mikeb@hurt6.huji.ac.il (Mike Berkowitz) (11/15/88)
I'm interested in buying a trackball (or other input device), as my mouse is on its last tiny little legs. Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated. Specifically, I've seen ads for ADB, Kensington and Asher Engineering. TIA. Mike Berkowitz Shmuel Browns VOICE: +972-2-584385/5771 MAIL: Computer Science Dept., Ross #103, Hebrew Univ., Jerusalem 91904 ISRAEL BITNET: SHMULI@HUJICS CSNET & INTERNET: shmuli@humus.huji.ac.il
dplatt@coherent.com (Dave Platt) (11/18/88)
In article <330@hurt6.Huji.Ac.IL> mikeb@hurt6.huji.ac.il (Mike Berkowitz) writes: > I'm interested in buying a trackball (or other input device), as my > mouse is on its last tiny little legs. Any recommendations will be > greatly appreciated. Specifically, I've seen ads for ADB, Kensington > and Asher Engineering. TIA. I bought a Kensington ADB trackball for use with my Mac II at home. I like the feel of the device very much, and grew quite used to it very quickly. Unfortunately, the left-hand button developed a bad "bounce" after a couple of weeks... the microswitch was defective, it seems. It's back in Kensington's hands for warranty service now; with luck it'll be back next week (I was told 2-3 week turnaround for warranty repair). I also ordered an Asher trackball for use with my SE at work. After using it for one day, I phoned MacConnection and arranged to return the Asher in trade for another Kensington. I found the Asher's trackball too small for me to use comfortably (I have fairly large hands), and its action to be too stiff (unlike the Kensington, which has a trackball that requires very little force to operate). The Asher's trackball seemed to have some problems with slippage, too (the cursor wouldn't always track at the same speed when I moved the trackball steadily). Asher had acknowledged this as a problem with some earlier units and had said that it had been fixed; I'm not convinced that the fix was entirely successful. The Abaton ProPoint uses a tracking-mechanism almost (entirely?) identical to that used in the Kensington, so its "feel" should be quite similar. I tried both the Kensington and the Abaton, and found that I definitely preferred the ergonomics of the Kensington... its large, triangular click-buttons are much easier for my thumb to find than the square/rectangular buttons on the ProPoint. One significant point: all three of the trackballs tend to show up in ads that have them placed on the right side of the Mac keyboard, showing an almost seamless join between the keyboard case and the trackball case. It's quite possible to place the trackballs in this position, but there's a catch: you may have difficulty plugging 'em in! Ideally, one would daisy-chain the trackball to the keyboard using a small double-ended ADB plug, and the ads tend to suggest that this is how they're connected... but neither Kensington nor Asher (nor, I believe, Abaton) provide or market such a plug! The Asher trackball comes with a short (6") ADB cords that can be used to daisy-chain the trackball to the keyboard, but you can't line the trackball and keyboard up evenly when you do so because the cord gets in the way! The Kensington trackball comes with a longer (2') ADB cord that can be used to plug the trackball directly into the Mac (which permits the trackball and keyboard to be placed side-to-side) or to daisy-chain the two (which doesn't permit side-to-side placement, and leaves a lot of cord dangling around). Re mouse replacements other than trackballs: take a look at the Mouse Systems A+ optical mouse for the Mac; it's about the same price as a trackball, has a much nicer feel than a mechanical mouse, and may be preferable for those who aren't comfortable with trackballs.
mbr@beta.lanl.gov (Mike Rose) (11/18/88)
In article <14186@coherent.com> dplatt@coherent.com (Dave Platt) writes: >I bought a Kensington ADB trackball for use with my Mac II at home. I >like the feel of the device very much, and grew quite used to it very >quickly. Unfortunately, the left-hand button developed a bad "bounce" >after a couple of weeks... Me too! I like it a lot, but that left button is now pretty much worthless because of the bounce. Mike Rose mbr@lanl.gov
kehr@felix.UUCP (Shirley Kehr) (11/18/88)
In article <330@hurt6.Huji.Ac.IL> mikeb@hurt6.huji.ac.il (Mike Berkowitz) writes: >I'm interested in buying a trackball (or other input device), as my mouse is on >its last tiny little legs. Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated. >Specifically, I've seen ads for ADB, Kensington and Asher Engineering. TIA. > Mike Berkowitz I've used the Honeywell Lynx for over a year with absolutely no problems. I noticed in a recent ad that they've changed the shape and now have an ADB version. One of our writers has the old style Kensington and likes it. But she keeps the mouse attached too and uses that for some operations. It's nice to never have to clean a mouse. I don't know why the ball doesn't get dirty and cause problems when it's upside down, but I've never cleaned the trackball once, whereas I find I'm always cleaning mice. However, I still prefer the feel of a mouse. It's just that I have no room for a mouse at home. (The cats would eat it :-) ) Shirley Kehr