk minus action equals
I think its time Logitech brought out a decent wireless mouse that uses Bluetooth and does not require its own branded USB-to-Bluetooth adapter like the Microsoft products. And while we're at it, a Bluetooth based wireless keyboard that matches the Microsoft Elite series, again without requiring the use of their own branded adapter.
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
Note: they didn't last too long, but in typical Apple Fashion (not too redundant, eh?) they lasted longer than they should have.
Now my happy little powerbook uses a Kensington optical and we all rejoice...
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
Best trackball I've ever used. I bought one a few years ago and they've been discontinued, so it took forever to find one. The nice thing about this is you don't use just your thumb to control it. The ball is nice and big and you use your thumb and 2 fingers.
Now they only make it in a cordless version, which sucks. I don't want to switch batteries all the time.
My favorite mouse was a keyboard/mouse combination called the KeyCat II, made by some company that's probably long since gone. It had a nice large trackball to the right of the numeric keypad, and the mouse buttons were actually keys, at the top left of the keyboard. The keyboard felt great, the key placement was awesome, and the trackball was the best I ever used. Sadly, the keyboard wouldn't work with the 486 or above, and the Keycat 3 had a tiny trackball with the buttons spread around it. (The best thing about the Keycat II was that you could rest your hand and arm on the trackball without clicking anything.)
Cut a fitting piece of duct tape (or transparent plastic tape, found in any office on the northern hemisphere). Put it under the mouse, on the feet, with one stripe covering two feet (x-axis), one above, one below the center and there you go ready for high speed mousing with full accuracy.
And here's the catch: if it accumulates junk from the desk and loses that comfortable feel, add another layer of tape or replace the original tape. You can easily stack more than a dozen layers without a notable difference in mouse feeling. That way you always have a perfectly sliding mouse.
Hardcore gamers go even further: they use the tape and silicone or PTFE-spray (teflon) in small doses - works WONDERS, I tell you...
I used that thing into the ground and was sad to see it go when I had grown acustomed to wheel mice. I now have a Kensington Studio Pro Mouse. It's nice but you always remember your first love. I had that mouse trough 5 or 6 different systems. My Apple Design (ADB) keyboard also was a favorite and I found a new one at a thrift shop and use it with an ADB adaptor on my 12inch powerbook.
Ch1p
I'm using a Kensington Optical Elite mouse. It's got a button for every finger, plus you can program 2 combos, giving you functionally 7 programmable buttons and a wheel. Who needs a Start Menu when you can program a Pop-Up menu into any button?
20 bucks at Circuit City - can't beat it.
GL
Actually, MousePaint was a port of LisaPaint.
//c as well, in 1985 or 1986 I think, and I also happen to own a used Apple Lisa 2/10.)
Look at the title bar of the window, and the items in the menu bar, and then look at some screen shots of the Apple Lisa.
The giveaways: The File menu is called "File/Print" and the stripes in the window title bar are vertical, not horizontal as on the Mac.
(My first mouse was for my Apple
MS Explorer
Anyone else hate to use the wheel button? It always clicks when you are trying to scroll something.
Technoli
The c= 1351 mouse was my first mouse and that along with the 1764 REU(soldered chips to 512) made Geos useable. I even had that Geos programming tool, if I remember it was all in assembeler.
Then I bought an Amiga and it had the exact same design for it's mouse.
Now I use an MS optical trackball and a logitech optical mouse for games (the bigger one that glows blue)
Best mouse I every used. 2000 dpi. I was so used to it but other people would touch my computer and not be able to control where the cursor was... tie that in with edge scrolling viewports and a good laugh was to be had.
Incidently it just died recently and rezor has teamed up with Terratec Europe to develop the boomslang 2100 (yes that's 2100 dpi!!!). I'll be placing my order real soon.
More info at - http://www.razerzone.com
This was my first mouse. Currently enjoying a Logitech dual optical though.
however, after around 1000 mouses, we abandoned them, for the famouse maker touchpad/keyboard combos.
once again, we extend our deepest sympathies to the victims of cowardly greed/fear based aggression everywhere.
that old tune title (hope we don't get 'busted' for using it) "make the world go away", takes on new/varied meaning in these times.
the prevalent notion that 'everything will be taken care of' without yOUR knowledge/participation is insidiously misleading.
in our estimation, the biggest 'threat' against US (aside from continuing to fire bullinedly into the 'crowd', whilst demanding applause), would be a failure to recognize our 'role' in the problems. we're victims for sure, but whoare ALL the perpetrators (see also: corepirate nazi puppets), gets lost in the ?pr? ?firm? generated propaganda spew.
consult with/trust in yOUR creator. seek others of non-aggressive behaviours/intentions. that's the spirit.
the lights ARE coming up now. pay attention (to yOUR heart, for example). that could lead to new ways (see also: newclear power plan) of thinking about/dealing with, the needs/rights of others EVERYWHERE on the planet.
having the attention span of a gnat, & similar ambitions, might be ok if you are just planning to be a consumer/type one liners.
take care of each other, you're all we've got. we're here for you. get ready to see the light.--
worth reading, again, with feeling.
"It takes a long time to teach the judges, legislators, and public to understand technology. Right now, they're getting a strong dose of "education" on the Internet's threats and harms, and not hearing so much about its potential. Shouts of "piracy" often outweigh consideration of how we might communicate with more open media formats, but judges like Stephen Wilson in the Grokster case are starting to listen through the shouting. We're encouraging more people to think about how the law shapes technological innovation, how the technology itself can foster creativity, and then to do something about it to advance the public interest."--
"The stability of the large world house which is ours will involve a revolution of values to accompany the scientific and freedom revolutions engulfing the earth. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing"-oriented society to a "person"-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered. A civilization can flounder as readily in the face of moral and spiritual bankruptcy as it can through financial bankruptcy."
Having recently bought an mx500 myself I can say that it is indeed a great mouse. The one thing that sucks about it is that I can't get more than 7 of the 10 "buttons" to work, and I can only make real use of 5 due to imwheel not behaving like every website claims it does on my system for some obscure reason.
So, basically, I spent extra money to buy the equivalent of an mx300. At least as long as I'm in linux (which is just about all the time).
I have a Logitech vibrating optical mouse. No, I don't do anything gross with it. It actually vibrates whenever you pass over any clickable object. Its quite a weird sensation, especially when you drag a scroll bar (it puts the thing into overdrive)! There are different types of vibrations you can set, and you can fully adjust the force. Its pretty pointless, but interesting nonetheless.
My favorite mouse though is Microsoft's $20 optical wheel mouse. It is the perfect size, its cheap, and it works flawlessly on my Macs and PCs with no additional drivers to install.
Sound waves should be free!
But then I realized that I alone have 7 old mice in a box...
I had great fondness for my first mouse: the original Logitech 3-button mouse released in the mid-80's. The WEDGE! The DOORSTOP! I thought it was so cool.
I never used the first "soap bar" microsoft mouse, because that Logitech was clearly superior in my mind (although it was a struggle to find many uses for the 3rd button back then.)
More recently, I really have enjoyed the original MS Intellimouse Pro. Its exaggerated height actually made it fit my hand well. Alas, it is a mechanical mouse, and I wanted the accuracy and reliability of optical.
Right now, I am using an MS IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0. It's OK, but it doesn't have the solid feel and nice shape of the original Pro.
I've been tempted to try the Logitech MX700 rechargable cordless, but haven't yet. Any comments on that?
Machines take me by surprise with great frequency. -A. Turing
An Apple Bluetooth keyboard and mouse combo is coming..
I'm waiting on that, but my resolve is wearing down.. Logitech might have my money soon if Apple doesn't deliver!
Bitchslapped. Neat.
HP and DEC both used to sell roundish mice with their late 80's workstation systems.
Ick, I say.
- jon
Ganymede, a GPL'ed metadirectory for UNIX
Squeak is worth looking at. So much so, that I've enclosed a hyperlink to it in this post.
Because the internal batteries go bad and then you need to buy a new mouse. My first mouse was a wireless. It was actually pretty cool at the time (Cost $100 vs. the $50-$75 of most mice), but it lastest only about six months before the batteries started dieing within a few minutes. Another 6 months and it was absolutely useless. Too bad, it was a good idea.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
What I find ironic is my microsoft mouse has better driver support on my mac running os x than on my pc running windows. On my mac, I can configure any of the buttons to perform any action including running scripts and have those actions vary depending on which application I am currently running. This provides me with a very powerful tool in any program for which I wish to program it. Of course, microsoft didn't write such sterling drivers on their own. They relied on the author of usb overdrive, which is a great general tool for programming usb mice, trackballs, gamepads, and the like. I just wish their was a comparable program/drivers available for windows.
That sort of "pointing device" you describe with the 'crosshairs' is still in use, but its not really considerd a 'mouse'. It is too special purpose.
It also often contained coils that interacted with an active 'tablet' to triangulate position...
Another reason it wasnt a 'mouse'.....
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Ironic, then, that you wouldn't enclose a LINK to the Squeak page so that we can use our GUIs and our MICE to intuitively CLICK on a link to the inventor of these revolutionary interface devices, rather than retype the text URL like it's 1954 or something. Here it is.
The only thing that fat fuck remembers about any mice is how they keep eating his fucking Krispey Kremes donuts all the time. Then he has to go out and buy more.
Give me a keyboard with a trackpoint and I'm a happy man.
I have both the logitech dual optical (weighted) mouse and an elecom MAPP mouse (designed by Ghost in the shell artist Masamune Shiro). They are both excellent, but I much prefer my MAPP mouse. The big scroll wheel, it's light weight, fast response, and sex appeal make it well worth the somewhat steep mouse price.
Shinza.com sells this mouse, but the site appears down now. perhaps they are no longer in business??
you can also get it here
ôó
... some oddities ... like one with a crosshair attachment for clicking on specific points of a blueprint for CAD input.
Strictly speaking these were "pucks" for tablets (which weren't restricted to relative positioning) rather than "mice" (although I'm not sure how official that distinction is).
Not so with the MX700, it uses a pair of standard AA size NiMH, which are user-changable the same way batteries in a non-rechargable mouse are, ok, the battery cavity cover is a little more snug on a MX700 than on, say, a Cordless Optical Mouseman.
IIRC, the only requirement for replacements, if/when they go bad, is that they must be 1400mAH or so.
I hate mice, but give me a good trackball, especially the thumbbased ones. I love people's experience when they try to use it :). But it's far easier to use, and less CTS probems.
Logitech RULES: Everyone I get last several years.
The coolest that I ever used was a logitech mouse that vibrated.
it would allow different textures feels and stuff...very strange physical feedback. The coolest was the bouncy feedback. When you would go over the border of a form, it would do this bounce thing...it was awsome. wasn't mine though. The 'rough' texture was also cool.
My favorite mouse is my Sun Type 5 optical 3-button mouse.
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
blakespot, I have one of those Elecom/Shirow-san mice hooked up to my Macintosh.
Let me tell you, this is one sweet mouse! Works very well, and heck, it looks just so damn cool!
Most mice are just boring looking hunks of plastic. This is a work of art.
Domo Arigato, Shirow-san and Elecom!
Guaranteed! This comment 100% Anthrax free!
The one with a crosshair isn't a mouse, it's a digitizer. It's usable on a special surface only, usually to digitize maps and drawings. These things can be *very* precise.
The dual's are nice, but their quality falls behind their newer MX series. especially the 5 and 700 mice.
I had the privilege, along with many others, of getting a personal demonstration of the mouse from Doug Engelbart when I was at Stanford in the 1960s. In addition to the mouse he demonstrated a device that has not yet become popular: the chord-board. As I recall it was six levers, one for each finger plus two for the thumb, so you could operate it with either your right or your left hand. By pressing the levers in various combinations he could enter data into the computer. The only similar device I have seen since is the keyboard used by court reporters.
John Sauter (J_Sauter@Empire.Net)
Classic logitech mouse with wheel... But with mods.
;)
:)
Inertia wheel. I removed the clickety-click mechanism of the wheel, and ordered a metal replacement for the rubber band - a pretty heavy iron ring. Now with a single strong push I may scroll 20-30 pages (while seeing them all as they scroll by!) and stop by putting my finger against the spinning wheel when I see the section I've been looking for. Causes some problems in games (like unwanted weapons switching) but is absolutely superb when it comes to websurfing and all no-game work. BTW, assign "fire" to "mouse up" and you get instant autofire
Thumb RMB. Since the inertia wheel is slightly bigger than the original one, I can't use it as middle mouse button. All the better, I've placed one in the side of the mouse, under my thumb. It's VERY comfortable. Far more than the wheel was. No moving fingers from button to button, just press with thumb and get things pasted
And prettifiers... Some plastic that is used in "emergency route" labels and shines in the darkness, around the wheel, to mask the hole edges and an op amp tapped into data lines and powered from the power lines with output to a LED placed under the thumb button, blinking on any mouse activity.
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
I have simply fallen in love with the MX500. I tried the MX700, but felt it was too heavy. The precision/accuracy was the same, but I freqently find myself picking the damn thing up, which lead to cramps with the mx700. IMHO, if you can get past the cord,which I dont have any problem with, then the MX500 is the best out there. Second to the Wingman gaming mouse. Same design as the original 3button wedge, but with a heavier ball. Can't get them anymore though! Damn attrition!
You can get more with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone. - Al Capone (1899-1947)
Mice first widely appeared in consumer form on the original Macintosh, but have appeared in various forms back through time to 1964 when they were invented by Doug Englebart. Just curious. Is the plural form of computer mouse mice?
Can't be. Hamsters need to be duct-taped not to explode, how do you imagine screwing MICE?!
500 million, already? Well I for one welcome our miniature, clickable overlords
Boy this takes me back!
Back in 1981 I used a system called DNLS at an Air Force base in Alabama. The system was connected to a large DEC mainframe and consisted of a regular terminal with a bulky mechanical 3-button mouse with huge metal wheels on the bottom used t o track X and Y axis movement and accompanied by a device with 5 levers that sat under your non-mouse hand that was used to enter text. The idea roughly was that you could position the cursor anywhere on an 80x24 screen and enter or modify any text on the screen with the keyset using a 5-bit binary code for each letter. It was conceivable to perform work without having to touch the keyboard!
Talk about being on the leading edge...
Arf!
The only thing I got was a Logitech serial mouse that came with "Generic CADD", for a whopping $250.
Needless to say, I had plenty of fun with the CAD package... :)
I dunno about you, but when I mouse, I rest the base of my palm on the mousepad and let my fingers move the mouse around.
I can usually cover the whole screen, with only an occasional repositioning of my hand.
Apple's "puck mouse" was designed around this idea, but the circular form was confusing since you couldn't blindly find the "sides".
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
I used to like Logitech mice a lot, but lately all I've been able to find have been the tiny, round, made-for-both-lefty-and-righty models. I really hate these new models of Logitech. The good ones are the nice big ones that fit your hand properly. I've actually switched over to using an IBM mouse with a trackpoint instead of a wheel, which the best one I've ever had. Goodbye Logitech.
Logitech Cordless Optical Trackman ROCKS!!!!
Cool, I use the same mouse as Cowboy Neil!
I bought an Elecom MAPP mouse designed by Shirow Masamune via eBay, to use on my PowerMacintosh 5400/200.
It's an absolutely beautiful work of art, as well as being a fine mouse.
There are a couple of sources for it here in North America. JLIST has it, as do several other vendors. Google is your friend.
Despite the curious asymmetrical shape of the mouse, it's quite comfortable in the hand. You don't hold it, so much as you rest your hand on it. Even though it looks small, it fits my large gaijin hand very well.It's very light and moves with hardly any effort. The scrollwheel is made from some kind of soft polymer, just tacky enough to ensure a non-slip feel to it.
The mouse engine itself is 800ppi, I'm not sure how many times it images, though. The mouse cord is about 3 feet long, which is nice for when I sit back and use the mouse on my trouser leg.
I did need to get a PCI USB port card for the Mac, as well as USB Overdrive, a shareware driver for both Classic and OS X Mac OS's. It allows one to fully use all the buttons and wheels on a mouse or trackball or joystick.
One can also program each indivdual button for use in any application, as well as mouse pointer "speed". Slower for smaller screens or precise positioning, or faster for big screens.
It's well worth the modest US$20.00 shareware fee.
Guaranteed! This comment 100% Anthrax free!
I'm a big fan of the Fingerworks products. It's a little weird to type on, but the mousing and gesturing is wonderful. And it supports Linux, even to the point of having a set of desktop-switch gestures and Emacs shortcut gestures. The customization software runs under Linux, too.
I agree completely. I was using a Kensington ADB 4-button mouse on my G3 Mac for ProTools when one of the buttons decided to die, and I had heard good things about the Logitech Dual Optical, so I picked one up and I couldn't be happier. The two things I dislike about most optical mice are 1) the (lack of) mass and 2) the width. Kensington and Microsoft optical mice are a little too wide and flat for my preferences; I like how Logitech mice are shaped a little higher.
The best thing about the Logitech Dual Optical, though, is how massive (heavy) it is compared to most other optical mice. The components of optical mice are, by their very nature, lighter than the traditional ball mice, and from years of shoving around heavier mice, I can't handle those flimsy plastic things. The Dual Optical has some meat on its bones, and it tracks more smoothly than any other optical I've used. Great mouse!
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Gandhi
My first mouse was a 3-button AMX mouse that came bundled with an extremely primitive art package, AMX Art, for the Amstrad CPC. The mouse had some kind of weird connection to a large box that plugged into a serial port. It was horrid and plasticky, the ball was very light so it didn't track properly (ever!), it only worked with the one program with which it came (which wasn't much use anyway...) and eventually someone did the decent thing and spilled cola inside it. I think I've still got it somewhere.....
"'I pass the test,' she said. 'I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.'"
- JRR Tolkien.
...is a plain-Jane logitech two-button. The formerly textured plastic on the left side is now worn shiny! Otherwise it works fine. This mouse is about 7 years old. Before Windows95, I either used DOS or didn't have a PC, so the mouse that came with my Win95 system was the first, and it got passed on to the next two systems, which I built myself. I'm planning to use it with a 4th system RSN.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Personally, I feel I should pick up the slack here. Everything is based on sex and in some way, I feel this is necessary! Porn helped the internet blossom and porn helped the distribution of VCRs and VHS tapes. Once again, I'd like to introduce our good friend, "Porn". I'd love to slide my fingers around on this one... (sold at a legitimate computer store in Houston, TX) http://www.directron.com/smi111.html
-- Game Developers: Stop porting badly-textured games from crappy console systems!
Good italian leather or suede does not have any issues with the dye bleeding or the leather suffering from contact wear.
Luxury cars are using a perforated leather with a fan under the seat to address the heat/sweat/stickiness problem. I know there are game controllers using a similar technique with perforated plastic.
I want a leather mouse covered in real mouse leather, even if does require skinning a half-dozen fieldmice to get full coverage.
I do not deploy Linux. Ever.
You'll change your mind about purchasing. It fucking sucks. Rebuild your machine kind of sucks.
The first mouse I ever used was the first mouse that ever was, while visiting Doug Englebart in 1967 or 1968. I've always felt that it was a real mistake that we didn't also pick up his five-key chord keyboard for the left hand. With the three buttons on the mouse, you could type ASCII without lifting your hands. My second mouse was on an ALTO, serial #35, at Xerox.
Years later I tried to combine the mouse and chord keyboard by fastening a thing called a Write-hander to a mouse with duct tape. Didn't really work out
...like one with a crosshair attachment for clicking on specific points of a blueprintfor CAD input
We used to call them "digitizer pucks" or just "digitizers". They were used in conjunction with ~11"x17" digitizer tablets that had a clear plastic sheet protecting a printed-out icon menu system for commonly-used engineering symbols.
Some of the high-end, proprietary CAD systems such as PDS and PDMS (for piping design, that is) had much larger digitizing tablets, twin 21" monitors and were horrendously expensive. This was about 20 years ago.
I'm not "knower of all things CAD", but I think virtually all current CAD systems use onscreen menus (or for the customizers/fast finger guys, keyboard shortcuts).
You could place a "blueprint" on top of one of these and trace, but typically this was not the case.
Paul
Piping Design Central
That's the most cruel thing I ever heard. I can hear the tiny yelps and screams as the mice are boiled and de-haired.
I fondly remember the optical mice that shipped with Sun Workstations for many years. Especially the fancy metal mousepads that were required for them to operate.
I had this problem with it, though - it would just randomly stop working. Well actually, it would move left and right, but not up and down. I did the usual cleaning, but to no avail. Then I realised that it only happened if I moved my head like this...
Turns out that the sunlight coming in the window was interfering with the optical pickups off the mouse ball. When I moved my head, the shadow moved off the mouse. All because of that cool-looking translucent casing.
"Our mouse has only one button, so there's no confusion which button you have to press!" ???
Ah, the good old days... [snort]
j
God approaches making his 500 billionth mouse.
No data, no cry
For me and many others - The Microsoft Intelli Explorer Optical mouse is one of the best. Right hand curved design fits your (right) hand perfectly.
Mouse isn't the only thing here guys. Mousepads are definitely important too. I have the original hard Ratpadz mousepad from Ratpadz.com. Works wonders. I frag much better when I'm on that mousepad. =)
Anthony
http://www.palmzone.net
Back in the days of my Commodore 64, I had bought a copy of GeoWorks (I think that was the name) which was a graphics package. The instruction manual highly suggested that a mouse be used for drawing. Being 11 and all, I thought that was a ploy to get me to spend more money. So I opted to use the joystick I had already owned. Ever try painting with a joystick? (yes I know the thousand responses I can get for that question, but be adult about it :) )
Apple makes the best mice -- bar none -- save for one little problem. No damn second button or scroll wheel! I switched over to an Intellimouse Optical. Great mouse but the software only runs in user mode. (i.e. after you login) So the tracking at the login screen is way off.
Favourites, based on the fact I use them every day:
- TrackPoint on laptop and on external IBM keyboard. These are great but need the sensitivity up high.
- Ordinary Kensington turboball.
History:
- Logitech TrackMan, one of the first 6 imported to Australia. Still have it, though it squeaks. (How appropriate).
- Gyromouse. Really cool, works in mid-air, and great when RSI is starting to kick in, but I'm not very fast with it.
- Trackpads - still don't really like them.
- Once used something that looks like a small pad but has a small attachment claiming "you hold it like a pencil", though it looks nothing like a pencil. Not bad, but it was 1988, when I only had one GUI program to use it with.
- Ball mouse you wear on your index finger and operate with your thumb. Great in places with no desk. (I work sometimes in industrial process control).
- Optical one that requires a grid of blue and black lines to operate
- Keyboard mouse emulation - sucks, but knowing how to use it has got me out of trouble a few times.
- Miniature normal mouse. My 2-year-old can already drag-and-drop, and thinks sesame street's web site is a kack, not to mention Joe's "where's my brocoli" maze (abc.net.au/children)
- webcam program that scrolls according to your head movement. Never really got the hang of it.
One day it'll be retina-tracking.
-- All your bass are below two Hz
Welcome our Logitech Mouse overlords.
I can't recall the name of the thing, but right around 1996, I owned an HP PDA. Solid state, instant on, and a fine mousing device. The tiny two button mouse popped out of the side of the gadget on a small bar, allowing true mousing in an era of crappy laptop trackballs.
the C7 was probably the best mouse ever made. good size, weight, and tracking was quite good, even though Windows 1.0 didn't really show it off... i bought mine for around $250 Canadian dollars around 1985? (back when it was nearly on-par with the greenback). and it still works today, though i only pull it out for show and tell.
One of my former colleagues, when we were visiting Doug one day, had the bright idea of having him autograph his mouse.
Doug duly autographed it - and mentioned that this was the first time anybody had asked him. (This was in the late '80s or early '90s, so it wasn't like nobody had had the opportunity.)
So at that point he had the only Engelbart-autographed mouse. (And even if somebody else has asked since - which the rest of us didn't to avoid me-too ism and maintain the value of HIS mouse - he still has the first.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
To this day, I can't see Logitech mouse packaging without thinking of the infamous 1992 Logitech ad with the pissing baby and "feels better" - making the point that the Logitech mouse fit the hand better than the competition's, or something. Story at Wired .
MS Support for their hardware rocks. Just call them up, give them some simple info showing you really own one (serial # or something), and they'll mail you a new one, no questions asked. My GF actually takes the calls for this. They mail out tons of stuff every day.
Unfortunately, I have an aversion to the Logitech Marble F/X trackball. Mostly because the way it was designed made configuring the functions on the device through Logitech's MouseWare software suite quite difficult to do. Not to mention the fact it takes quite a lot of practice to use that device properly, too. =(
I also don't like the MX500/MX700 mouse pointers, either. They have WAY too many buttons on the device and that makes configuring the functions on the mouse a bit hard to do for computer newbies.
I like my Logitech Wheel Mouse Optical--only two buttons plus scroll wheel. Lot easier to configure the functions of that mouse with MouseWare, that's to be sure. =)
I would, but I have far too many right hand only mice. Worse yet, I'm left handed, so all those problems the rightys are pointing out with this: I have them with most mice.
Fortunatly I'm not very dominate left handed, I write with my right hand mostly cause I was taught that way. (not forced like the old days, but if you didn't know you were left handed they assumed you were right handed) I like to switch my mice around. They hurt my wrist, so I try to not abuse either arm too much with one. See my first point though.
Logitch is the undisputed king of mice... despite being dirt cheap, they feel good, have a nice click, and work forever.
But what about keyboards? Last time I went to Fry's looking for a keyboard, they did not have ONE SINGLE FULL SIZE KEYBOARD AT ANY PRICE that wasn't either stupidly large with ergonimic styling, or littered with special "Internet" keys. I bought the Memorex one because it was the sanest looking thing I could find. Took the thing home, plugged it in, and 30 minutes later I accidentally hit one of the special keys and it shut down my whole damned machine. So I used a pair of pliers to lift up the rubber button and then cut it off with a razor... but it looked stupid and every time I used the thing, my ass would twitch over the fact that this POS was the best keyboard I could find.
That is, until somebody mentioned the old IBM keyboards and how great they were. I'm not affiliated with these guys... just a happy customer. Please check out www.pckeyboard.com. They (Unicomp) bought the original design from IBM and are still producing it. As far as I know it is the only full-size keyboard you can buy with a standard layout, no bullshit, and actual buckling-spring keys. Costs fifty bucks, weighs about three pounds so it doesn't slide all over your desk, indestructible, and has keys that are very satisfying to type on.
I got one for each of my PCs and one for my Mac (used a PS2-USB converter dongle). It is absolutely AMAZING how much faster you can type when you use the exact same keyboard everywhere, and it's not a sucky keyboard. My raw typing speed is about the same as before but I make way less typos so overall speed is maybe 10-20% higher.
My favorite mouse is my Gyration Ultra. At first glance, it's a normal wireless optical mouse. But pick it up, hit the trigger button, and it's like moving your cursor with a laser pointer. Works great as a remote-control device when I'm watching DVD's or listening to music, and works fine as a regular mouse when I'm actually doing work with my computer.
What's your favorite current or past mouse?
That's gotta be the Foot Mouse, which was a monstrous beast that appeared around 1985. It was a big mushroom that took up a lot of room under your desk. You put your feet uncomfortably on it and, exerting about 50 pounds of downward force, moved the cursor in large jerky motions.
Looks like they still make something like it! And some never-say-die type even tried to improve it!
Hmm, why not the elbow mouse?
On the other hand, I've been trying out a Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard at work and have decided its name is an oxymoron. I'm sorry, but the "6" key belongs on the right-hand side.
The Boomslang is amazing. Forget optical mice, forget your fancy see-through one-button mac mice. It has amazing DPI, a really low form factor, and a great scroll wheel. It also costs a hundred bucks, but it was worth it.
Is not a mouse at all, it is a cordless trackman wheel, from logitech. I don't like mice.
I hate sigs.
Yes, I remember those mouse. Used one on Sun Workstation during my internship.
:P
Now here is a neat trick which I used to impress my fellow interns. Try placing the mouse on a CRT monitor and watch the mouse cursor moves. Apparently, the scanning lines on a CRT monitor works like the shiny grids on the mouse pad and caused the mouse cursor to move
Did any one try this using the new optical mouse? I am using a logitech optical wheelmouse but I can't tried this anymore caused I used a LCD monitor (no scanning lines)
I got my company to buy a mouse from the Mouse House in 1982-1984. The mouse cost about $400, and came with a tail(cable+connector) but no interface hardware or software. I found a schematic by Niklaus Wirth using some counters, a ROM, and some other TTL stuff, and I built my own interface, which I plugged into the control lines of the parallel port on my trusty 2MHZ Z80. It goes without saying that I had to write my own drivers, too. I also used my homemade interface with a slightly rewired Commodore trackball, which was quite a nice device - and cheap at about $25.
That MH mouse is not my favorite, my Logitech optical mouse is.
An interesting topic -- actually brought a smile to my eye -- recalling all the computer mice I've used over the years.
The first mouse I purchased was with my Wozniak signature edition Apple IIGS. It was the standard Apple ADB mouse. Worked well, had a solid feel to it, but the rollers would crud up over time.
The second was a generic PC 3 button mouse from a homebrew computer system I purchased. It was a total piece of garbage.
In college, we had those wonderful (not!) Sun mice, with the friggin annoying (TM) metal track pad. While useless for the most part, it was particularly amusing to turn the pad on its edge and watch newbies complain about their mouse not working.
Flash-forward a few years... I've been very happy with my current Kensington Optical Elite, used with my G4/Dual 450. It has a solid feel to it, 5 customizable buttons (I use only 2 of those under heavy use), and a solid 5 year warranty. Kensington has been great about fixing problems, and actually gave me a new mouse when the previous one developed some unusual problems.
For digital drawing, I've simply GOT to use the Wacom 6 x 8 Intuous. Nothing else compares.
The PC Weenies: 11 Years of Online Tech 'Too
That mouse, the one linked, is the absolute best I have ever encountered. We happened to get it for the family desktop, and I really liked it. When the mouse on my friend's computer started to go, I came over the make sure that the mouse was actually dead and took them to get the exact same model that I had. The day my college laptop arrived I drove to Staples to purchase the third Logitech Optical mouse. I don't plan on using another mouse as long as it is available to buy.
Logitech makes great mouses in general, from what I gather. The wireless stuff (keyboard and mouses) are cool, but I do not want to have to deal with batteries. In addition, since I'm using a laptop, to have to deal with the whole transmitter setup thing would be a major annoyance. As it is, I just plug the mouse in the USB port and go. It's great.
Argue all you want, the apple puck mouse was still an abomination.
I just tried it with my logitech optical mouse
and
it worked!
GoatPigSheep, the 3 most important food groups
My parents bought me my first mouse for my Color Computer 2 - it has (yes, present tense, because I still have it) a single red button on the top of the black "soap bar" style body, and the mouse ball is a steel ball bearing of some sort (no rubber covering). It plugged into the joystick port of the CoCo, and had abysmal resolution - but for what I used it for mainly (CoCo Max drawing, and CerComp's windowing system), it was pretty cool...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Got a brand new Logitech wireless optical here and...it doesn't work :-(
I think the best mouse ever is actually a trackball also - the Logitech TrackMan Marble FX. Mine is several years old and still all I use. I miss not having a wheel, but I can live without it.
I'm not happy with Logitech these days however, they discontinued the FX and didn't replace it with an equivalent model. In addition if you have any interest in online privacy their website is of no use whatsoever. Nothing there works without having cookies turned on. You can't even get to the page that explains their privacy policy without accepting their cookies. That's simply unacceptable and they've lost my business.
I'll probably look into Kensington when I need a new trackball. Their products seem to be much more cheaply and flimsily made than they once were so I'm not thrilled there either, but at least I can look at their products on their web site without them infecting my machine with garbage.
I liked the first logitech cordless wheel mouse (that looked like a half egg). If you took the heavy mouseball from a old inteli mouse, and changed the elchipobestiale light one in the logitech.. it was very sweet.
To bad they dont sell those more =(
changing batteries stinks
That's why the reciver for the MX700 is also a charger. Just set the mouse in it when you arn't using it.
It was me, I did it, I moved your cheese
anethema above makes a good point. don't rush out and buy a track ball for carpal.. I had/have it and bought a track ball thinking it would help.. in fact it made the pain rather worse. for me, more vigourous movements involved in rebuilding an old house actually seem to have cured the pain.. not sure I understand why, but thought I'd share a data point
The mx700 mouse has to be the best thing to hit mousing since..maybe ever.
;)
I 100% guarantee that you cant tell the difference between it and a corded mouse, except for the weight of a couple double a's. It refreshes 125 times a second..the same as your usb port. Its as if there is a cord connecting it, wihtout beeing cumbersome.
It also has a recharge station like a cordless phone. If you buy some 1800mAh duracell or energizers to go with it, it will never go dead. A 6 hour charge will go for 20 hours of battery life. Thats like 3 days of use even for a frequent user. This mouse is amazing, i simply cant say enough about it.
I was very skeptical about the smoothness, but, its identical to the mx500, their top end corded mouse.
The only bad thing about it, is aparently their mouseware drivers arent that good. But reading boards, i see they just released a new version which is supposed to solve all the problems of the pervious ones.
Either way, DEFINATLY worth a try.
Especially if you do what i did to try it out..buy from one of those places that lets you return it within 7 or thirty days..money back.
Either way have fun
It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
Call me silly, but my first *mouse* was actually that atari trackball that I got first for missle command and centipede. Also used it on the amiga for a time.
I did rig nintendo gun as a light pen, but found it to be wildly inaccurate. I did enjoy pulling the trigger to open folders though.
I have one complaint about the MX500. (Don't get me wrong, I love it.) When using my old cordless variety, I could re-map the thumb button to just about any key or key combo I wanted. (This kicks ass in AutoCAD.) For some stupid reason, I can't do this for my MX500.
Sure, they let you chose any F key, or some Windows functions, etc... But they won't let you do custom key or key combos any more. At least, I can't figure out how find those options. Does anyone know any way to get an MX500 to do this?
Bork!
What is this "mouse" you speak of?
[sig] 10 + 10 = 100 [/sig]
If you have an MX700 you have to get some of these batteries. They last more than twice as long as the stock ones. With these you can use it for 2 or 3 full days before needing to recharge, which is awesome.
-You may license this sig for only $6.99.
People have "modded" (tongue-in-cheek) their MX700s to use 1800mAh batteries with much success. So nuts to that 1400 requirement.
I've still got the first logitech mouse I bought as a student over ten years ago. It's currently being used on my home server, but it's the longest lasting piece of kit I have. Logitech make good stuff, but it's a shame they discontinued the Kidz mouse, as its perfect for small hands, not to mention it's got the longest cable I've ever seen on a mouse, a whopping metre and a half!
I hate the click action of mouse wheels. I've gotten to the point where I hoard Logitech Mouseman and Wingman mice. Three buttons, no wheel. I have a box full of them in my closet.
But what I use are PerfitMouse mice from Contour Design (http://www.contourdesign.com/perfit-new.htm). Three buttons across the top, multiple sizes, right- and left-handed versions. They're just now switching over to an optical version, with USB (plus PS/2 adaptor), and a wheel on the side for your thumb (my thumb is more flexible than any of my fingers; isn't yours?), and underneath it there's a two-way hat switch.
They're expensive. The new opticals are $110. But they treat my hand very well. I've bought three of the old versions for $90, and I've just bought the first of three of the new ones.
The Avant Stellar keyboard (http://www.cvtinc.com/products/keyboards/stellar. htm) also has buckling springs. They licensed the keyboard design of the Northgate Omnikey, and it has the same built-like-a-tank feel. Unlike the Omnikeys, the Stellar has Windows keys; I use them to get both Alt and Meta under X. You can also remap the Control and Caps Lock keys in hardware---they even ship you extra keycaps in case you do switch them. And the icing on the cake, the Stellar has another set of function keys down the left-hand side (XT-style) where you can actually reach them.
I had an old school optical mouse about 10 years back. You had to have it on special mousepad that was made out of some sensors. The sensors would read the mouse move, and the cursor would go.. it was exciting.
Paint.NET, a Free Image Editor, with Source Code Available!
the old logitech 3-button model that you didn't have to drag... went through 2 of them - their microswitches really do have a limited lifetime. too bad they don't make 'em the way they used to.
i really liked that you don't have to drag the damn thing, as my desk is always cluttered. find one place and it's there.
now i have a spanking new optical wheelmouse. too bad they don't have it three-buttoned - or my retailer didn't - but at least in linux i can emulate a 3-button mouse. i tried it at a friend's house, and i decided to take that to replace my last trackman marble from 1997.
i think logitech has been able to accommodate to changing market and technology very well. anybody know their market share in keyboards (i got one to replace my ms natural) and mouses (refuse to use "mice" for gadgets).
--v
I'm sorry to say (as a Linux, BSD, OSX man), that the best mouse ever, is the orginal wired, microsoft wheel mouse. It's such a nice design, that tiny little kink in the body makes it comfortable in both left and right hands. I know this because I use a mouse left handed and work and right handed at home (because of desk layouts!)
I'm going to live forever, or die trying
Somebody better let out a bunch of CueCats to catch all those mice!!!
[signature]
I bought a cordless optical recently for use on my linux workstation. It continually fires the laser and runs through batteries fast, I guess 'cause the power saving is software controlled. Called up tech support, told them I was using linux, and they refused to talk to me, even to answer basic questions that didn't have to do with what operating system I was using. I'm never buying a product from them again.
One of the best trackball ever built.
Been using it daily, all day long, for five years or so.
Still as precise and smooth as on day one.
In Norwegian, Englebart means Angel Moustache.
Last week, Microsoft Corp. announced a computer mouse with horizontal scrolling capabilities and even a mouse outfitted in leather
Oh yeah, I can't wait until I get my sadomouse!
- "They misunderestimated me."
I have yet to find a mouse that competes with it. It's mechanism is so good it rarely gets clogged, and the clicks are still crisp even after 15 years.
-Barry
I remember using a great optical mouse with my university's Silicon Graphics workstations (probably Indigos, but I'm not sure - we had several lines of SGI workstations) in the early 1990'es. They were by leaps and bounds the best mice I had ever tried, and still were until I got my Cordless Mouseman Wheel from LogiTech, with the ergonomic slanted/tilted keyboard to match (Christmas gift from my wife :-). Beautiful design, batteries last very long, fits my hand perfectly, hasn't yet accumulated crud on the ball (2+ years), runs perfectly on any smooth surface, and just plain "feels right".
The weirdest mouse I ever used for some time was a handheld trackball, which was basically an inverted mouse with the ball protruding from the surface, and buttons on the end. Superb precision, but it was really cumbersome to use that hand for anything else - you'd have to put it down first. Got replaced when heavy-duty development became a daily routine.
The most amazingly brilliant mouse I ever tried was a prototype for a professional CAD mouse I reviewed some years back for a grant application. With a freely rotating wheel on top, an optical mouse below, incredible precision and phenomenal ergonomics (for either hand!) it had it ALL. I really, really hope they got a business out of that product, but sadly I lost track of them after getting another job.
Black holes are where God divided by zero
I was one of the few people I ever new to own a mouse for a commodore 64 - not that there was a great deal that could be done with it. It simply registered movements on the joy port as if it were a normal atari joystick. Somewhere I may even be able to dig out the code I wrote for a graphical file manager - which was fine as long as you had no more than 7 files - I used 1 hardware sprite for the mouse.
I remember a few years ago when I used to do CAD stuff- there was a controller device referred to lovingly as the "Pigs Tits". It was simply a board of 6 or eight rotary controls and optionally two switches - used to trim things for mathematical precision. I couldn't help thinking how great it would be to write a midi driver for the thing, or use it for robot control. I have not seen one for a while.
OrionRobots.co.uk - Robots From sol
My Logitech Mouseman II Wheelmouse is six years old and still going strong, a veteran of thousands of hours of QuakeII/III. Ya just gotta clean the schmutz off the rollers every six months or so.
My first moiuse was an Agiler. It even came with a dock, so the mouse could be kep on side of the monitor. :) Then we got a trackball. I really liked that trackball. Easy use of the thumb to move around. Unfortunately, i have never found a trackball like it since. They all seem require to require some odd placement of the hand to rest the thumb on the ball. I liked the simple, directly to the left, placement of the ball.
Have you read my journal today?
"with a crosshair attachment for clicking on specific points of a blueprintfor CAD input."
That's a puck/not a mouse, you insensitive clod.
My favorite was my old Mouseman sensa with the marble finish...
Now I have a mx700 which runs a close second.
Oderint dum metuant
This begs the question "why Bluetooth"? Is there some kind of magical property to Bluetooth that makes it more suitable for mice/keyboards than other wireless network technologies? As long as the devices talk reliably and with low enough latency to the receivers, why would the name of the technology matter? The only "advantage" i can think of with Bluetooth is that it can communicate with a whole range of different devices, but that just doesn't make sense for a keyboard and mouse -- are you going to control your cell phone from your mouse? What, exactly, does Bluetooth give you that other wireless technologies don't?
If anything, I would like my keyboard/mouse to NOT interfere with my Palm talking to my BT access point.
Regards,
--
*Art
I thought I heard somewhere that Microsoft mice are actually made by Logitech and rebranded. They aren't bad, but I can't figure out why so many wheel mice have the annoying clicky-scroll. I want my wheel to turn smoothly and stay put once I release it (ever stop with it not fully clicked and then have it move after you release it?). Sadly, the only mouse I have ever found with a smooth turning wheel is a radio shack brand. It has 2 wheels (one vertical, one horizontal) and a distinct third button which rests under your thumb for convenient access.
I've got a mind like a steel trap - it's got an animal's foot stuck in it.
Doug Engelbart made an appearance at my university (Drexel) a few years ago (1999?) and one of the undergrads there asked him to sign a mouse. The funny thing was, it was a Mac mouse and Doug sort of poked fun at it for only having one button, as the mouse as he originally designed it had three.
The preceding comments reflect the author's personal opinion and are public domain, unless explicitly stated otherwise.
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
My favorite mouse is the "pencil eraser" pointer device wedged in the middle of Thinkpad keyboards.
Wait, what I meant to say is that's the worst mouse ever.
My first mouse was in ~1985 and was OPTICAL!It was for my PCjr and came with ColorPaint, and connected to the computer via both the proprietary LightPen port and a serial port. This complemented the PCjr's WIRELESS keyboard, all to make a package well ahead of its time.
:)
:)
Here's a pic.
The PCjr was the first IBM to come with a 16-color display, which Sierra used in the King's Quest games and others, with 3 channel sound, and a noise generator that Sierra used for crashing waves and running streams and could be used to generate (very remedial) speech.
As with most of you, when you turned this computer on without any disk (or PCjr cartridge) it popped into basic. ~15 years later, and I'm a professional programmer
Yet more PC jr links.
Lastly, if you've ever played any of Sierra's Xxxxxx-Quest games (King's Quest, Space Quest, etc)., thank the PCjr. The first, King's Quest, was designed on request from the PCjr boys to show off the machine.
I don't know why, but most mouse manufacturers are too cheap to include a decent long cord. I've seen numerous times in corporate environments a mouse located in an extremely uncomfortable position, simply because the cord is too short. At home I have a 3 meter extension cord, but wireless would be better still. And, more importantly, I will not have to worry about the [too rigid] cord impeding the "up" movements of the mouse on my cluttered desk.
Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
"As long as the devices talk reliably and with low enough latency to the receivers, why would the name of the technology matter? The only "advantage" i can think of with Bluetooth is that it can communicate with a whole range of different devices, but that just doesn't make sense for a keyboard and mouse -- are you going to control your cell phone from your mouse? What, exactly, does Bluetooth give you that other wireless technologies don't?"
Hi, Art. The trend for simple input devices is to use Bluetooth to reduce clutter. It is an open-standard, unlike a lot of proprietary RF based solutions. If all the input device companies used Bluetooth properly, then if you wanted to mix and match items such as keyboards and mice or even joysticks from different manufacturers, then you wouldn't have to waste all your available USB ports on the plug-in receivers. This is what you'd currently experience using regular RF wireless solutions from Logitech, Microsoft, and the rest. I don't want that, do you? Nor do I want Microsoft restricting their Bluetooth keyboard and mice solutions to only working with their own receiver(s). It should be as simple as on the (forgive me for bringing it up) Mac platform; for the existing Macs that lack built in Bluetooth receivers, you simply plug in the D-Link USB Bluetooth dongle and then your mobile phone and all other devices communicate through that. And of course, Apple just announced iMacs with Bluetooth built in standard. Hopefully the PC market will follow...
As for crisscrossing signals with your Palm PDA (is that for hot-sync or for web browsing?), I just don't think that would be an issue. If that were to happen, then I guess you'd have to get a Wifi card to separate the signals...
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
Nope, completely untrue.
Microsoft makes its own mice, has since the days of the original J-Mouse. In fact it's Logitech's biggest competitor, and the inventor of the Scroll Wheel. MS Hardware is actually somewhat innovative (They invented the scroll wheel, were the first manufacturer of the modern optical mouse, made the first 4 axis joystick, and also once made an interesting phone which was integrated with a PC.) While MS software tends to be uninnovative, their hardware is not.
"You've got an invalid haircut" -Warren Zevon - Life'll Kill Ya
I remember a cool cartoon by the 5th Wave comic artists. It showed a room with a generic mainframe, a long cable attached to a scooter like device. The scooter was roving over the floor. The caption was:
:-/
Bud and Elliot Grunt develop the mainfrace mouse
One guy (Elliot?) was looking at the system admin terminal and saying "Whoh! Back up there a bit bud."
I wish I could find a scan or link for it.
--the original ByterBit
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence, determination and hard work make the difference."
--- Calvin Coolidge
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men w
I still have my Winner M3 mouse. I bought that instead of the Commodore 1351 because it was (1) cheaper (2) more ergonomic and (3) had a cool extra feature. Back then not all programs could use mouse input. Some could use joystick or paddle input. This mouse had the usual joystick emulation mode, where when you moved a direction, it emulated pushing a joystick in that direction. Not very friendly, since it only moved in 8 directions at a set speed. What this had was the paddle emulation! Programs that used the old Atari paddles for input (drawing programs, mainly) worked great with this mouse. Hold down one button when powering up the mouse, and it went into the emulation mode. Nice and proportional, worked like it should. Ah, those were the days. That reminds me, I really need to get my C128 system back together and running. It's been WAY too long since I had that up.
-- Liberalism is a mental disorder.