🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <330@hurt6.Huji.Ac.IL> mikeb@hurt6.huji.ac.il (Mike Berkowitz) writes:

> I'm interested in buying a trackball (or other input device), as my
> mouse is on its last tiny little legs.  Any recommendations will be
> greatly appreciated.  Specifically, I've seen ads for ADB, Kensington
> and Asher Engineering.  TIA.

I bought a Kensington ADB trackball for use with my Mac II at home.  I
like the feel of the device very much, and grew quite used to it very
quickly.  Unfortunately, the left-hand button developed a bad "bounce"
after a couple of weeks... the microswitch was defective, it seems.
It's back in Kensington's hands for warranty service now; with luck
it'll be back next week (I was told 2-3 week turnaround for warranty
repair).

I also ordered an Asher trackball for use with my SE at work.  After
using it for one day, I phoned MacConnection and arranged to return the
Asher in trade for another Kensington.  I found the Asher's trackball
too small for me to use comfortably (I have fairly large hands), and its
action to be too stiff (unlike the Kensington, which has a trackball
that requires very little force to operate).  The Asher's trackball
seemed to have some problems with slippage, too (the cursor wouldn't
always track at the same speed when I moved the trackball steadily).
Asher had acknowledged this as a problem with some earlier units and had
said that it had been fixed; I'm not convinced that the fix was entirely
successful.

The Abaton ProPoint uses a tracking-mechanism almost (entirely?)
identical to that used in the Kensington, so its "feel" should be quite
similar.  I tried both the Kensington and the Abaton, and found that I
definitely preferred the ergonomics of the Kensington... its large,
triangular click-buttons are much easier for my thumb to find than the
square/rectangular buttons on the ProPoint.

One significant point: all three of the trackballs tend to show up in
ads that have them placed on the right side of the Mac keyboard, showing
an almost seamless join between the keyboard case and the trackball
case.  It's quite possible to place the trackballs in this position, but
there's a catch: you may have difficulty plugging 'em in!  Ideally, one
would daisy-chain the trackball to the keyboard using a small
double-ended ADB plug, and the ads tend to suggest that this is how
they're connected... but neither Kensington nor Asher (nor, I believe,
Abaton) provide or market such a plug!  The Asher trackball comes with a
short (6") ADB cords that can be used to daisy-chain the trackball to
the keyboard, but you can't line the trackball and keyboard up evenly
when you do so because the cord gets in the way!  The Kensington
trackball comes with a longer (2') ADB cord that can be used to plug the
trackball directly into the Mac (which permits the trackball and
keyboard to be placed side-to-side) or to daisy-chain the two (which
doesn't permit side-to-side placement, and leaves a lot of cord dangling
around).

Re mouse replacements other than trackballs:  take a look at the Mouse
Systems A+ optical mouse for the Mac;  it's about the same price as a
trackball, has a much nicer feel than a mechanical mouse, and may be
preferable for those who aren't comfortable with trackballs.