Aerope; a trackball for Atreus

[skygazer]

I love my Atreus... it is the perfect ergo keyboard for typing in my lap!  But after using it for a month or so, I started longing for some kind of pointing device that could fit it that small gap between the right and left halves.  I wanted something simple and removable, and i didn't particularly want to completely rebuild the keyboard.
After exploring trackpoint and handheld trackball options, I began to think that I woulldn’t find a hack to fit in the Atreus ‘wedge’ space without totally rebuilding the keyboard.  I really wanted the pointing device to be easily be removable and use its own USB connection, without modifying the keyboard.

I found eventually found a reference showing the Logitech Trackman Marble, which has a small format CCB under the ball and a separate CCB for the controller.  This looked promising.. the ball is larger than I would have liked, but the base is very small. 



Here it how it turned out:




I call it “Aerope”, after the wife of Atreus.  She was a very bad girl…

[skygazer]

Here is the trackball without the Atreus.  It just sits on top of the keyboard, and the ball just sits in the cup.  Note that I used some MX clears that were lying around, instead of the Logitech microswitches.





Here's a view of the bottom, showing wiring and the controller card.  I have since added some thin stick-on rubber feet, which keeps it from moving around on the keyboard.

[tp4tissue]

Awesome stuff.

[skygazer]

Here are some construction details.  Since it is a standard Logitech Trackman, the standard Logitech drivers work (windows drivers are pretty good, Mac drivers suck.  I use USB Overdrive on my Mac).

I had to dremel away a lot of the cup to make room for the 'T' and 'Y' keys (or 'Y' and 'F' keys in Dvorak).  It is still a little cramped, but I can live with it.

[xtrafrood]

That looks good. Does the ball stay in place pretty well?

[skygazer]

I type with the keyboard in my lap.  My only problem with the ball falling out happens when I lean forward too much, or inadvertently tip the keyboard taking it on or off of my lap.
That said, I haven't had to chase the ball across the room in over a week now

[xtrafrood]

I'd only had to chase my trackman marble ball a few times after cleaning the sensor  ) nice

[Glod]

This is great!

[daerid]

If this were mass produced I would buy this so god damn hard

[Bucake]

damnnn, that's awesome

[fohat.digs]

Amazing. This really makes me consider getting away from aircraft carrier keyboards. I am truly impressed.