(At least) Two weeks with a trackball

Tdarcos · Post by **Tdarcos** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 5:39 am

Some weeks ago jonsey mentioned about using a trackball, and considering what it was and how it might be useful in some contexts, I bought one and installed it on Avatar (my new gaming computer). The thing is I don't know how long I've had it as apparently I didn't buy it on Amazon.com and have no idea how I got it (maybe eBay?) Well, anyway I bought it from somewhere, after I bought the Avatar. i didn't look close enough, I bought it on Amazon and it was delivered June 20.

Having used it for a while I decided to report on my experiences.

First, I think it's a nice idea, especially for someone like myself who has both carpal tunnel (or something like it) and arthritis. Using a trackball with your fingertips instead of moving a mouse around can be much easier and less fatiguing.

The big problem with a trackball is the lack of a scroll wheel, which some applications do rely upon. The trackball, which is not clickable, replaces the scroll wheel in the center and is used for mouse control instead of sliding the mouse around the mousepad/desk (the trackball device never moves at all, only the ball itself does.)

Scrolling can be compensated for by grabbing the thumb on the scrollbar (press and hold left button on scrollbar's thumb) and using the ball to move down. But for applications that need scroll wheel capability in addition to the right and left mouse button, it's not going to work.

With a trackball costing about 6 times as much as a scroll wheel mouse (the trackball costs #23.05 (including shipping), a glowing Tomtop scroll wheel mouse costs $4.64 including shipping), you'd think they could figure a way to offer a scroll wheel on a trackball. And this isn't some no-name trackball, it's made by Kensington.

I usually compromise by having both connected, but having damaged my spare mouse (See "American Express Damage Claim #2") I have to use that one on my Raspberry Pis to work with them until I receive the 3 more Tomtop mice I ordered.

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"Two weeks without you / But I forget / Two weeks without you / And I still haven't gotten over you yet."
- The GoGos, Vacation

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 6:37 am

Tdarcos wrote:...you'd think they could figure a way to offer a scroll wheel on a trackball. And this isn't some no-name trackball, it's made by Kensington.

Most modern trackballs come with scroll wheels.

http://www.ergodirect.com/product_info. ... MgodxBUAOA

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 6:48 am

Also we already had this discussion, you wrote the exact same complaint, virtually using the exact same words, and I replied with about 15 links to different trackballs with scroll wheels.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 7:30 am

Yes. The trackball I recently purchased has a scroll wheel above the ball. It works great, it's the best trackball I've ever owned.

RealNC · Post by **RealNC** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 8:39 am

Trackballs make no sense to me on the desktop.

My screen is flat. My mousepad is also flat. There's a 1:1 relation between the two. It doesn't get any more direct than that.

Now rotating the globe in Google Earth or playing MAME ROMs with a trackball does make sense. But moving a cursor on a flat screen? Nope.

Tdarcos · Post by **Tdarcos** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 8:57 am

pinback wrote:Also we already had this discussion, you wrote the exact same complaint, virtually using the exact same words, and I replied with about 15 links to different trackballs with scroll wheels.

What makes you think I listen to anything you have to say?

Now, seriously, I can simply point out one thing. You posted the links to trackballs with scroll wheel after I said I had already bought a trackball. Fat lot of good that does me.

----
"Hey, you with BP? I got a thing to fix your drill bit on the Deepwater Horizon so you won't have an oil spill. Since when? I didn't hear anything about an accident..."

Tdarcos · Post by **Tdarcos** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 9:07 am

RealNC wrote:Trackballs make no sense to me on the desktop.

My screen is flat. My mousepad is also flat. There's a 1:1 relation between the two. It doesn't get any more direct than that.

Exactly how is there an issue here? You're moving a pointer around the screen, why would it make any difference whether you move the mouse pointer by dragging a mouse around on the desk with your hand, arm and wrist, and moving the mouse pointer by rolling a ball with your fingertips?

Now rotating the globe in Google Earth or playing MAME ROMs with a trackball does make sense. But moving a cursor on a flat screen? Nope.

Well, that's your clearly erroneous and obviously inaccurate opinion. If you don't want to use a trackball, no one's gonna stop you. Other people find the idea useful. You, apparently, do not.

I mean, they even make pen mice, so you can actually draw across the desk instead of moving the rodent.

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"If people don't want to go to the ballpark, no one's gonna stop them." - Yogi Berra

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 10:46 am

RealNC wrote:My screen is flat. My mousepad is also flat. There's a 1:1 relation between the two. It doesn't get any more direct than that.

If you have ever had to pick up your mouse and move it because the place where your pointer is has gone too far to the left or right or up or down, you have lived -- with passion -- the raison d'etre of the glory of the magic of

The Trackball!

Now that everyone has 3 screens, the need for a trackball is greater than ever.

RealNC · Post by **RealNC** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 10:51 am

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:If you have ever had to pick up your mouse and move it because the place where your pointer is has gone too far to the left or right or up or down, you have lived -- with passion -- the raison d'etre of the glory of the magic of

The Trackball!

No one lifts the hand for this. Only the fingers lift the mouse.

You know, like you LIFT YOUR FINGER with a trackball too after you rotate it.

RealNC · Post by **RealNC** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 10:52 am

RealNC wrote:No one lifts the hand for this. Only the fingers lift the mouse.

Unless you're playing Counter-Strike. But you can't play that with a trackball anyway.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 4:56 pm

RealNC wrote:
Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:If you have ever had to pick up your mouse and move it because the place where your pointer is has gone too far to the left or right or up or down, you have lived -- with passion -- the raison d'etre of the glory of the magic of

The Trackball!
No one lifts the hand for this. Only the fingers lift the mouse.

You know, like you LIFT YOUR FINGER with a trackball too after you rotate it.

God dammit, we were connecting.

Mouse users always say "Oh, I don't lift the mouse up." ALWAYS. That's when I know I have won the discussion, because the lying begins.

Why are you ly-- oh, you said you lift your fingers, not your hand. That's what I meant.

If lifting your fingers and placing a physical object in a new location anything like rolling a trackball? No. No. No. No. No.

I have had this conversation 100 times since BBSs started. It has gone the exact same way every time.

Tdarcos · Post by **Tdarcos** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 5:37 pm

RealNC wrote:
Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:If you have ever had to pick up your mouse and move it because the place where your pointer is has gone too far to the left or right or up or down, you have lived -- with passion -- the raison d'etre of the glory of the magic of

The Trackball!
No one lifts the hand for this. Only the fingers lift the mouse.

You think you can move a mouse without lifting your hand? Care to bet 5 or 10 bucks that you can do this? I'd love to see a video where you can move a mouse more than 2 inches while having your wrist rest on the desktop or mousepad and never move, only your fingers do so. I don't think it's possible and I have never heard or seen anyone lift a mouse without raising their hand / wrist off the table. Slide the mouse, yeah, you could do that with fingers alone. Move the mouse, not possible.

If anything, I think not moving the hand would be more fatiguing than just a simple lift and move.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 5:40 pm

Tdarcos wrote:
RealNC wrote:
Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:If you have ever had to pick up your mouse and move it because the place where your pointer is has gone too far to the left or right or up or down, you have lived -- with passion -- the raison d'etre of the glory of the magic of

The Trackball!
No one lifts the hand for this. Only the fingers lift the mouse.
You think you can move a mouse without lifting your hand? Care to bet 5 or 10 bucks that you can do this? I'd love to see a video where you can move a mouse more than 2 inches while having your wrist rest on the desktop or mousepad and never move, only your fingers do so. I don't think it's possible and I have never heard or seen anyone lift a mouse without raising their hand / wrist off the table. Slide the mouse, yeah, you could do that with fingers alone. Move the mouse, not possible.

If anything, I think not moving the hand would be more fatiguing than just a simple lift and move.

If you have your mouse sensitivity set so low that you have to move the mouse TWO INCHES:

1. You are doing it wrong.

2. You are probably Paul Robinson.

Tdarcos · Post by **Tdarcos** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 5:48 pm

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:
RealNC wrote: You know, like you LIFT YOUR FINGER with a trackball too after you rotate it.
God dammit, we were connecting.

Mouse users always say "Oh, I don't lift the mouse up." ALWAYS. That's when I know I have won the discussion, because the lying begins.

Why are you ly-- oh, you said you lift your fingers, not your hand. That's what I meant.

If lifting your fingers and placing a physical object in a new location anything like rolling a trackball? No. No. No. No. No.

I have had this conversation 100 times since BBSs started. It has gone the exact same way every time.

Whenever I get in a discussion with people who claim to be Christians or strongly religious, where (for fun) I debate the point that you cannot claim there is an omniscient God that knows everything and that individuals have free will at the same time, I point out that if God knows everything you will do in advance from before you were born until after you die, then you cannot have free will. Invariably they will deny something I never claim. They say that God doesn't make people do anything. I then point out I never said She did.

100% of the time they always speak as if I said God did anything at all or caused the person to do something, when I never do either.

Your mention of trackballs with a scroll wheel made me decide to buy another trackball, this time with a scroll wheel. This one was $23 on Amazon Prime. I'll either put the trackball on the other computer or maybe use it on one of the Raspberry Pis I have.

Tdarcos · Post by **Tdarcos** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 6:01 pm

pinback wrote: If you have your mouse sensitivity set so low that you have to move the mouse TWO INCHES:

1. You are doing it wrong.

2. You are probably Paul Robinson.

I use the example of two inches being the maximum distance you can move a mouse without lifting your hand.

Pinhead, how many monitors do you have connected to your computer? Probably one. Some people - especially in organizations where they have to have access to a lot of information simultaneously - have 2 or 3 (or more), and they are slaved together to create a virtual desktop which might be 5760 x 1080, moving the mouse to the left or right on the center screen moves it over onto the other screen, and vice versa.

I have a luscious 24" DVI monitor on my gaming computer, which I run at maximum resolution, of 1920x1080, and if the machine had multiple video cards I could have hooked up more. I'd love to do so someday if one of my computer programs sells enough to be able to buy two more video cards and two monitors, it would be amazing to have a six foot wide desktop.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 7:08 pm

Like radioactive material, I feel dumber simply for being exposed to this nonsense.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Wed Jul 30, 2014 9:03 pm

Well, the best input method is honestly a pair of spinners. We all know that. But those are pricey.

Tdarcos · Post by **Tdarcos** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 7:44 am

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:Well, the best input method is honestly a pair of spinners. We all know that. But those are pricey.

1. What's a spinner? When someone mentions a spinner, I think of those things that show up when a video stalls because either they've overshot the bandwidth or it's first loading,

2. Your image in your tag line is returning a "broken image" icon.

Tdarcos · Post by **Tdarcos** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 7:50 am

Flack wrote:Like radioactive material, I feel dumber simply for being exposed to this nonsense.

From the 100 greatest movie insults: http://www.caltrops.com/pointy.php?acti ... pid=146997

72. Principal (Josh Mostel): What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. May God have mercy on your soul. [Billy Madison (1995)]

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Thu Jul 31, 2014 8:04 am

Tdarcos wrote:1. What's a spinner?

A spinner is someone who, when his shoes are properly laced, can run very fast, and often takes over 12 years to answer simple questions.

2. Your image in your tag line is returning a "broken image" icon.

Are you sure you didn't just back up your wheel chair and the image got caught on a USB cable, fell to the floor and broke in half?

(At least) Two weeks with a trackball

What do you prefer as an imput device?

(At least) Two weeks with a trackball

Re: (At least) Two weeks with a trackball