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RollerMouse Aims to Replace the Traditional Mouse
ThinSkin writes "Over at ExtremeTech, we have reviewed the RollerMousePRO, an ergonomic input device that claims to reduce pain and discomfort associated with repetitive mouse use while also increasing productivity. The idea behind the product is to have a fully functional docking station for your keyboard that allows you to navigate a cursor without much hand movement. There is an interesting Flash demo that illustrates how this works." Using a roller-bar beneath the keyboard may remind some people of the Outbound Macintosh-based laptop.
Oh, I don't know.....maybe a TRACKBALL?
Hmmm... Rollermouse... Horse... Rollermouse...
...with the mice (mouses?) that we use now? Those who don't like them can use a trackball...
how bout the Razer Boomslang?
It was one of the best gaming mice of its time. They are selling optical versions of their mouse.
check them out at:
http://www.razerzone.com/
How do I connect it to my VT-100?
Trolling is a art,
not catchy enough, how about a farm animal? the horse, yeah that's it.
What about the horse?
That's some slick looking flash
With the keyless keyboard, the one handed keyboard, the dvorak keyboard, the buttonless mouse, the ten button mouse, the mouse with builtin keyboard and all those other stupid things that people keep inventing that are completely and utterly useless.
Seriously, it looks as if it would only benefit touch typists, not the masses of two fingered typists out there. As for me, well, my keyboards so close to the edge of my desk I have no space for one. Plus, I wouldn't want to bend my thumbs that far back
And in other news, the makers of the roller ruler aim to replace the ruler.
G-Force music visualization
Until they have a screen that can figure out what i am looking at and want to "click". Small things like that are as bad as the "eraser" and touchpad mice.
Everyone is trying to reinvent the (mouse) wheel these days.
Thank thank you. I'll be here all week.
Life is not for the lazy.
Huh-huh, roller balls...
"Nature bats last..."
I sit at the computer no less than 40 hours per week, sometimes 12 hours in a day. I use the mouse very frequently and have never had any of these problems. Are they trying to create a market where none exists, or do some people really get a sore wrist from mousing?
word.
I'm on a text only browser, and the description isn't enough for me to visualize this. How is it different than a trackball?
Pulp Audio Weekly - Geek News and Reviews
Looks like yet another high priced gadget to replace something that doesn't need replacing. Given people's various abilities (RSI, paralysis, whatever) I suppose there is a chance there is some population of users who might do better with this than a mouse, but just by looking at the thing and reading the review, I'll be damned if I see the usefulness to the vast majority of users. Especially given that it costs about 3 times as much as a really good mouse and 20 times more than the el cheapo ones.
Brought to you buy RollerMouse and ExtremeTech!
than the thinkpad pointing device? (the small red joystick between "G,H,B" keys)
"Teachers leave us kids alone
I remember that tech. The concept was somewhat sound, but it really did not result in a clean x-y translation solution. You could roll up and down, and then slide from side to side, but the finger movements required were not ergonomic. If you want to be able to truly move X-Y cleanly, a combined axis that works with the hand/arm/wrist is cleaner.
I love/use the TouchStream LP keyboard and iGesture pad from FingerWorks(.com). Not only does the Touchstream eliminate the reaching entirely, but it includes gestures which allow you to do simple things like cut, copy, paste, scroll, and many other things by doing finger motions. I got used to the gestures in minutes. The iGesture has the same gestures, but is a mouse-pad sized touchpad. Both recognize various gestures performed with multiple fingers at the same time, unlike any other touch device. The only downside (aside from the price), is that getting used to typing on the flat surface with no tactile feedback was tricky. After a couple of weeks, I was pretty much back to normal. I'd advise anyone to check out their forums and ask questions. You'll learn the good and the bad. For the most part, the users think it's the best thing since the study of ergonomics was invented. Yes, I RTFA. But I didn't like what I saw. Compared to the FingerWorks devices, this is like 20-year-old technology. Shawn
Milo
Yes, but how many mouse buttons will I get? Just one to do it all?
Evolution or ID?
People are naysaying this, but I've been using one of these for a few weeks now, and it is INCREDIBALLY nice not to have to move my hand over to reach the mouse (and it has more buttons than your traditional laptop touchpad/eraserhead mouse, too). Yes, it's not for gaming, but if you're gaming, switch to a traditional mouse for that...then go back to an alternative input system which requires less motion, less stress, and gives you more productivity for the remainder of your computing time.
This flies in the face of science.
probably crap for gaming.
would be nice as an extra though, as such i've usually seen them in banks, some clerks use them and some use a regular mouse that's also attached - some juggle between the two depending on what they're doing.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Why are we still limited to mice that move in only 2 dimensions. I want a harry-potter-like wand that lets me interact with the environment in more ways than just X and Y.
How about pressing the keys? How about inserting CDs/DVDs? Breathing? I guess someone wants to make us even more unhealthy.
But really, does anyone truly benefit using these wonderful natural keyboards or stuff like this?
I wasted the first 10 minutes waiting for the flash demo to be blocked by adblock, and then waited another 15 minutes to see a south-park cartoon that wasn't even funny!
It looks like they used it to make that half assed flash animation. I'll buy one for my boss ;-)
Where's the voice recognition?
Festival could use some work too, like a total rewrite.
MRIs are also pretty useless. They cost about a hundred thousand times as much as just poking around with a finger looking for lumps.
I have an idea for a new WASD mouse.
"give it the finger"
There was an interesting Flash demo that illustrates how this works.
One way to tell it's time to change jobs: Increasing your mouse speed and accuracy noticeably improves your productivity.
I'm glad there are guys that are even lazier than me. I salute your sloth.
Got a pointing device you want to plug? Post it on slashdot! The other day was the horse, now this, next maybe another virtual keyboard projected on the table via lasers..
..Jeff Keegan
seven syllables explain TiVo: kee gan dot org slash ti vo
this has got to be one helluva Breakout input device...
They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!
Ever since I got my first mouse ($50 from Radio Shack, 1990 or so) I've disliked the mouse concept. Why? Desk space. I want my desk space for me, not transitional wrist and arm movements, goddammit. So I picked up an ALPS Trackpad for $80 when they first hit the shelves where I lived. A 1.3-1.5" surface, two buttons and a 'chord' middle, and that was it. I used that sonofabitch for six years for everything from Windows to Counter-Strike and did pretty damn well with it. Then, when it came time to get another input device I found myself totally screwed. So what did I come up with? The good old Logitech Marble Mouse. (Now available in blister-added formula, with two more buttons!) Now my marble mouse barely shows the Logitech logo any more, the new ones have raised symbols on the two new buttons that look like they'd dig the hell out of the sides of my fingers, and every mouse on the shelf is ergonomic.
This thing doesn't look like it's a bad idea, or a very good one - but at least it looks non-discriminatory in regard to what hand you use. But it's expensive, niche, and eventually pointless as it just won't do what people currently expect from a mouse.
What options are out there for lefties these days, anyhow? Do I need to stock up on spare Marble Mice for the next 20 years, or am I going to get raped for an actual left-handed mouse special order?
My own pointless vanity vintage computing page
Why are we still limited to mice that move in only 2 dimensions. I want a harry-potter-like wand that lets me interact with the environment in more ways than just X and Y.
The problem is that your computer screen is still 2D. Even if you play Doom III on it, the final product is still a 2D rendering of a 3D environment. That's why the experimental 3D GUI never catched on, even if the techology is here. At best, you can get on your screen a sort of 2.5D, like MacOS X and its translucent objects over windows, but still mouse is better to navigate that.
Anatomy varies between individuals. Some people have an extra rib in the neck. Others have different clavicle widths than you do.
Depending on precisely where you mouse is, how you work, and how your body is built you can irritate the cushioning pads in the shoulder or compress the nerve bundle that controls the arm, leading to pain and numbness.
The conditions are startlingly serious. It's possible to completely lose the use of the arm. There's also a certain stigma, because externally the arm looks fine. People float somewhere between thinking the victim must be faking it to hoping they are because otherwise, you might be next.
The prognosis is pretty good if the victim takes it seriously right away. Unfortunately, the attitude tends to be "Oh, yeah, Sam. My arm gets tired too. Go home and ice it," rather than, "Hey Sam, I wonder if you might be doing permanent nerve damage. Do you think you should talk to a doctor about physical therapy?"
A related complaint that people often don't take seriously is ulnar nerve entrapment. Habitually leaning on one's elbow can incapacitate the ring and pinky fingers permanently, curling the hand into a half-useless claw. These nerve bundles are almost as crucial as the spine, but not so well protected.
I have been using a RollerMouse for over a year now at work and it has been a life saver. It only took a couple of weeks for the ache in my right arm to vanish and I haven't felt it since. It's expensive, but I only have two arms and would like to keep them both in ship shape condition. I can afford buying a new, albeit expensive, mouse, but an arm is harder to replace.
Had to read into the review to grasp how it actually works. The idea: for up & down, you roll a bar, and for left & right, you slide same bar left & right?
I can tell you right there why that won't work: for vertical and horizontal directions, you use different methods to move.
Maybe for some DTP applications or WWW browsing that some people find this handy, but imagine doing freehand drawing or better, 3D games with this. Can you imagine sliding AND rolling a bar at the same time, and make accurate headshots? No way.
And then it's a mechanical device. Okay, maybe it doesn't get dirty as quickly/easily, or uses optical sensors, but weren't optical mice invented to do away with moving parts? I sure know I'd never wanna go back to a ball mouse.
Oh yeah, and it's expensive. Very. 'nuff said.
Engineers are trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist.
It reminds me of the stupid red knob on my Thinkpad. Gawd, do I hate that thing. I am more than willing to put up with the inconvenience of carrying around a real mouse. I also hate touch pads. If anything causes me muscular stress it's those things. I don't like track balls much either.
I find it way easier to use a real mouse than anything else I have ever tried. I'm male, I can cope with gross muscular movement. The fine muscle control stuff kills me. (and yes I do use an electric toothbrush for the same reason)
There was a joy-ball like thing once that had at least 4 degrees of movememnt. Forward/back, side to side, up/down and twist...
See this one from a few days ago. As anybody who has worked with these things can tell: it all depends on how you use a device, not if the device is any good or better than before. People who do repetitive work (and working with a mouse is just like that) run the risk of injury. Exercise and knowledge are the best ways of avoiding that.
Sic transit gloria mundi.
When I saw the headline 'Roller Mouse', I imagined a tattooed criminal rodent in a rink, bashing other players brains in with his hockey stick, while the crowd went wild and the warden drank champagne with television executives.
Time to stop with the Classic SF methinks.
When I got my job, I had an ergonomic evaluation. The guy who gave it to me swears by these things. However, I was unable (and unwilling) to get one of these attached to my keyboard because I use a natural keyboard.
Note: The chair I'm sitting in hurts my back like no other, so I don't really have a lot of faith in the guy.
The GoogleFight says Horse Mouse
Overrated / Underrated : Moderation
I switched to using a trackball a few years ago because I would be in pain putting too much pressure on my wrist when using a mouse. After some adjustment, mainly making sure that my forearm is parallel to the desk I don't have any problems with pain anymore. I may not be able to switch instantly from two handed typing to using the trackball but there really isn't ever a situation when I need to.
I heard something about this "new" Dvorak keyboard that is better and more effiecient than a standard QWERTY keyboard, I bet you it will take over much like this new mouse will!!!!
The review and the website compare it to using a mouse. But keyboards with integrated touchpads that do exactly the same thing have been out for years. The question isn't whether the rollermouse better than a mouse, but is better than a touchpad? Especially if they're trying to say the movement of the arm from the keyboard to the mouse is causing stress, then they need to address how they are better than a product that already exists in that space, a product that costs 1/4 the price.
-- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
obviously the only way to deal with the problem of moving my hand from the keyboard is to use my desk chair as the mouse...
or as I like to call it the "ButtMouse"... (it's not like that you sick fucks! besides, that's an urban legend)
The ButtMouse works on the principle that the butt is the only free appendage that will ensure your hands never leave your nose... er, keyboard.... (my feet are already busy peddling power into my UPS), other available appendages refused to comment on my proposals.
Note, my other idea is that the whole desk, being already on rollers, could be used as a mouse...
-pyrrho
That's probably because I use a notebook almost exclusively. I once had one with the IBM-style joystick in the middle of the keyboard, but I couldn't get used to it.
I think it is high time for an advertisement category.
For those of you considering using slashdot for your company's amazing new product's free advertizing, knoock it off. It is annoying.
~crnbrdeater
~CrnbrdEater
I used one of these years ago on a GridCase 1550sx. Police agencies used them at the time for installing inside cop cars. Heavy as hell, the cast magnesium cases appeared "bulletproof"
At the time your other options for a laptop were a roller ball "side car" or a separate mouse, so something integrated with the keyboard footprint was handy.
Pics here: http://pc-museum.com/officewing.htm
Me, I'm happiest on a laptop with the Thinkpad style happy button.
I used a Logitech wide palm shaped mouse for years and did not start having pain till they stopped making it and came out with the narrow bar of soap on. It needs to be as wide as your palm so your hands don't fold and you should do better.
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
For each new so-called innovative input device, whether modifications to a mouse or an obscure headset, are any of them necessary or practical? First, what is this "awkward stretch required for using a mouse"? I've been at my computer for 10 years straight and I've never experienced this phenomenon. The last time I checked, productivity at a computer is mostly a mental state, so having a special mouse/keyboard won't help you at all. If you're really experiencing strain problems at your computer, you might want to change hobbies.
The rolling pin design has been around at least since 96 or so.
We have a lady in our accounting department that made us order one for her a couple of years ago. She has been using it with success for a while although it took her a while to stop accidentally deleting her email when she first got it.
It's a little ackward right at first but it doesn't take long to get used to the action of the roller bar. It's nice not having to move your hands to operate the mouse, but then I barely have to do that on my laptop anyway.
My old latitude pentium 75's trackball is still working flawlessly and you can go from typing to mousing no problem at all. Don't even have to move your hands off homerow. Probably the most comfortable combination i've ever used before.
... I'm still trying to get used to the "ball-less" mouse. Nothing works better than a well-hung mouse. Ask the cat! ;)
Every time a discussion of a new mouse (cause mice suck) comes up, I point out how much I love my Fingerworks Keyboard. I don't ever have to use a mouse, and it has quite a few more (extensible) capabilities.
If you are really a geek, you need one.
The Rollermouse is interesting, but IMO the coolest mouse/keyboard alternative out there remains the Fingerworks Touchstream Keyboard. It's a keyboard implemented as a touch surface. It's similar to a large laptop touchpad, except that the technology used forms an image of the hand in proximity to the keyboard surface (no "double touch" issues). This enables "zero-force typing", mousing, and programmable gesturing support. Typing does require a period of adjustment and retraining. The payoff is that your typing surface is also your mousing surface -- you'll never reach for that mouse again. E.g. for basic pointing, touch and move two fingers at a time. For drag/select just use three fingers -- no extra "click" is required. Other gestures support scrolling, 3-button mousing, copy, paste, undo/redo, etc. Various modes are available for application specific support, e.g. Emacs, Programmer's mode. IIRC, there are also modes (possibly user-contributed?) for graphics apps such as Photoshop, Maya, etc. Fingerworks' open-source XWinder tool further enables window-manipulation (move, resize, etc.) gestures on various OSes.
The Touchstream requires no drivers beyond standard USB keyboard/mouse support, so it'll work out of the box with just about any modern OS out there.
While the Touchstream is somewhat spendy, there are also the more reasonably priced iGesture pads, think of a mouse-pad with a USB cable (and no mouse). These handle mousing, gesture recognition, and optionally numpad or mini-QWERTY keyboards. This is also nice option for folks who want to keep their conventional keyboard, but add the advantages of gesturing support.
(Std. Disclaimer: I have no business relationship w/ these folks, I just think they have a great product...)
I've purchased one of those for a fellow employee, and played with it for a few minutes and it does have some benefits: your thumbs now gets used for more than one key, and you don't have to take the hands off the keyboard to move the pointer.
It scrolls very nicely and quickly, but I'm not sure if it replaces the mouse buttons. Those were a bit too far out of the reach for me, but maybe it just takes some time getting used to it, or using it as a one button mouse would help.
If it wasn't for it's outrageous price (150 USD) I'd give it a try.
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
When I'm traveling, that's one of the few things I bring with my laptop, computerwise. The Marble Mouse (mine is new enough to be USB, old enough to be two flat buttons) is the best, cheapest, smoothest trackball I've been able to find; whenever I plug trackballs, I find people aren't aware they can be good, because they're used to ones that feel clunky and grainy, that are just like mice that have turned over to die.
I wish I'd bought more before the button switch.
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
So hang on, I pay $200 for something that is only a mouse? How is this any better than my Cherry keyboard that I picked up at a car boot sale for £5? Even bought new, it's cheaper than the Rollermouse and is a full keyboard.
Do you see what I did there?
... then why isn't it designed to work with an ergonomic keyboard?
The Outbound Rollerbar is one of my favorite pointing devices of all time. It worked surprisingly well, allowing a full fledged pointing device that felt sturdy and offered definite tactile advantages over the "marble" rollerballs and "trackpoints" of the time, in a truly tiny space.
A trackbar would make a phenomenal pointing device for a PDA or smartphone... full mouse movement in something that takes up about as much space as a typical cell phone rocker switch.
Not certain how I'd feel about spending big bucks on it as a ketyboard add-on, tho. A folding bluetooth keyboard with one built in? Squee!
SoupIsGood Food
Does anybody make a (standard layout) desktop keyboard with one? We did buy a keyboard that had a touchpoint, but it was basicly an IBM laptop keyboard, meaning slightly weird layout and no Windows key. Scoff at the windows key, but it is the easiest way to get to Explorer, Run, and System Properties.
Redundancy is good And also good.
It's actually generally not from using the mouse -- it's from holding your hand out to the location where your mouse is.
I've been having some relatively minor CTS problems in the last year or so (aside from being a computer dork I play guitar and bass, which are probably worse on the hands and wrists) and when I started complaining about such one of the guys in the office pulled a predecessor to this out of the Cabinet Of Strange Devices (same concept, no scroll wheel and the rolling wheel controls a normal mouse mounted to the thing).
It helps a bit -- it's no miracle, but it does keep you from holding your right arm suspended for several hours a day, and I've only gotten the oh-so-typical-CTS-tingle in my right arm a few times since I started using it and usually later in the day.
gamers.....it totally screws the wsad for gaming....moving along....
Best of all, it doesn't cost 350, or even 150 dollars! Seriously though, all you need is a 30 dollar Microsoft trackball (one of their few good products) and a 10 dollar memorex keyboard, and you're good to go. If you're having ergonomic issues with those, then you're doing something wrong.
Our greatest enemy is neither a single man, nor is it a nation, it is, as it has always been, our own greed.
nice input device icon :)))
/ss
Okay, I say short their stock. The mouse is ubiquitous, for one thing, and people generally only use kb-based mice when they have to. (Nipple-mouse on the Thinkpad, scratch-pads, etc.) You just don't see people elect to use them outright. I did only once, really. When I owned a Thinkpad, it was just natural to use an IBM keyboard for my PC that also included a nipple mouse (and I just happened to have one). Later, when I got rid of the Thinkpad, I really didn't use the nipple-mouse on the keyboard and actually added a mouse. This is going nowhere. And have we really gotten so lazy that we don't even want to strain our shoulder to reach for a mouse? Think about it. This isn't lifting tonage. This is a mouse, people.
... misses, continues into nearby forest, hits random tree.
and I can say that it didn't make my computing experience any more comfortable, but it really didn't hurt either.
It was really easy to get used to using, except for the click feature of the bar(which I kept accidentally using), but with a little practice I'm sure that it would become second nature.
If anyone really has pains using a mouse I could say that this would be worth a try, but it is definitely not for me.
Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know. ~Lao Tzu
I think that this will neither catch on nor be a big hit with the people that it does catch on with. I mean, honestly... I don't think I can game with this "mouse". Also, I think in the end people would end up getting annoyed and going back to their mice... it's too radical a change, and too fast.
Just my opinion, though.
- dshaw
That flash demo cut me to my very soul.
No matter how good it is, the mouse is still king when it comes to getting head shots.
### Why are we still limited to mice that move in only 2 dimensions.
They aren't, basically every mouse you can by these days has at least 3 dimensions (x,y and the wheel), the newer microsoft mice now even have a wheel that you can twist sideways, so you have 4 dimensions. Add the little extra-buttons which are often mapped to forward/backward into the mix and you got 5 dimensions, still not your 6 dimensions, but its getting close.
Ok... you cannot play video games with this well.
For one, you need to use your thumbs to move the mouse. The ordinary mouse -- you use your palm, not any digit on the hand. This means you now have 2 less buttons you can access on the keyboard as its busy on the mouse.
Sorry. will not work for video games.
Also from the screenies it looks painful.
Maybe this will cause the stress injury than remove it !!!
Besides, Stuart Little meets a crappy sci-fi remake?
What's next, Planet of the Talking Pigs?
According to the occupational therapist who helped me recover from a repetitive stress injury, repeatedly bending extending your thumbs down from your keyboard onto such a device is one of the worst things you can do.
... cause horse was starting to show its age.
OK, it rolls up and down like a scrollwheel, but all the benefits of "use either hand, both hands, all five limbs!" can be said for the touchpad as well (it all depends on the positioning of the buttons). Also, the "end detection" is exactly the same as "edge detection" on the synaptics touchpad, except this one has a tactile feel and mechanical moving parts to eventually go bad.
I happen to like the thinkpad pointing device, the red 'joystick' I call 'nub'. It can actually act like a real mouse, unlike this thing call RollerMouse, which is really just 3 buttons and a scroll wheel.
My guess is you have not been abusing your wrists for long enough. It can take a decade or more. It happened to me, and my employer paid for a professional ergonomicist to set me up. Some of the advice was non-intuitive - it's OK, even good, to have unsupported arms, because it's better to move your arms than your wrists. Mouse with your left hand, because a left-mouse is closer to the keyboard home position than a right one is. Use shortcut keys instead of the mouse as much as practicable. Adjust your chair, etc, frequently since there's no one perfect position, and so on.
is how I connect it to my VIC-20!
"My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right." --Senator Carl Schurz (1872)
I certainly question whether or not this editorial came in through an honest submission or one was paid to be posted...Anyone else agree?
If you are going to have a farm animal why not a Pig? Much more interesting and smarter.
Call the product the "BIG PIG" and maybe I will buy it.
It isn't possible to change the mouse buttons over on university workstations. Can't even change the background image. As a lefty, I had to learn it backwards, and it works fine for me.
Sometimes you righthanded people should live life as a leftie... it's an interesting lesson in design! Use scissors, screwdrivers, women lefthanded and let me know how well you do!
Couldn't stand the weather
This 'ergonomic' input device just isn't going to fit on my ergonomic keyboard. The only keyboard it looks like it will fit on will be rectangular and therefore will require you to bend your wrists to type. This makes me wonder how good this product can be if the designers overlooked this fact. Now an ergonomic keyboard with this built in...
Who ordered that?
But anecdotal data are data nonetheless. You should maybe look up data in the dictionary (Factual information, especially information organized for analysis or used to reason or make decisions), it does not have to be statistically analyzed to be data.
Statistically analyzed data is much more informative, true, but anecdotal data has actually been used to justify medical decisions since the beginning. Only recently has evidence based medicine taken hold so that we evaluate the anecdotal data and see if the shit we have been doing has any effect whatsoever.
all this talk of these other input devices and none of it even comes close to my Fingerworks Touchstream. We don't need no steenking mouse!!! Heck, most shortcuts are gestures, so key location isn't really "key". With support for multiple OSes for programming it's shortcut keys, and my snazzy DVORAK layout, who needs anything else???? http://www.fingerworks.com/
Doesn't pass the railgun test. I'd never get an accurate shot with that thing. The optical mouse stands.
Besides, stretching your thumbs like that looks terrible.
Jeff
did the rollerderby replace the traditional derby? no.
a freakin' joystick into the keyboard?
If all else fails... RTFM
I'm constantly shifting positions and adjusting my chair, angle to the mouse, leg positions, etc and I've noticed the more I do so, the less strain I feel anywhere. Funny thing is, I don't do this on purpose. I'm just naturally really fidgety. I drive my girlfriend nuts with it, but I guess adult ADD really is good for something!
I am no longer wasting my time with slashdot
I bought a Contour RollerMouse in mid-2004 and have been using it as my only pointing device at work since then. It works well. I use it combined with my old GoldTouch split keyboard sitting on an adjustable keyboard tray. I no longer have to reach for the mouse or trackball and my hands have been much happier.
Flaws?
I use a dual head display, going from one end to the other usually involves using the end-bumping buttons to shift the mouse pointer over a bit. I got over this annoyance quickly.
I wish they made a narrow version with the buttons and such centered. I use a split keyboard without the useless numeric keypad so that part sticks out to my right as I have it setup with the split centered around the roller.
The reviewers comment that "it better be good at that price" seems a bit misplaced. You buy these because you are trying to save your career future and avoid RSI issues. Not because you want to be the envy of your peers and killer of first person shooter twitchers. That said, I hate the high price. Pure profit for them.
MRIs offer clear benefits only if the person is actually sick. If the person is just fine, they're useless.
This thing is less useful for an ordinary person. For a sick person, ergonomic equipment means not changing jobs. That's a big benefit.
You won't find good ergonomic equipment for less. It's specialized, so there aren't volume discounts.
If you want to look at whether this is a good solution for the illness, that's different. Price is irrelevant.
with an FPS game? I mean, I can understand how it'll work for most people just typing text and such, but honestly, I doubt it'll ever gain wide adoption. Artists are addicted to their tablets, gamers to their mice and me to my trackball.
Maybe it'll replace the annoying trackpads on laptops, and be an improvement there, but let's not bet too high. Many have tried, many have failed, few have succeeded.
I feel like the next gen input device should not be 2D but 3D, and some have already tried working with that, like the Gyro mouse... But it's not useful for desktop 3D input.
---- I am certain of only one thing : I know nothing else.
I have been using the rollermouse for 2 years now, both at work and at home. I must tell you that it is by far the best mouse I have used. The fact that I don't have to remove my hands from over the keyboard has saved my me from many neck/back/arm problems.
I have one of these and I love it. For most of my job I stick strictly to the keyboard but every now and then I have to change focus, rearrange windows, or hit a GUI's button or something else that doesn't require a whole lot of precision. This thing is a godsend because I can keep my hands right at the typing position like a trackpad.
:)
You can sort of flick it around like a trackball, but unlike a trackball, it makes for a very large target for clumsy thumbs. Also incredibly useful is the way you can press down on the bar itself to click. The way that it functions as a keyboard tray means you can put all your input right in your lap and swivel around to control the 3 displays sitting on your desk without a trace of neck strain. For me it gives me the alot of the ergonomic advantages of using a laptop, which is what I'd been used to before I got a desk job. I was having alot of trouble with my wrists before I got one of these. I got pretty good at mousing left-handed when my right wrist was having a bad day. Now with this thing, I've cut mice out of my life altogether and my wrists couldn't be happier. Of course, YMMV; everyone has a different work style.
Gripes (i've actually got an older, non-pro model so these may not apply anymore): the spring in the clickbar wears out eventually so you have to tighten down the resistance every now and then. To configure the buttons you've got to mess around with dip-switches. Okay, actually I really enjoy that last bit
The first rule of Googlefight is you DON'T TALK ABOUT GOOGLEFIGHT
kurzweil_freak
5th Kyu Genbukan Ninpo/KJJR student
Be the darkness that allows the light to shine.
If only I could bring myself to trust a company that can't be bothered to post HTML.
I paid the going retail price for a Windows screen reader and got a free Unix computer!
In 1992, my dad bought me a trackball keyboard.
It had the trackball on the right, but three buttons on the left side of the KB (just below the spacebar). It was wonderful for playing 1st person 3D games (like Eye of the Beholder), because the trackball was so close to the cursor keys, while i could click with my left hand. (Right hand: Movement, left hand: Clicks. Isn't that sweet?)
One year ago, when my CTS was the worst, I asked Logitech to develop buttons on the left side of the keyboard, so that you could attach your mouse to a special connector, and use the KB's buttons instead of the mouse's. I told them that I wouldn't patent the idea, i just wanted the thing to be made.
They never replied.
You've never heard of this?
AH HAH!!!! _NOW_ I know how I can sue the popup makers! They're making me CLICK to close their darn ads! When the jury sees my RSI-victimized hands, I'll surely win the case.
(And no, my name is NOT Kramer)
The Evoluent mouse has been around for a few years now, and it's probably the best option as it allows the arm to be in a 'normal' position.
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http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B
Yah, roller mouse, ok, cool...why is there a picture of a spoon next to the article?
Most other laptop input devices seem to have some type of innuendo going on, with "clits","nipples","nuts","trackpads", there's really only one possible direction they're going with this.
Don King is right -- Only In America
...Unless they make those someplace else, then forget it.
This is my United States of whatever.
OK, so looking at the product info, it appears the charm of this thingy is that it puts the pointing device in a more central location. I can help people do that without buying new equipment. It takes some time to get used to, but it does offer a real benefit. Let me explain:
OK, you're probably reading this on computer, so take a look at your keyboard for a moment. Put your hands in the home position. On a US layout, your left pinkie is on the "A" key, and your right pinkie is on the semicolon key. Now, look at what's to the left of your left hand. On my keyboard, there's a caps lock key, and then about 2 cm of plastic beyond that, then the desk.
Now, compare that with what's to the right of your right hand. On my computer, there is a quote key, an enter key (which is really wide), then a whole BUNCH of space above the arrow keys, then four keys' width for the numeric keypad, then more empty plastic. There's a huge amount of stuff tacked on the right side of the keyboard. It's very imbalanced. In fact, if I put might right hand in its home position ("JKL;") and then look at the keyboard as a whole, I can see that on my keyboard, my right hand is actually just to the left of the center of the whole keyboard!
So, instead of putting the mouse waaaay out there on the right past all that stuff (which you probably never even use -- at least I rarely use the numeric keypad), what about putting the mouse on the left? Sure, you'll have to use it with your left hand, but I'm right handed, and I learned to mouse left-handed in just a few weeks. The net result is that your mouse will be in a much more convenient position relative to the home row, and as a bonus, if you are right-handed, you probably do less stuff with your left hand, so you sort of even out the wear by taking some of the load of your right hand.
By the way, as a corollary, think about how you've got your keyboard centered with respect to your monitor. You probably have the keyboard as a whole centered with respect to the monitor. But what about, instead, centering the home row with respect to the monitor? Take a look at the "G" and "H" keys in the middle of the home row, and line those up with the center of the monitor. Now you will no longer have the monitor off awkwardly to the right of the home row. It also helps to try aligning the "G" and "H" keys with the center of your body. Just these two things can eliminate a lot of awkward twisting in your posture at the computer.
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The whole article seems to be more of an exercise in faith and wishful thinking, than anything, you know, review-like. It all goes in circles around basically the same kind of leaps of faith.
E.g., yeah, after a week they're still slower with it in photoshop, but they have faith that with more use it would be as good as a mouse.
E.g., yeah, after a week they still keep running out of roller space before reaching the edge of the screen with the cursor, but they have faith that with enough use they'd be as good with it as with a mouse.
Etc.
I'd be willing to believe something like "hey, we used it for a month and we finally _are_ better with it than with a mouse." But that's not what they said. They keep just having faith that sometime in the future it'll happen.
Sorry, that's not a review, that's bullshit. It's not saying what does happen, it's taking wild guesses at what might eventually happen. And if I wanted to base a purchase on wild guesses, I'd take my own.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
I've seen this some 15 years ago in a heavy duty commercial laptop used in the former "Desert Storm" war in Iraq.
It is intuitive, though has some quirks, when the roller hits the left or right endposition.
FR1ST PS0T!!!11!1!1one!!eleven11
Years ago, when I did robotics, we had force/torque sensors on the robot grippers. The actual sensor portion is tiny and requires no actual *movement* -- similar to the Thinkpad mouse-stick. It seems like it would be trivial to build such a sensor directly into the keyboard, to sense X and Y as well as downward pressure. You could instrument the keyboard itself or the case. This could be quite cheap, but I've never seen such a thing.
This is all good and well, but what happens when you're typing and your wrists are moving the mouse all over the screen and clicking the buttons wildly!? The fundamental ergonomics are there, the common sense is not.