Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Input Devices

True Bluetooth Trackballs? 26

Posted by Cliff from the no-receiver-required dept.
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?"
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

True Bluetooth Trackballs? More

True Bluetooth Trackballs?

Comments Filter:
  • First, you use a trackball. This begins to get on my nerves, but okay, different strokes for different folks.
    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

    • 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)

    by invisik ( 227250 ) * on Friday June 03, 2005 @07:45PM (#12719245) Homepage
    I have Kensington's Expert Mouse (the black one) and it's wonderful but USB. My ThinkPad X31 has bluetooth and I would also love to have a wireless trackball..... I e-mailed them and they had no information on if they would make a bluetooth version or not.

    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
  • I've actually been in the market for a Bluetooth trackball as well. Most of my home PC's peripherals are Bluetooth; my mouse, my keyboard, my printer... unfortunately, while I'd like to switch back to a trackball (I used to use a Cordless Trackman Optical for years), I've run into the exact same problem: apparently, they don't exist.

    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 are one of the worst human input devices ever invented. I'm not sure why they're the de facto solution on laptops these days. They're hard to use, offer no direct feedback, etc, etc.

    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
    • Trackballs used to be built into notebook computers. They were discarded in favor of the eraser between the G and H keys and trackpads.
    • Compaq did, on at least two occasions. The LTE Elite series, and I think the Aero series had a trackball built into the right hand side of the screen.

      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
    • Trackballs clog up with crap... they are also yet another mechanical peice that leads to more likely chances of failure.

      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
      • the T41 I'm typing this on right now has, regularly, four mice attached to it:

        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?
      • My wireless Logitech Trackman Marble only needs cleaning quite rarely, it accumulates only a small amount of what I assume is dead skin type detritis around the beads that support the main ball. Since removing the ball just means grabbing it and pulling and cleaning the beads just means pulling your finger across them, I find it is typically easier than cleaning a mouse.
        Even my ball-less mouse still needs cleaning, the pads and cable collect dust from the table over time and get a bit crufty.
    • My 486 DX/2 based NEC Versa laptop from ~1993 had a trackball built in. It was a rather small trackball though so it was nowhere near as nice as an external USB trackball. It seemed to work pretty well though it did get dirty at times.

Slashdot Top Deals

He has not acquired a fortune; the fortune has acquired him. -- Bion

Close