Re: [tlug] Trackball [Re: Happy hacking keyboard]

["Daniel A. Ramaley" <daniel.ramaley@example.com>]

On 2014-08-09 at 14:11:12 Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
> Daniel A. Ramaley writes:
>  > Years ago (1990s) i had a Kensington Expert Mouse.
> 
> Of course this is so long ago ... that brand information
> is no longer useful.

Your experiences sound slightly similar to mine, with the Kensington 
failing after a relatively brief time. I keep meaning to give them 
another go; they are still expensive, but my income has improved a bit 
since i was a student and bought my last one so the price tag is not as 
painful now, and the technology in the product has been replaced some 
number of times since i last tried it. I see on Kensington's web site 
that the modern versions use optics to read the position of the ball; my 
circa 1990s model used polished metal wheels. And just like with old 
mice that used rubber balls rubbing on wheels, it had to be cleaned 
fairly regularly for good performance. Hopefully the modern optical 
versions would be closer to maintenance-free. I've found with optical 
mice that they need to be dissected and cleaned out only about once 
every 10 years--at least that's how long it took for the scroll wheel in 
one of mine to start behaving erratically, which a thorough cleaning 
fixed.

I did enjoy the size of the Expert Mouse. You are certainly right though 
that the size would be a disadvantage when traveling. My usage scenario 
was exclusively on the desktop, so it wasn't an issue for me. I even 
replaced the stock ball with a billiards ball for awhile; the extra mass 
made it feel more solid.

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Daniel A. Ramaley  |  Network Engineer 2
Drake Technology Services (DTS) | Drake University

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