Cst trackball and Linux

[thefebruaryman]

Really wanting to get a trackball for Xmas and love the look of the csts. However I am a all linux user and want to know if I can use one of these out of the box with the main linux distros. Anyone have any experience they can share

[Cadrach]

I have no idea if you're still looking for advice here, but I have a CST2545-5W (or whatever the equivalent was several years ago) and it works just fine under Linux.  It's just a normal USB HID critter as far as I can tell.

[cryptokey]

Their site mentions that it is compatible with Linux 

Compatibility:
USB Models
Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98SEand ME, most versions of Linux, MAC OS9 and later and any other USB 2.0 Full Speed compatible operating system such as Sun Solaristm.

Source:  http://www.clearlysuperiorproducts.com/trackballs.html

Would this be your first trackball?

[thefebruaryman]

Cheers guys. And yes this would be my first trackball. I have never used one before but after having a few issues with my wrist on my mouse hand I thought it would be worth a go

[njbair]

I have a CST LaserTrac and its a great trackball. Haven't tried it on Linux but it doesn't require any special drivers so I'm sure it will work. Highly recommended.

[cryptokey]

Cheers guys. And yes this would be my first trackball. I have never used one before but after having a few issues with my wrist on my mouse hand I thought it would be worth a go

Definitely worth it.  That's the exact reason that I switched to a trackball and I'm glad I did.  The first few days-week may feel weird but once you quickly get used to it, I'm sure you'll enjoy it    The wrist pain will not go away instantaneously of course but over a few weeks it should gradually feel better.  If it does not improve after several weeks of trackball use, consider wearing a wrist splint at night and/or visiting a doctor.

[thefebruaryman]

Cheers guys. Looks like massdrop.com are stocking them at present which is lucky

[sgtpopwell]

I know I'm a little late to the party here but I just recently got a 2545W-RC and I can report that it works totally normally with my laptop running 12.04 Ubuntu.

[thefebruaryman]

I know I'm a little late to the party here but I just recently got a 2545W-RC and I can report that it works totally normally with my laptop running 12.04 Ubuntu.

Thats good to know. Can't wait to try a track ball out. Thinking a nice new chair is in order as well for the coding zen!

[davkol]

Cheers guys. Looks like massdrop.com are stocking them at present which is lucky

For the record, the non-backlit version (which I recommend, because the glow is very bright and not the best color) is only $10 extra on Amazon.com and ships a month earlier.

[Cadrach]

To provide a bit of unasked for advice, I'll mention that I went from using a mouse to using a trackball as a way of dealing with wrist pain.  It did help a little bit on its own, but the biggest thing that I can recommend is switching between input devices from time to time.  Both my home PC and my work PC have a trackball to the right of the keyboard and a trackball to the left.  All modern operating systems pay attention to both at the same time.  This lets me absentmindedly switch which hand is doing the "mousing" work, which helps a ton with strain relief.  It also lets me do dumb stuff like click mouse buttons with one hand but control the pointer with the other hand (reducing pinching motions), or even use both trackball pointers simultaneously for fine pointer movement.  This all sounds ridiculous even to me as I type this, but when I'm traveling and only have a single trackball or mouse with me I absolutely notice the difference, and find that I start to feel wrist strain over long work sessions.

I love my CST Laser, and the build quality on it is second to none, but to me the Kensington Expert is probably in the sweet spot of goodness-to-price.  The Logitech M570 can often be found at very reasonable prices, too, if you feel like trying a thumbball.  Oh, and I do still use a mouse occasionally.  Much like the whole sit/stand debate, I think the real answer to reducing Repetitive Strain Injury is just to limit the amount of repetitive motion.  When you aren't willing to give yourself a break from computing entirely, at least give yourself more than one hammer to use and you'll be happier