who do trackballs appeal to?

[jb60606]

Almost a week using the Expert Mouse exclusively. I haven't returned to my Mighty Mouse, once.

My only complaints:

1. Can be a slight hassle when programming or working on the command line. I use 'VI' emulation in Eclipse and Komodo, so it's not a deal breaker for me but I can see how highlighting a line of code/text could be a hassle. They require a little practice/patience.
2. No horizontal scrolling on the Expert Mouse

Thanks for your insight, folks.

 

[CTechKid]

If you're serious about buying a new Trackball mouse look no further than the new Slimblade Trackball. (not to be confused with the bluetooth mouse)

http://vr-zone.com/articles/kensington-s-slimblade-trackball/6792.html?doc=6792

Its available now from Kensington, and they actually have new drivers.

 

[fedup flyer]

Back in the days of the trackball equipped Powerbook, I really liked the trackball. I still think it superior to the trackpad.

 

[rmpstudio]

Back when Kensington first came out with their trackball, you could put a ball from a pool table in and it would work - pretty cool.

I love their new one obviously because it doesn't suffer from previous generation tracking problems. I find that it is a little deficient in 1st person shooter games though. But other than that, the stationary appeal is great - especially if you have limited desk space and you're tired of your wired mouse getting caught on things.

 

[jazz1]

If you're serious about buying a new Trackball mouse look no further than the new Slimblade Trackball. (not to be confused with the bluetooth mouse)

http://vr-zone.com/articles/kensington-s-slimblade-trackball/6792.html?doc=6792

Its available now from Kensington, and they actually have new drivers.

I just got one today. I generally like it but I'm having trouble with the "View Mode" in Apple Mail. I can't scroll in the list of e-mail or the actual message pane. I can't scroll the list of e-mails or the message itself. When I invoke the "View Mode" I get the icon on my screen but it has a circle/slash through it. I can turn the trackball to scroll, but I find the number of revolutions to scroll pretty much puts me off.

I'm using version 1 of their software. Is there a newer version?

It all works fine in Safari though. I don't know what the problem with Apple Mail is.

I expected the Kensington software to put something in system preferences, but it did not. I was hoping to make the tracking faster than the Apple Mouse System Pref. allows.

All in all I like it. But the software needs to do more.

 

[heySparky]

who do trackballs appeal to?

I don't know if they appeal to the techs in the Fab, but Intel used track balls exclusively in their Fabs for the computers located there (which are Dells BTW).

 

[jb60606]

Two months later:

I'll likely never go back to a standard mouse again, unless it's for a special need (gaming, etc). I picked up an additional trackball for my office, and several colleagues adopted trackballs shortly after.

I initially asked if a trackball would be a nuisance on a 30" ACD. I'm happy that my trackball purchase happened to coincide with the purchase of the ACD because I think I'd need a rug sized mouse-pad to accommodate all of the real estate on this monitor.

 

[jazz1]

Two months later:

I'll likely never go back to a standard mouse again, unless it's for a special need (gaming, etc). I picked up an additional trackball for my office, and several colleagues adopted trackballs shortly after.

I initially asked if a trackball would be a nuisance on a 30" ACD. I'm happy that my trackball purchase happened to coincide with the purchase of the ACD because I think I'd need a rug sized mouse-pad to accommodate all of the real estate on this monitor.

Thanks for the update. I've been following the thread and have been using the Kensington Slimblade with three LDC's. The supplied trackball software seems oddly limited. For instance I'd really like to speed up the movement of the cursor across the three monitors, and also when scrolling in a browser. Maybe they are avoiding potential system software conflicts?

All in all I like the trackball well enough to retire my mouse for most of my computing.