How to get a Dépraz mouse working on a modern computer

[beschizza]

Originally published at: How to get a Dépraz mouse working on a modern computer | Boing Boing

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[vernonbird]

Mice? Bah!
Give me an index finger operated trackball any day.

[FGD135]

I think one of the labs at my uni had those on some sort of VAX or other?
Quite comfortable, and the switches had a nice click to them.

[theophrastus]

You guys are all in an internal contest for the best band names, aren’t you?

hemispherical ergonomic pain dome

Good band-names, a: immediate internal contradiction; ‘pain’ and ‘ergonomic*’

(*ergonomics ûr″gə-nŏm′ĭks n.
The applied science of equipment design, as for the workplace, intended to maximize productivity by reducing operator fatigue and discomfort)

vernonbird
Mice? Bah!
Give me an index finger operated trackball any day.

lenovo/HP trackpoints (aka: various rude alternate epithets) forever!

[csilvest]

Loved the Trackpoint when a Thinkpad was my daily driver. Even bought a full-sized keyboard with a Trackpoint in the standard place for the home desktop.

Also, Kensington Expert Mouse > all other mouses. Been using one for over 25 years, still the best pointing device evar. Trackballs need little desk space, very handy for my eternally messy desk. And the large, almost billiard-ball size ball makes cursor control very fast and precise.

I even have a “real” 2-1/4" dia 8-ball from one of my earlier purchases. Sadly Kensington decided to reduce the size of the ball in newer units, ~2mm smaller. I think it corresponded with the change from mechanics rollers to some sort of optical sensor, since the new, smaller balls have a sparkle-y coating like many mousepads I see nowadays.

[nixiebunny]

Interesting. I have one of these mice. It never occurred to me that it’s a thing I’d want to use these days.

[G_r_ld_z_n_r]

I still have and use a Microsoft Optical Trackball 1.0 circa 1997. Still works perfectly. Never found another trackball that feels as good or sits so well on a desk. It’s outlasted about a half dozen computers at this point. I think I paid a stiff $80 for it back then. They go for about $250 now.

[d_r]

I have a couple of the fantastic ergo mice designed by Luigi Colani, but none of them work on any of my current machines. It is the only mouse I ever preferred to a trackpoint.