Author Topic: Just switched from mouse to trackball (Read 15562 times)

cchan · « **Reply #50 on:** Tue, 07 April 2009, 18:45:22 »

Quote from: FKSSR;27451

If I ever tried a trackball, I know I would want a big one. The Trackball PRO looks pretty cool, but the serial could be an issue. The Kensington Expert looks good as well, but, as said, neither of those are casual purchases. For now, I'm going to stick with my regular mice.

I want to look into the Logitech VX Revolution. I tried one of the Logitech mice in Best Buy that was built like that one, and I have to say that the buttons were a little weird for me since they are one piece that just bends down. I prefer the traditional kind where the buttons are separate pieces of plastic. The bending of the Logitech buttons just felt weird.

The VX Revolution is my favourite mouse, but I still prefer the Logitech Marble Mouse trackball.

rdjack21 · « **Reply #51 on:** Tue, 07 April 2009, 20:59:42 »

I'm currently a very big fan of the Trackman Wheel. But after following this tread for a while and finding that great web site above I'm going to have to try out some new trackballs and see what they are like. I'll get to it as soon as I finish filling out my keyboard line-up

rdjack21 · « **Reply #52 on:** Tue, 07 April 2009, 23:37:41 »

Quote from: ripster;27579

Especially useful for overweight hackers.

The only problem is that we would not fit in their because we are overweight

Maybe it was intended for skinny hackers

majestouch · « **Reply #53 on:** Wed, 08 April 2009, 00:07:44 »

bigpook

Quote

Well, I can still use a mouse when I need to but yes, its trackballs all the way. I can see where a gamer would have a problem though, but for everything else I use a trackball.

I think I am starting to repeat myself here : P
I will stop now.

Trackballs work for gamers:

bigpook · « **Reply #54 on:** Wed, 08 April 2009, 04:26:40 »

Quote from: majestouch;27585

bigpook

Trackballs work for gamers:
Show Image

If we are talking about arcade games then we must include Missile Command.

itlnstln · « **Reply #55 on:** Wed, 08 April 2009, 06:27:03 »

Missle Command is classic; one of my favorite games of all time. My dad was nuts playing Centipede, though.

I had both on the original Atari 2600 in all of its luxurious wood grain glory.

ozar · « **Reply #56 on:** Thu, 09 April 2009, 10:48:07 »

I went ahead and ordered the Kensington Expert so we'll see how that goes when it arrives in a few days. I'll sell it here, or on eBay if it turns out that I don't like it.

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

bigpook · « **Reply #57 on:** Thu, 09 April 2009, 11:23:22 »

Quote from: itlnstln;27611

Missle Command is classic; one of my favorite games of all time. My dad was nuts playing Centipede, though.

I had both on the original Atari 2600 in all of its luxurious wood grain glory.

There was a Missile Command at a local tavern I used to frequent back in the day. Many a quarter was spent on that. While its available on my linux box its just not the same as the original.

FKSSR · « **Reply #58 on:** Thu, 09 April 2009, 11:27:16 »

Quote from: ozar;27868

I went ahead and ordered the Kensington Expert so we'll see how that goes when it arrives in a few days. I'll sell it here, or on eBay if it turns out that I don't like it.

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

Cool. I can't wait to hear your perspective. I'm still 40/60 about either trying a wheel mouse or sticking with my traditional mice.

FKSSR · « **Reply #59 on:** Thu, 09 April 2009, 14:47:31 »

Yeah, I saw that auction, but I wouldn't want to mess with a serial port.

ozar · « **Reply #60 on:** Fri, 10 April 2009, 16:52:36 »

Quote from: bigpook;27382

lol, the kensington expert is not a casual purchase. You really have to like track balls to get that one. Having said that, they are quite nice. The large ball has got to be the smoothest scrolling I have ever used.

Just curious, bigpook... did you have to remap your buttons on the Expert for operation under Linux, or did it work out of the box?

bigpook · « **Reply #61 on:** Fri, 10 April 2009, 18:44:51 »

Quote from: ozar;28214

Just curious, bigpook... did you have to remap your buttons on the Expert for operation under Linux, or did it work out of the box?

Out of the box the left/right bottom and scroll ring worked.
I used the left/right top in firefox where the top left was universal scroll and the top right was go back a page.

cchan · « **Reply #62 on:** Fri, 10 April 2009, 22:34:23 »

Quote from: FKSSR;27985

Yeah, I saw that auction, but I wouldn't want to mess with a serial port.

Isn't the serial port mouse scan rate 30Hz, as opposed to USB 120Hz?

ozar · « **Reply #63 on:** Sat, 11 April 2009, 14:17:01 »

Quote from: bigpook;28232

Out of the box the left/right bottom and scroll ring worked.
I used the left/right top in firefox where the top left was universal scroll and the top right was go back a page.

Thanks for the info, bigpook. I'll play around with it some and see if it works well enough out of the box and if not will look into some remapping efforts. I've become spoiled to the free spin mode with the scroll wheel on the Logitech G9, so might find myself missing that with the Expert, but feel sure that I can eventually adapt.

o2dazone · « **Reply #64 on:** Sat, 11 April 2009, 20:19:19 »

Quote from: bigpook;27488

I can see where a gamer would have a problem though

Really not as much as you think. Moving your wrist and clicking is no more accurate than moving a ball once you get familiar with it, and have used it for a while. I generally find my ability to "snipe" in fps's much better, because I can click a button, and all the while being sure I will never move my cursor (I usually had a hard time with this by 'twitch' shooting and moving my mouse all over the place. Coupled with the ability to go from one side of the screen to the other with ease, and still keeping the sensitivity on my mouse really low, I'd have to say I'm happier with the change. This was so long ago, I can hardly remember how it was on a mouse. (This is speaking with a thumb trackball). I will say that switching is definitely daunting...but it's paid off 10 fold in the end. You might finding yourself favoring a trackball once you can "spin" the ball freely and get your cursor from point A to point B without having to pick up your mouse, or without having to turn the sensitivity up high. I guess it's different strokes for different folks, but I'm a huge fan

bigpook · « **Reply #65 on:** Sat, 11 April 2009, 20:34:41 »

Quote from: o2dazone;28399

Really not as much as you think. Moving your wrist and clicking is no more accurate than moving a ball once you get familiar with it, and have used it for a while. I generally find my ability to "snipe" in fps's much better, because I can click a button, and all the while being sure I will never move my cursor (I usually had a hard time with this by 'twitch' shooting and moving my mouse all over the place. Coupled with the ability to go from one side of the screen to the other with ease, and still keeping the sensitivity on my mouse really low, I'd have to say I'm happier with the change. This was so long ago, I can hardly remember how it was on a mouse. (This is speaking with a thumb trackball). I will say that switching is definitely daunting...but it's paid off 10 fold in the end. You might finding yourself favoring a trackball once you can "spin" the ball freely and get your cursor from point A to point B without having to pick up your mouse, or without having to turn the sensitivity up high. I guess it's different strokes for different folks, but I'm a huge fan

I tried using the trackball while playing battlefield 2 but ended up getting killed way too often. To be fair I didn't give it enough time to really adjust. The initial reaction was pretty bad too. Its one think to use a trackball for normal everyday stuff but inside of a game the regular mouse seemed to work best.

Its kind of moot now anyways. I just blew out my one and only windows box and made the move over to a PS3. The graphics are much better, I get to sit on the couch, and the game play is pretty much the same. Granted, I am such a noob on the PS3 controller : ) I die a lot right now.

bigpook · « **Reply #66 on:** Sat, 11 April 2009, 21:05:53 »

Quote from: ripster;28404

Pook, you just need a PS3 trackball...

http://ps3maven.com/wireless-keyboard-with-trackball-for-ps3/

Show Image

Sorry, couldn't resist. This is the thread that will not die....

- Ripster

Hmm. Trackball not so much, it looks to be a scroll wheel; which might be kind of neat. But that is more then what I want to be holding.

The controller is sort of small but has all of the necessary buttons.
Give me a month or so and it will be all good.

ps: I just noticed the trackball on the right hand side....still though, it is kind of small. Got anything that is as large as the trackball in the Missile Command arcade game? : )

o2dazone · « **Reply #67 on:** Sun, 12 April 2009, 01:26:21 »

Playing an fps on a console is horrible, but that can be for a completely different thread

And yeah, a video game is not the best place to keep up your motivation to learn trackball. I did it the hard way, but would NOT recommend it LOL...it's better to 'ease' into it. Although, I've heard, with Dvorak keyboards, it's best to keep trying and never "go back" so maybe it's the same way with trackballs? I 'unno...

iMav · « **Reply #68 on:** Sun, 12 April 2009, 07:51:47 »

FYI, the wireless Trackman Wheel is larger and feels a lot more comfortable in your hand (a lot like the Marble). Buttons are the same as on the wired Trackman Wheel.

I have 5 Trackman Marble Wheels, 4 Trackman Marbles, and a Trackman Wheel Wireless. (wife has a Trackman Wheel that she loves...she has small hands)

Trackman Marbles feel and function the best IMHO. If you need a scroll wheel (and I typically do), the Trackman Marble Wheel is great as well.

bigpook · « **Reply #69 on:** Sun, 12 April 2009, 13:04:02 »

Just for fun, and being influenced, perhaps too easily by this thread, I took the logitech trackman marble out for a spin. I was using the kensington orbit for the past week or so and the first thing I notice is that the mouse ball sits higher on the logitech versus the kensington. Which is neither good or bad in itself just something I noticed.

Aside from the extra buttons on the logitech and the taller hand rest they both seem to perform about the same. The one thing that is favorable for the logitech is that the mouse is solid in the socket. On the kensington orbit I can rock the ball in its socket. I found that to be a little bit annoying.

ozar · « **Reply #70 on:** Sun, 12 April 2009, 13:08:16 »

I've garnered a great deal of information from this thread as well, and just a few weeks back, I'd never have thought I'd be interested in trackball devices.

Regarding the ball moving around in the socket, I've noticed the same happens with my (wired) Logitech Trackman Wheel Mouse, and it irritates me slightly.

bigpook · « **Reply #71 on:** Sun, 12 April 2009, 13:10:58 »

Quote from: ozar;28459

I've garnered a great deal of information from this thread as well, and just a few weeks back, I'd never have thought I'd be interested in trackball devices.

Regarding the ball moving around in the socket, I've noticed the same happens with my (wired) Logitech Trackman Wheel Mouse, and it irritates me slightly.

I have a Logitech Trackman Wheel Mouse also but the ball is pretty solid in the socket. It is very noticeable on the Kensington Orbit though. I should point out that while the trackball can be rocked in the socket it does not take away from its usefulness or performance. It is just something that I noticed, and for me was annoying. YMMV

ozar · « **Reply #72 on:** Mon, 13 April 2009, 17:17:37 »

Hey, the Kensington Expert arrived today, and just like you guys said, it truly is HUGE!

Anyway, it seems very usable, and adaption seems much easier than it is with the thumb manipulated trackball, at least for me. The scroll ring is easier to use than I'd thought it would be as well, except that the movement doesn't feel all that smooth. Perhaps that gets better with some time for break-in. The ball itself glides very smoothly.

bigpook · « **Reply #73 on:** Mon, 13 April 2009, 17:22:46 »

Quote from: ozar;28692

Hey, the Kensington Expert arrived today, and just like you guys said, it truly is HUGE!

Anyway, it seems very usable, and adaption seems much easier than it is with the thumb manipulated trackball, at least for me. The scroll ring is easier to use than I'd thought it would be as well, except that the movement doesn't feel all that smooth. Perhaps that gets better with some time for break-in. The ball itself glides very smoothly.

The scroll ring could have been a better design. Its basically plastic on plastic but it does the trick. The trackball is very smooth once it breaks in which should take an hour or so.

ozar · « **Reply #74 on:** Mon, 13 April 2009, 17:47:11 »

Yes, just from my limited use I'd say that the scroll wheel is the weakest link, although like you say, it does get the job done. Too bad it doesn't turn as smoothly as the ball glides.

bigpook · « **Reply #75 on:** Mon, 13 April 2009, 17:54:13 »

Quote from: ozar;28696

Yes, just from my limited use I'd say that the scroll wheel is the weakest link, although like you say, it does get the job done. Too bad it doesn't turn as smoothly as the ball glides.

I don't know why kensington didn't take the extra step with that. But thats the way it is. Mine works fine though, and to me it was a genius design.

CrapTypist · « **Reply #76 on:** Wed, 27 May 2009, 16:29:59 »

I've gone whole-hog to trackballs over the last 6 months. The Logitech Optical Marble Mouse (easy to find @ around $15 NIB on ebay) works so well and saves me so much hand pain, I've now bought 4 of them.

I miss a real scroll wheel, but assigning the left-side sub-button to ball scrolling works okay. The precision and feel are awesome. My home computer still has a mouse, and every time I touch it I just go AUGHHH, so I bought another two tballs and have called it a day.

The only crappy part is, if I have somebody sit down at one of my machines, they often spout for a few minutes about how they "can't use a trackball"... Of course, most of them are asking me where to find this one at the end, so...

hehe

bsvP585hUO2Y6 · « **Reply #77 on:** Tue, 09 June 2009, 20:35:43 »

lal writes:

> After ten years of mousing I'm using a Logitech Cordless TrackMan
> Wheel now.

After fourteen years of using TrackMen, I'm using a Mouse now. I would
have stayed with them if Logitech would have improved on their sensors
over the years. However, they seem to have stopped upgrading since the
switch from the optomechanical to the optical one in the last millenium.

The TrackMen's 400 dpi just feel anachronistic after using a MX1100 with
1600 dpi from the same manufacturer.

regards,
andreas

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Author Topic: Just switched from mouse to trackball (Read 15562 times)