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Where have all the trackballs gone!

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ppass:
I have been using a Microsoft trackball for 3-4 years. The concept is very good as I don't have much desk space to move the mouse around.

However, the major drawback is mechanical. The ball touches the mouse body in 3 points. The dust tends to stack around these points. So I have to clean the mouse around these points every other day. The drawback is that when dust gathers, the resistance increases and the mouse pointer moves very slowly.

I would say life span for mouses based on this technology is 3-4 years.

mouser:
Every time I get going with it the scrolling ends up throwing me back to my Logitech G9. I think that scrolling - or lack of it, actually - has always been my bane with track balls.

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has anyone ever made a two-trackball mouse?  one ball to control cursor, and another to control scrolling/panning?  seems like it might work pretty well, with one big ball and then a smaller ball right next to it, or mounted on the side for the thumb to use.  maybe something for an enterprising homebrewer?  surely someone has tried it..

Josh:
Every time I get going with it the scrolling ends up throwing me back to my Logitech G9. I think that scrolling - or lack of it, actually - has always been my bane with track balls.

--- End quote ---
has anyone ever made a two-trackball mouse?  one ball to control cursor, and another to control scrolling/panning?  seems like it might work pretty well, with one big ball and then a smaller ball right next to it, or mounted on the side for the thumb to use.  maybe something for an enterprising homebrewer?  surely someone has tried it..
-mouser (November 03, 2010, 07:58 AM)
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We can call it Scroll Click and Pan Robot! SCPR

J-Mac:
Perry,

With the Kinesis Freestyle keyboard, how do you handle not having a number pad? Or do you have an add-on number pad? If you do have an add-on, which on works well with the Freestyle?  (Damn - now I'm actually looking, pricing, checking my savings, etc....)

Thank you.

Jim

ppass:
That said, Logitech has a new trackball available for pre-order which has stuff in logical places. I, for one, cannot wait for this device!

Logitech Wireless Trackball M570

Thoughts?
-Josh (September 22, 2010, 07:51 PM)
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Pros

* Looks nice and practical

* Long battery life


Cons

* too big to easily carry in a laptop bag

* requires a proprietary USB dongle, you cannot use your bluetooth connection, so this kind of kills on the purposes of a wireless mouse which is to free-up a USB port.

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