phil@brahms.amd.com (Phil Ngai) (03/26/91)
What is the general opinion of Apple mice? Especially in comparison to Microsoft Mice, if any of you have used them? I used one AM with a very lightweight ball and it didn't track well. I now have an AM with a heavy ball, but it also fails to track unless I put weight on the back. In my natural grip, it doesn't track well either. -- Sun PC-NFS: for the engineer who really want a Sun and got a PC.
dewhirst@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (03/26/91)
In article <1991Mar25.174937.14739@amd.com>, phil@brahms.amd.com (Phil Ngai) writes: > What is the general opinion of Apple mice? Especially in comparison to > Microsoft Mice, if any of you have used them? I used one AM with a very > lightweight ball and it didn't track well. I now have an AM with a > heavy ball, but it also fails to track unless I put weight on the back. > In my natural grip, it doesn't track well either. By "Apple Mice" I assume you mean the Apple ADB mouse? It sucks. I know most people say the choice of pointing device is a personal preference, but I only had my Apple mouse for a couple of hours and I hated it. For some reason, about a year ago they started to pack a new type of mouse with the Macs. It has a grey ball, and it is very loose inside. Consequently, if you lift it up even a fraction of an inch while you move it, the ball becomes displaced and drags terribly. In fact, it doesn't move. I bought a Kensington Turbo Mouse and love it. It is VERY fast, takes up less space, and it doesn't get the "mouse pad/ball goop" in it like traditional mice do. I used to have to clean my mouse at least once every five days or it would stick BADLY. I will say that the plaster is coming off of my walls because the buttons on the turbo mouse "clicks" so loud though. What did I do with my old mouse? I gave it to my cat for a toy. She won't even go near it. :) -- []-------------------------------------------------------------------------[] | Internet: dewhirst@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu | Famous Last Words: | | Sysop: The MacRocosm BBS 913-841-9446 | "I drank what?" - Socrates | | AOL: Echopapa | "I coulda had a V8" - von Braun | []-------------------------------------------------------------------------[]
dave@PRC.Unisys.COM (David Lee Matuszek) (03/28/91)
In article <1991Mar25.174937.14739@amd.com> phil@brahms.amd.com (Phil Ngai) writes: >What is the general opinion of Apple mice? Especially in comparison to >Microsoft Mice, if any of you have used them? I used one AM with a very >lightweight ball and it didn't track well. I now have an AM with a >heavy ball, but it also fails to track unless I put weight on the back. >In my natural grip, it doesn't track well either. The old Apple mice were fine; after a few months of heavy use without a mousepad, the rollers got dirty, and you took a swab dipped in alcohol and cleaned them; then they worked fine again. Since I got a nice mousepad I don't think I've cleaned the rollers in about a year. I've used a Microsoft mouse, and not had any trouble. I haven't used it as extensively as I've used the old Apple mouse, and can't really say which is better. (Also it was on a PC clone, where the software just doesn't track as well as the Mac software, so that confounds any comparison.) The new lightweight Apple mice are made from petrified camel dung. If you have one, use a mousepad and clean out the mouse every couple of days (LONG before any crud becomes visible), and don't expect much from it in the best of circumstances. If you can replace it with anything else, do so. -- Dave Matuszek (dave@prc.unisys.com) I don't speak for my employer. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | When I was young, my family bought a color TV. Our neigbors, who | | were poorer, had only a black-and-white set. They bought a piece of | | cellophane, red on top, yellow in the middle, and blue on the bottom, | | and taped it over their screen, so they could claim that they had a | | color TV, too. | | Now there's Windows 3.0. | -------------------------------------------------------------------------
hasses@prism.cs.orst.edu (Stephen Haase) (03/28/91)
I have had nothing but trouble with my Apple Mouse. I bought my //ci about 15 months ago and within 2 weeks the little grey strip on the bottome of the mouse that holds the ball in came off. That wasn't really a big deal as it still worked fine. But I use my mouse fairly extensively(about a mile a week according to mouse odometer) and I was forced to clean my mouse 2-3 times per day(not per week or month) and this is with a mouse pad! After a few months, it started tracking badly and no amount of cleaning would help it. so I unscrewed it to look around. As it turns out, there are two metal tubes that track the mouse and one plastic white one that exerts pressure on the ball to keep in contact with the two meatl tubes. My white plastic roller wasn't doing its job very well so I had to place a spacer on it to keep the pressure up. Then after a few more months, the vertical metal tube started flaking out so I had to put another spacer on it. That worked for about 2 months and now it is not working again... I'm getting fed up with it and as soon as I can scrape up enough $$$ I'm going to buy a trackball... Steve hasses@prism.cs.orst.edu
aslakson@cs.umn.edu (Brian Aslakson) (03/29/91)
phil@brahms.amd.com (Phil Ngai) writes: >What is the general opinion of Apple mice? Especially in comparison to >Microsoft Mice, if any of you have used them? Old style Mac mouse yuck, but beats MS mouse. Ugly, tough, clunky. Newer style Mac mouse (adb) The Best Mouse Ever.* Latest version (light ball) eeh, tracking problems, otherwise great. Sun optical mouse (w/SLCs) Very decent. Microsoft mouse Terrible, the buttons click too easily, and the fingers tend to lean on them. The feel is neither bad nor good. The shape is a pain and it's ugly! HP mouse (w/HP9000) Weird feel & grip, tracks ok, bad shape. Ugly. Kensington Turbo Mouse (trackball) New style Horrible. The buttons wear out quickly. Attractive. Yes it gets dirty. Old style Horrible. As tough as Mac mice, but harder to clean. Feel isn't as good as new style. Ugly. --- Trackballs are an evil. --- I have an off-brand of mouse at home for my PC that is ugly but works great. _________________________ * If you must have details... Tough, attractive, great feel, great grip, on and on. The only thing not perfect is that it needs to be cleaned from time to time. But it beats having to have an optical pad. -- Brian Aslakson brian@cs.umn.edu (mail) aslakson@cs.umn.edu (talk) mac-admin@cs.umn.edu (Me!!)
mings@obelix.cs.uoregon.edu (Ming Yau So) (03/29/91)
In article <1991Mar28.202710.10052@cs.umn.edu> aslakson@cs.umn.edu (Brian Aslakson) writes: >phil@brahms.amd.com (Phil Ngai) writes: >>What is the general opinion of Apple mice? Especially in comparison to >>Microsoft Mice, if any of you have used them? > >Old style Mac mouse yuck, but beats MS mouse. Ugly, tough, clunky. >Newer style Mac mouse (adb) The Best Mouse Ever.* >Latest version (light ball) eeh, tracking problems, otherwise great. >Sun optical mouse (w/SLCs) Very decent. >Microsoft mouse Terrible, the buttons click too easily, and > the fingers tend to lean on them. The feel > is neither bad nor good. The shape is a pain > and it's ugly! >HP mouse (w/HP9000) Weird feel & grip, tracks ok, bad shape. Ugly. >Kensington Turbo Mouse (trackball) > New style Horrible. The buttons wear out quickly. > Attractive. Yes it gets dirty. > Old style Horrible. As tough as Mac mice, but harder to > clean. Feel isn't as good as new style. Ugly. > --- Trackballs are an evil. --- >I have an off-brand of mouse at home for my PC that is ugly but works great. >_________________________ >* If you must have details... >Tough, attractive, great feel, great grip, on and on. The only thing not >perfect is that it needs to be cleaned from time to time. But it beats >having to have an optical pad. Hmm... interesting, my opinion is almost exactly the opposite to yours, Brian. I think the best mouse I have ever used is the original Mac (non adb) mouse. The heavy adb one is not bad, but it just happened to be too small. The light adb is the worst Mac mouse. And I do not like those optical mouse, it's much harder to position an optical one than a mechanical mouse (from my experience with the Sparc's mouse, I think the problem is because one has to position the mouse pad right in order to get the cursor moves right). The MS mouse is aboust the worst among all mechanical mouse, it's too light and too thin, besides the mouse buttons are too sensitive. On the other hand, the DEC station mouse is just too bulky, it's very hard for one to grab the DEC mouse. BTW, IMO, the choice of mouse pad is also affecting the performance of the mouse. I think the best mouse pad I have ever used is the one which I am using now, the Mouse-HHide. It's made from real leather. The advantage of this mouse pad is it always gives me good tracking on the mouse, and I rarely need to clean my mouse (I use my Mac everyday, but I clean my mouse once a year, in fact, I feel once a year is still too often for my mouse). But it seems that the Mouse-Hide is out of production now, too bad ! -- ___________________________________________________________________________ Ming Yau So | <<< This area >>> Internet: mings@cs.uoregon.edu | <<< intentionally >>> AOL: Ming So | <<< left blank >>>
edwong@bucsf.bu.edu (Edward Wong) (03/29/91)
what about the IBM mouse? I think it is very though. I got one of these, and I was planning to buy the new logitech wireless mouse. Since this mouse is so though that it won't break in a few years, unless I do it intentionally, which I am not stupid enough to do yet. -- 8) _ _ | user's name: Edward Wong |_ |\ \ / /\ |_) |\ | ARPA: edwong@bucsf.bu.edu |_ |/ \^/ /==\ | \ |/ | UUCP: bucsf.bu.edu!edwong
ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib) (03/31/91)
>Old style Mac mouse yuck, but beats MS mouse. Ugly, tough, clunky. >Newer style Mac mouse (adb) The Best Mouse Ever.* >Latest version (light ball) eeh, tracking problems, otherwise great. Speaking of funny mice.. what about the hockey puck one that you get with a Microvax? -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iskandar Taib | The only thing worse than Peach ala Internet: NTAIB@AQUA.UCS.INDIANA.EDU | Frog is Frog ala Peach Bitnet: NTAIB@IUBACS ! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
tagreen@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (Todd A. Green) (04/01/91)
In article <1991Mar30.223051.29249@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu> ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Nur Iskandar Taib) writes: >>Old style Mac mouse yuck, but beats MS mouse. Ugly, tough, clunky. >>Newer style Mac mouse (adb) The Best Mouse Ever.* >>Latest version (light ball) eeh, tracking problems, otherwise great. > >Speaking of funny mice.. what about the hockey puck one that >you get with a Microvax? > Howy Isk...long time no chat..Actually I think the Digital mice are rather nice having 3 button, and independent horizontal and vertical tracking sensors...would make for great rotational tracking. but you are right they are rather strange looking till you get use to them. And how about the clicking scheme? (and this is from memory I don't use a DECstation, I have a NeXT....but this is how I remember it) Clicks: 1) character 2) Word 3) line 4) paragraph (page?) 5) screen (display aka buffer?) Something to that extent...... Todd ----- Internet: tagreen@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu NeXTMail: tagreen@lothario.ucs.indiana.edu > > >-- >------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >Iskandar Taib | The only thing worse than Peach ala >Internet: NTAIB@AQUA.UCS.INDIANA.EDU | Frog is Frog ala Peach >Bitnet: NTAIB@IUBACS ! >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------