STEINER@RUTGERS.ARPA (01/07/85)
From: Nick <NNicoll.ES@XEROX.ARPA> In a further discussion of the trackball last night we agreed that the trackball might be superior for text editing but what about MacPaint? Most Xeroids that I know can sign their name with a mouse and we wondered if that would even be possible after long experience with a trackball. Has anyone investigated attaching a Xerox optical mouse to the Mac? I am getting tired of cleaning the AppleMouse which, even when it is freshly cleansed, has nowhere near the performance of my (DLion) work mouse. \\ Nick
STEINER@RUTGERS.ARPA (01/07/85)
From: Piersol.pasa@XEROX.ARPA I have noted a major problem when trying to use a trackball for precision cursor placement. The problem seems to be that my hand is not a perfectly flat surface. Thus, the trackball tends to roll in certain directions depending on which part of my hand is in contact with the ball. I personally find this very inconvenient when I'm trying to move the cursor rapidly, since I get a lot of overshoot and undershoot. (For a very graphic demonstration of how hard this can be, try the video game Quantum!). Further, when I have rolled the cursor to the correct location, the interrrupt button telling the machine I am pointing is either inconvenient for the hand on the ball, or requires that another hand be used. Another hand is almost required when making a 'dragging' selection. In my opinion, this makes a trackball at best a marginal cursor steering device for most Mac style applications. ( I'd really like to see at least a two button mouse on Mac, though. Much nicer to have pop-ups available without having to move so far!) Kurt