True Bluetooth Trackballs? 26
danaris asks: "I've been using a Logitech Cordless TrackMan with my PowerBook for some time now, and I'm very happy with it, except for one thing: I still have to plug it in. Not the trackball itself, of course, but the receiver. Now that I have a laptop with built-in Bluetooth, I'd really like to be able to use a trackball that doesn't -have- a receiver. However, after hours of searching, I found exactly one trackball (from MacMice) that uses Bluetooth, and it's not exactly what I'm looking for. It looks very awkward for someone used to the TrackMan, and (the killer) it only has 2 buttons. If I'm getting a brand-new Bluetooth trackball, I'm not settling for anything less than 4-5 buttons (the TrackMan has 8). So, has anyone else have better luck than me in finding such a thing?"
Re:Two buttons? Why two buttons? (Score:2)
Re:Two buttons? Why two buttons? (Score:3, Informative)
Ha! Typical loss-of-functionality scenario that Apple keeps trying to force feed us. Some of us remember NeXTSTEP 3.3, which supported zero to infinite plus one mice- and hell, some of us still use it. This thing about mice and OS X- it's almost as bad as the lack of window/application remoting in OS X ala X11. OS X's ancestors had it, in NSHost and NXHost, but Apple decided not to reimplement that little nugget of joy when moving f
Re:Two buttons? Why two buttons? (Score:2)
Re:Two buttons? Why two buttons? (Score:2)
How many buttons does your mouse have? With an upper limit of infinity, I'd say your mouse needs at least 10k buttons to be really cool.
Doesnt exist because of insufficient demand (Score:1, Flamebait)
Second, you want to use bluetooth, which is far less common than something more sensible, like a usb reciever.
Third, you want something with MORE buttons than is "standard", further limiting your options to less than 2.
Finally, you are unwilling to compromise on any of the existing solutions. This is nothing short of unreasonable.
Waaa waaa waaa, i have all these special needs that nobody else does a
Re:Doesnt exist because of insufficient demand (Score:3, Informative)
Um, my compromise is sticking with the excellent TrackMan I've already got. I'd just like to remove the extra step of plugging in the receiver.
As to why I'm using a trackball (I wouldn't call it "giant"...), it's because...I like trackballs. I hate, hate, hate those tiny little "pocket mice" which are way too small for me, and I like being able to use the trackball by simply holding it in my hands (thus needing no surface).
Dan Aris
Waiting for Kensington (Score:3, Interesting)
I've seen the RF wireless versoin and I don't like that the batteries run out evey few months. I have a docking station at my desk with the trackball plugged into it so I'm not even so sure how useful a wireless trackball would be for me. I mean, I'm not going ot carry the honking thing around with me.....
Ah well, just keeping on the fringe.....
-m
Bad news (Score:2)
I've resigned myself to the fact that it's just not going to happen. Thankfully, wireless USB (as in the new standard, not an RF receiver that plugs into a USB port) products s
Trackpads vs. Trackballs (Score:1)
That said, why doesn't a computer company with human-computer interaction in mind develop a laptop with a trackball BUILT INTO the laptop?
It wouldn't take that much more space, if it was a very small trackball. It could perhaps stick out the right hand side (customizable for lefties?), so it wouldn't bump into the sc
Re:Trackpads vs. Trackballs (Score:1)
Re:Trackpads vs. Trackballs (Score:2)
Two problems cropped up regularly. It's a pain to clean. The buttons end up being on the outside of the case, subject to impact and damage. Also a lot of people did not like the size of the trackball ball. It was about half inch in diameter, with proportionatly small wheels. (The 'marbled' coloring logiteck uses hadn't been thought of yet.)
For todays laptops
Re:Trackpads vs. Trackballs (Score:2)
And I don't know what your beef with trackpads are. I've yet to experience a problem with any of them. With a few tweaks to how mouselook behaved in Quake 3, I was 0wning my mouse using coworkers with my Powerbook in no time. It's certainly better than the "eraser" pointer that IBM insists on putting on their laptops. I can understand Dell putting BOTH an eraser and a trackpad on their se
Re:Trackpads vs. Trackballs (Score:2)
the eraser (which I use whenever I'm portable)
the trackpad (which everyone else uses)
the microsoft mouse at work
and the bluetooth logitech mouse that I carry around with me whenever I'm going somewhere for a while.
So, the ThinkPads have a touchpad now. They did on the T30's as well. So, are you going to buy one now?
Re:Trackpads vs. Trackballs (Score:2)
Even my ball-less mouse still needs cleaning, the pads and cable collect dust from the table over time and get a bit crufty.
Re:Trackpads vs. Trackballs (Score:1)