Article View: comp.windows.x
Article #25345Re: Exotic Interface Query
From: bob
Date: Wed, 08 Apr 1987 01:29
Date: Wed, 08 Apr 1987 01:29
28 lines
2259 bytes
2259 bytes
In article <8704061322.AA23763@ATHENA> sas@BFLY-VAX.BBN.COM (Seth Steinberg) writes:
>I am motor impaired and find it tedious and stressful to use a mouse.
>I can touch type and don't mind learning a few new keystrokes.
Seth,
Not to deter you from your original search for a button-driven
window manager, but are you able to use a trackball? It is a pointing
device that is essentially a mechanical ball mouse lying on its back,
and you stroke the ball directly with your fingertips. They are used
in several arcade games. A trackball requires far simpler large motor
use than a mouse, and you seem to have sufficient small motor
(fingertips for typing) ability to handle it.
The Sun `Catalyst' catalog (a listing of 3rd-party things that
work with Suns, compiled and distributed seasonally by Sun) lists two
or three trackballs that claim to be plug-compatible with the optical
mouse that Sun sells. This would mean that X could never tell the
difference, and you could continue to use and develop the same
interfaces as the rest of the upright-rodent-bound world.
Disclaimer: As much as I would like to, I have never used a
trackball, but it sure seems like a nifty idea to play with for a
while. Also, I have no financial interest in either Sun or any
peripheral manufacturers.
I hope you find a solution that works for you.
--
Bob Sutterfield, Department of Computer and Information Science
The Ohio State University; 2036 Neil Ave. Columbus OH USA 43210-1277
bob@ohio-state.{arpa,csnet} or ...!cb{osgd,att}!osu-eddie!bob
(614)292-7348 (office) or -0915 (operators) or -7325 (answering machine)
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Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!cbatt!osu-eddie!bob From: bob@osu-eddie.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.windows.x Subject: Re: Exotic Interface Query Message-ID: <3419@osu-eddie.UUCP> Date: Tue, 7-Apr-87 20:29:15 EST Article-I.D.: osu-eddi.3419 Posted: Tue Apr 7 20:29:15 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 11-Apr-87 03:04:57 EST References: <8704061322.AA23763@ATHENA> Reply-To: bob@osu-eddie.UUCP (Bob Sutterfield) Distribution: world Organization: The Ohio State University Dept of Computer & Information Science Lines: 28 Summary: try a trackball