Not Just Another Mouse
Probably the most popular alternative to the mouse is the track ball, which is basically
just a mouse on its back. Rolling the trackball does the same thing as moving the mouse and
has the same results. There are a number of advantages to the track ball, not the least of
which is that it can work on the top of a messy desk because it does not have to be moved
across a surface in order for it to function. Many companies make track balls, but the one
company that is most recognized for the research and development of track ball devices is
Logitech (510-795-8500) . I have just recently started to use the Logitech
TrackMan Vista.
The TrackMan Vista fits neatly under my computer monitor and has the left mouse
button
conveniently placed on the left side of the track ball. One of the things that I like about the
track ball is the fact that I can operate it with my left hand, keeping my right hand free to take
notes and do other things. The TrackMan Vista is particularly comfortable in this
respect.
It is very easy to set up and comes with special software that allows you to select a number
of interesting and useful kinds of alternatives to the traditional mouse configuration. I
frankly would not be without a track ball mouse of some kind and I like the Logitech
Vista
very much. Logitech makes an amazing variety of track ball mouses.
The one problem with the track ball is that can be a little slow for precise positioning.
I have a device attached to my computer that allows me to run two pointing devices at the
same time (PI Engineering 517-655-5523) . My favorite alternative is the pen mouse.
The
pen mouse is made by Fellowes (708-893-1600) in several basic styles. It is
shaped like a
pen and is attached to your computer by either a cord or an infrared eye. At the end of the
pen is a ball about the size of a green pea and you move the cursor by moving that ball on
any surface. My remote mouse pen allows me to sit back far away from my computer and
manipulate the screen by rolling the track ball on my leg or the side of my easy chair. It is
very convenient and easy, and if you are engaged in some kind of a process that involves a
lot of drawing-like maneuvers, the Fellowes Pen Mouse is terrific. You can actually
write
your name with the mouse cursor and circling, cutting, pasting and other sorts of graphic
intensive mouse functions are really easy to do. The mouse pen has been one of my favorites
input devices for many years, and this new remote control infrared based pen is the best yet.
If you need to make even more precise kinds of mouse movement, say actually
drawing a picture, or modifying or manipulating an image, there are two other pen-like
devices that are very useful. The first one is the PenDirect light pen from FTG Data
Systems (1-800-962-3900). The PenDirect device actually installs from a board
in your
computer or as an interface between your keyboard and monitor. It allows you to draw
directly on the monitor screen with a light pen. You have a great deal more control than you
would have even with the Fellowes Pen Mouse because you actually use traditional
drawing
methods with a pen-like device on the screen itself. We have used the Pen Direct device
in
the Courtroom of the Future for a number of years and we find it very satisfactory as a way
of illustrating and annotating photographs and documents that are displayed over the
courtroom distribution system. If you need true precision drawing, however, the only device
that will really allow you to do that is a digitalizing tablet and pen. Digitalizing tablets run
from under a hundred dollars up into the thousands of dollars, depending upon the amount
of precision that you need. If you are really an artist and you are doing artistic work, you
need a high grade digitalized pad and pen. While some of these devices can serve as an
alternative to the mouse, they are primarily drawing tools for artists and engineers.
Once you get beyond the three basic types of devices I have talked about, you will
find an amazing variety of alternatives to the traditional mouse that may or may not suit your
fancy. In preparation for this article I reviewed several of those devices, including the
GyroPoint (1-800-316-5432) which is pointing devices that you can use as a regular
mouse
or lift off the desk and move through the air. In its air-mode the GyroPoint uses
gyroscopic
principles to allow you to move the mouse around in the air, thus moving the cursor on the
screen. It takes a little bit of getting use to but for presentations and other times where you
may want to be far removed from your computer, the GyroPoint is certainly something
worth taking a close look at. I actually liked it a lot and it works just fine as a traditional
mouse when you put down on the desk. One of the most popular devices for notebook
computers is the touch pad mouse control, which is becoming a fairly standard input device
for those computers. Alps Electric (408-432-6000) makes a large Desktop Glide
Point that
works extremely well. My wife loved using the Desktop Glide Point and so do I. One of
the most interesting devices that we used was Altra's Felix, which is a four-inch square
stationary platform which a movable puck-like device that is permanently attached in the
center of it. The puck has the mouse buttons on it and you simply move the puck around
within a small area in order to move the cursor on the screen. I am ambivalent about
Felix,
but one of my students absolutely loved it. One of the advantages of Felix is that it is
extremely accurate and it is easy to place the mouse cursor at a particular point on the screen.
Once you lift your hand off of the puck, the cursor will stay where you have placed it. You
can reach Altra at (800-726-6153). Felix should have a street price of around
$70.
One of the hot input devices now is human speech and I will be reviewing some of
those systems in a future column. Meanwhile, if you run into an input device that the world
needs to know about, let me know!!
The original standard mouse, the kind that came with your IBM PC back in 1985, is
just one of a series of data input devices called a pointing device. In addition to the standard
mouse there are a variety of other types of pointing devices that are commonly used. The
most common are the track ball, the light pen, the mouse pen, digitalizing tablets with pen
or puck, and a variety of mouse-like alternatives. There are even special devices such as the
Headmouse (214-606-8740), the NoHands Mouse (310-471-5852) and the Step On It pedal
control (408-736-6086) for special needs. Over the course of the last few months I have
been experimenting with various devices in my unending quest for a ever better way of
running my computer. I have also asked my friends to try out some of these new devices and
give me an opinion about them. What follows is my report on some of the devices
themselves with some tentative impressions about their usefulness.