On Mon, Jan 23, 2023 at 10:10 AM Paul Koning via cctalk < cctalk@classiccmp.org> wrote:
> > Personally, I like trackpads. But my wife doesn't. And clearly there are > lots of opinions. Pick what you like, don't be surprised if others have > different preferences. > I love my Kensington Expert Mouse, which is actually a trackball. It and a Happy Hacking Pro keyboard fits onto my Humanscale 4G keyboard tray. It was a conscious effort to limit the amount of arm movement. Quite a few of my Linux colleagues use no mouse at all, all keyboard shortcuts. My wife cannot operate the trackball at all but it's all down to ramp up effort which is why I've never been able to adapt to one of the ergonomic split keyboards or Emacs :) Tony > > Are large trackballs (with balls the size of a golfball or larger) still > around? I remember a few people around the office that had one. I also > remember seeing all the air traffic controller stations at the local FAA > control center equipped with such trackballs. That made some sense, it > allows the operator to work in a confined space without having to worry > about keeping a clear desk surface. That was before touchpads were > invented, 1990s I think. > > > I find it interesting watching people using trackpads. Most don't know > > *how* to use them effectively. > > > > The core trick is that you should only move your fingertip for large > > pointer movements, and for small precision movement, keep your > > fingertip stationary on the trackpad and _roll_. Increase the > > finger-to-laptop angle for vertical movement (pointer away from you or > > toward you) and rotate your finger along its axis for small left/right > > movements. > > > > Few seem to know this. If you don't know what you're doing, and do it > > by trial and error, then trackpads kinda sorta work, not great but > > acceptably. > > Interesting. It doesn't seem to apply to my Mac touchpad. Or maybe only > if I run Linux on that hardware, that seems to have a different sensitivity > setting. > > paul > >
