Kensington TrackballWorks Beta Coming Soon [Beta 1 - Released]

[HaaTa]

Beta 1 is available


Windows

Mac


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Thanks to Julle for the mirror.
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Just got an email today about the new trackball software Kensington is working on.
And apparently there will be a beta by the end of the week for Windows and Mac OS X.

Here's the mail:

I want to thank you very much for volunteering to join this trackball
user group.  I'm looking forward to making some amazing products (with
your help).

Please fill out a 10-question survey (by clicking on the link below):

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=r7kfX9yiP7jlZOtewVjZ_2fg_3d_3d
(copy and paste the link into your browser if clicking doesn't work)

I can also share with you that Kensington is (finally!) developing new
software that will allow trackball users to customize button functions
and fine tune pointer movement and scrolling behavior. We will call it
"TrackballWorks," since it will be specifically focused on trackballs.

The Windows software will support XP (SP2 and SP3, 32-bit), Vista (32
and 64-bit) and Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit). The Mac software will
support Tiger (Intel and PPC, 32-bit), Leopard (Intel and PPC, 32-bit)
and Snow Leopard (Intel, 32-bit and 64-bit). Both versions are
targeted for release in early Q2 of 2010. [and yes, the supported
devices will include the new Slimblade Trackball.]

As a User Group member you will have the choice to participate in beta
testing of the software before release. As soon as we have stable
builds to share I will let you know, and give you instructions on
downloading them (and how to give feedback).

In fact, I am hopeful that the beta releases will be ready by the end
of this week.

Thank you, and stay tuned.

Bill Rathbone
("Bill From Kensington")

You can send me any questions by email.

I'll have a few weeks to use it maybe, then I'll be cycling for a month (then back to Canada). After that, my Windows usage will probably plummet.

[ch_123]

Given their poor track record on customer support, I'd have a "Once bitten, twice shy" attitude to it all...

[HaaTa]

In the survey it also mentioned the possibility of discussion groups (about the beta probably) if you live in the SF Bay area.
I'm just a few thousand km away.

[hyperlinked]

I'll have a few weeks to use it maybe, then I'll be cycling for a month (then back to Canada). After that, my Windows usage will probably plummet.

Bah! Where's your sense of adventure? Can't you test and cycle at the same time like this guy?
http://microship.com/resources/winnebiko-behemoth.html

[HaaTa]

Lol, I will, 'cept I use Linux, lame mouse suites not required.

I'll only be going 1200 km (not including random side trips and a **** ton of mountains), so I can't really compete in awesomeness.

[hyperlinked]

I've been on the evil side of the mirror once for a couple of groups of hospital supply managers. It is such an interesting experience to watch two different groups and see how much the environment interplays with the group dynamics. In the two groups I watched, the power dealing control freaks took the same chair and there was another chair that the person from another planet would sit in and ask really off-base bizarre questions. They even asked the same question... totally blew me away.

[HaaTa]

Focus groups sound exciting.

[itlnstln]

With my luck I'd get someone like ItlnStln.  In that case what I do is walk in, tell them they have an urgent phone call, take them out of the room and pay them.

Easy money, baby.  That's how I roll.

[sudowork]

Did they mention what mouses this driver/software bundle will support? I was considering buying a Kensington Expert; however, the lack of OS X 10.6 support drove me away from it.

[hyperlinked]

Did they mention what mouses this driver/software bundle will support? I was considering buying a Kensington Expert; however, the lack of OS X 10.6 support drove me away from it.

Sudo, I don't know specifically what you need your pointing devices to do, but if you're just a regular left click, right click, scroll wheel kind of guy, most stuff I've tried worked just fine when plugged into OS X. Even if you need multi-button support, you might be able to use stuff that wasn't targeted at Mac users. Most Razer mice you can configure on a Windows machine and then plug it in to a Mac and it'll remember the config.

[HaaTa]

Just got another email (I would've gotten it earlier except is was Saturday for me).

Here are the details on the Beta 1 release of TrackballWorks.

Supported OS versions:
Windows - XP (SP2 and SP3, 32-bit), Vista (32 and 64-bit) and Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit).
Mac - Tiger (Intel and PPC, 32-bit), Leopard (Intel and PPC, 32-bit) and Snow Leopard (Intel, 32-bit and 64-bit).

Supported Trackballs:
Slimblade Trackball (72327)
Expert Mouse (64325)
Orbit with Scroll Ring (72337)
Orbit Optical (64327)

[I understand that there are a number of you with older trackballs. For this initial release we are unfortunately limited to supporting the hardware we currently sell, but expanding device support in a future update is not out of the question. Just make sure you indicate this desire - and the specific hardware you would like to be supported - in the feedback survey (following the link below)]

NOTE: Please be sure to read and follow the instructions in the Release Notes (included in the downloaded archive). For Windows users in particular, one of the byproducts of releasing pre-WHQL software is that you need to have the trackball plugged in when installing the software, and can't change the USB port. This will be corrected before final release. The Release Notes also summarize the known issues with each release.


Follow this link to agree to the EULA and download the software:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/753YSYN


Follow this link to provide feedback on the release:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9KN2SSF

Feel free to also let me know by email if you have questions or problems (but I may not respond quickly - there are about 1000 beta testers now).

Bill Rathbone
("Bill From Kensington")

Would someone upload these files to a more reliable place? I can barely manage to get these files onto my computer at work let alone upload them anywhere.

[HaaTa]

Been using it for a few minutes, looks good .

[HaaTa]

Vista was crap anyways, I hate developing stuff for it too.

[ch_123]

...or people would just realize that mouse software is an unnecessarily gimmick.

[itlnstln]

...or people would just realize that mouse software is an unnecessarily gimmick.

I would disagree with this.  If tilt-wheel scrolling worked out of the box, then yeah, it's pretty damn worthless, otherwise.

[ch_123]

Well, button three is middle click which is something I make regular use of. Button four is back which is nice enough... Besides, there are plenty of decent third party button mappers which are probably more lightweight than the stuff manufacturers bundle with their hardware.

[ch_123]

Yeah, the thing that put me off completely about the Slimblade was the software dependency for the scrollwheel. I completely distrust that sort of thing in case the vendor does... well, what Kensington did.

Either way, at least the CST works out of the box...

[smuvmoney]

Wow I honestly thought that the beta would never happen.  It looks like I'll be doing some beta testing this weekend.

[Zalusithix]

Using the beta here... So far so good. While only parts of the configuration are currently working, I can at least now officially set the top buttons to do whatever I want them to. Which you know, should have been the case with the shipping product waaaay back. Problem is, I've gotten so used to not having functionality from the top buttons, that I have to retrain myself to their existence.

Also, ch_123, the scrolling functionality of the Slimblade had no software dependency. You could use the trackball as a standard 2 button trackball + scroll without any special driver or software. I was for a long time.

[HaaTa]

I uploaded these to my server.

Windows

Mac

Feel free to add the URLs to your OP.

Thanks a lot Julle, added to the OP.

[trievalot]

loving this so far....can finally use the top left and right for copy-pasta

[smuvmoney]

For a first beta, this is not half bad.  I did find a lot of bugs, but most of them looked obvious and not terribly difficult to fix.  I do hope that they get the chording working for the Slimblade.  It would probably make ditch my Expert Mouse outright.  Kudos for bringing this information about the beta to light.  It made my weekend (which may be good, bad, or downright sad depending on how you look at it :smile: ).

[HaaTa]

Woo, new TrackballWorks Beta!

Hello Beta Testers!

This is a note to announce the availability of a new Windows Beta for our TrackballWorks software. [You're getting this email because you signed up (after agreeing to the EULA) to be a tester.]

Almost all of the known issues have been fixed (and you'll see details in the Release Notes file included with the program). But it does suffer from one VERY annoying new bug - there's a rights-related problem with Vista and Windows 7 so that any UAC-related event may disable the trackball and require a reboot. So I while I want to get this release into your hands to make sure we have correctly fixed key features (like pointer speed and button chording), I can't promise it won't be so annoying that you reboot and uninstall it right away -- it depends on how your PC is set up and what kinds of things you do on it.

Here's where to download the new release:

https://www.yousendit.com/download/OHo3YURIQVNoeVkwTVE9PQ


Here is where to leave feedback if you run into problems:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SYXXLB7http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SYXXLB7


Thank you,

Bill Rathbone
("Bill From Kensington")

Dunno if I'll have time to work with it today.

It would be awesome though if someone wouldn't mind uploading it again.

[Grump]

Wanted to thank you guys for this. It's all I could find about the software on Google and as far as I can tell, Kensington doesn't publicize it at all yet. I've been a Expert Mouse trackball user for years and was really disappointed when I upgraded from XP to Windows 7 Pro and couldn't use the trackball the way I wanted. The function modifications I've tried helped, but it wasn't the same.

Beta 2 makes me very happy. I took the survey, so I hope they keep me informed of updates. Or maybe you guys will stay on top of it and I will get notified of replies to this topic.

In any case, you guys provided a good service and I wanted to say thanks.

Best R'gards,

Grump aka Jim McClain

[CrapTypist]

Is the new version of the beta available for Mac just yet? It looks like Julie's latest mirror is the win version, and the Kensington link provided (to yousendit) has lapsed.

I'm using Beta 1 with an Orbit Scroll, and loving it so far. With the insanely low prices on Kensington tballs on Amazon at current ($75 slimblades? $65 Experts?) I'm tempted to trade up, so long as the software remains good.

[HaaTa]

I can't remember if I signed up for both the Mac and Windows beta.

From the change log though it seems there was only a beta2 for Windows (though it really was just bug fixes, no new features). The Mac version should work just fine.

[Grump]

... With the insanely low prices on Kensington tballs on Amazon at current ($75 slimblades? $65 Experts?) I'm tempted to trade up, so long as the software remains good.

I like the looks of the Slimblade a lot, but I understand you can't map the buttons the same way you can the Expert. And I'm not sure I could get used to not having the scroll ring.

Grump

[HaaTa]

I like the looks of the Slimblade a lot, but I understand you can't map the buttons the same way you can the Expert. And I'm not sure I could get used to not having the scroll ring.

Grump

Hmm? You can remap the buttons to anything you'd like with the beta...
I really like having to turn the ball to scroll, works quite well.

The build quality of the Slimblade is probably a bit better than the Expert as well (from what I remember of the side by side in Akihabara).

[Grump]

Hmm? You can remap the buttons to anything you'd like with the beta...
I really like having to turn the ball to scroll, works quite well.

The build quality of the Slimblade is probably a bit better than the Expert as well (from what I remember of the side by side in Akihabara).

Interesting. I was just going by the info available on the Kensington [SlimBlade] website, which isn't all that comprehensive. But if the thing can be used in every way except the scroll ring like the Expert Mouse trackball, I might take the gamble. It's not like it would get tossed into an empty box if it didn't suit me - I've got a whole nest of discarded mice and trackballs collecting from maybe as far back as 1992.

But was my assumption correct when using the software that comes with the Slimblade?

Thanks,

Grump

[HaaTa]

Yeah, the software that comes with the Slimblade is crap...

I used the hacked Japanese version to remap the buttons for a while in Windows until the beta. For $75 the Slimblade is a steal, way cheaper than I got mine.

[Zalusithix]

I like the looks of the Slimblade a lot, but I understand you can't map the buttons the same way you can the Expert. And I'm not sure I could get used to not having the scroll ring.

Grump

Really, the scroll ring isn't needed. You can use one finger and run it along the chrome ring surrounding the ball and the ball will spin causing a scrolling action. It basically acts just like there was a scroll ring under your finger. That and the ball allows a bit of inertial scrolling.

This new driver makes the Slimblade worth the money. The functionality should have been there at the product launch though. Kensington was beyond stupid to launch with the crap driver they had before.

[smuvmoney]

I like the looks of the Slimblade a lot, but I understand you can't map the buttons the same way you can the Expert. And I'm not sure I could get used to not having the scroll ring.

Grump

Someone else already covered how the ball scrolls.  You can map all 4 buttons now.  However, you cannot chord the 2 top or bottom buttons on the Slimblade like you can on the Expert Mouse.  The following is taken from the readme for TrackballWorks Win RC1 (check out this thread for download):

3. Current owners of the SlimBlade Trackball will see that button "chording" is not enabled.  This is an unfortunate limitation of the firmware (since this product was designed to be used with different software, and "chording" was not a requirement.)

From reading that, it looks like the Slimblade Trackball may never get the chording of the top/bottom buttons that the Expert Mouse already has (unless Kensington allows firmware upgrades or replacements without buying a new trackball).  If they had gotten it to work out of the box, I probably would have switched over from the Expert Mouse.  I am thankful that Kensington wised up and made some software for Vista/Win7, but the lack of chording on the Slimblade is to me nigh unforgiveable.

[HaaTa]

Lol, I do chording with other applications though, namely Opera...
Dunno what they're smok'n.

This is not something hard to design around, even without a firmware update.

[Grump]

I've never used chording in 18 years of computing. Should I slink on outa here now?

[Zalusithix]

Yeah, the firmware thing is bull****. The trackball sends the button presses perfectly well. The driver could interpret when both are pressed and alter the output to the OS. It's not a make or break issue for me though.

[HaaTa]

[strike]I'd write feedback about that, but the truth is, I rarely use Windows so I'm not that inclined.
And I'd just sound like a know-it-all, so they wouldn't take me seriously anyways.[/strike]

e.g. I'm lazy. Someone go complain in the feedback, and tell'm not being able to chord is a load of horse crap.
If I had some source code, I'd just go in and fix it myself .

[smuvmoney]

[strike]I'd write feedback about that, but the truth is, I rarely use Windows so I'm not that inclined.
And I'd just sound like a know-it-all, so they wouldn't take me seriously anyways.[/strike]

e.g. I'm lazy. Someone go complain in the feedback, and tell'm not being able to chord is a load of horse crap.
If I had some source code, I'd just go in and fix it myself .

I already have left feedback from the online survey.  The statement int he reademe was probably prompted by people asking they could not chord on the Slimblade like they could on the Expert.  I would be happy if it were listed as a future enhancement instead of a slim chance of ever being fixed by Kensington - it smacks of laziness.  It is probably the one reason I have not switched over.

[smuvmoney]

Well, it looks like the release of TrackballWorks is live now.  You can grab it from here.