dave@msb.com (Dave Lockwood) (06/21/91)
Has anyone ever tried a pointing device (i.e. mouse) operated by foot? This might be the answer for word processing...users could use the "foot-mouse" to move the cursor, and mark text, while keeping hands on the keyboard. If the mechanical hurdles of dirt, and durability could be overcome, the device would be fairly simple and inexpensive to produce. -- "Looking into the cakes is like looking | dave@msb.com (Dave Lockwood) into the future. Until you've tasted | UUCP: ...!uupsi!mpoint!dave it, what do you really know?...And by | Sysop of Meetpoint Station BBS then, it's too late." - Merlin | cat flames | mail santa@north.pole
prisoner@aix01.aix.rpi.edu (Allen S. Firstenberg) (06/22/91)
dave@msb.com (Dave Lockwood) writes: >Has anyone ever tried a pointing device (i.e. mouse) operated by foot? This >might be the answer for word processing...users could use the "foot-mouse" >to move the cursor, and mark text, while keeping hands on the keyboard. I've never used one, but I did see a video of an experimental one made by Engelbart and his team in the 1960s. They abandoned it in favor of the mouse (which they also designed) because the mouse/chordset was easer to use. >If the mechanical hurdles of dirt, and durability could be overcome, the >device would be fairly simple and inexpensive to produce. Yes, but it might be a pain to operate. (Of course, I think the mouse is a pain to operate... but...) -- UID = 5553, CCID = F8PG, ID = 6 I am just a number prisoner@rpi.edu "refs unpersons" prisoner@acm.rpi.edu --- 1984 prisoner@rpitsmts.bitnet
adam@sw.stratus.com (Mark Adam) (06/22/91)
back when mice where breaking into the market, a company was trying to market a larger floor model. it was called a 'rat'. needless to say it didn't go over too well. -- mark ---------------------------- "Logic is a wreath of pretty flowers that smell bad." "I am NOT a merry man!"
carm@tove.cs.umd.edu (Richard Chimera) (06/24/91)
Glenn Pearson, a former graduate student with the HCIL here at University of Maryland got his Master's for doing a foot mouse device and study. He presented his work at the CHI'88 conference and it is in the proceedings with the title, "Exploratory Evaluation of a Planar Foot-operated Cursor-positioning Device," pp. 13-18. Enjoy. -- Richard "carm" Chimera | Zorched by Zarches, Human Computer Interaction Lab, U Md. | spaceman Spiff's A.V. Williams Bldg, room 4166 | crippled craft crashes College Park, MD 20742-3255 | on planet Plootarg!
raveling@Unify.com (Paul Raveling) (06/25/91)
In article <1991Jun21.024048.17488@msb.com>, dave@msb.com (Dave Lockwood) writes: > Has anyone ever tried a pointing device (i.e. mouse) operated by foot? No, but I've sometimes wondered is various musical instruments might work. Something like an electric guitar or an organ could provide a good to excellent chord keyboard, but it would be challenging to make normal input sound good. :-) ------------------ Paul Raveling Raveling@Unify.com
lance@motcsd.csd.mot.com (lance.norskog) (06/29/91)
> No, but I've sometimes wondered is various musical instruments > might work. Something like an electric guitar or an organ > could provide a good to excellent chord keyboard, but it would > be challenging to make normal input sound good. :-) I hate practicing, and this is about the only way I could make myself exercise the piano skills I spent years learning. I've been thinking hard about doing a MIDI keyboard->ASCII mapping. Also, I picked up a Casio Digital Saxophone, basically a musical toy with MIDI out. It can send four octaves, and requires a much more wrist-friendly position than keyboards do. A vertical pipe that you hold in front of you may be the future of Carpal-Tunnel-free computing :-) Lance Norskog