Trackballs!

[Mk.558]

I'm thinking nostaglic and am considering a ADB trackball for my SE/30. It'll let me try out the concept and if I like it, check something out for the Mini.

This is the one I have in mind:

Credit: kpsurplus.com

Anybody else into/converted/stepped far away from trackballs? I like the clean design of the model above but it sure is pricey at $60 on the used market. Sheesh. (BTW if you have one and want to get rid of it PM me.)

There aren't many clean looking models out these days, they've moved on into the post-modernistic design-failure department. It would be really cool to wire up a RGB LED underneath a clear ball (or slightly opaque, or like a marble) with a color randomization microcontroller. (Trash80HP_Mini would approve.)

 

[Bunsen]

I have that exact one. It's every bit as good in use as it looks - and makes an excellent MAME controller

 

[jruschme]

I still a Logitech one with my MacBook occasionally, mostly to save space on a small desk.

I've also got an old Kensington Orbit *serial* trackball in the drawer. Surprisingly, it works without additional drivers, even under Windows Vista.

 

[olePigeon]

Man, that Kensington Turbo Mouse trackball is just the best.

 

[BGoins12]

I love trackballs. I have a Kensington one I use daily. Got it on clearance at Radio Shack for $3.97....was originally 19.99.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I love trackballs . . . on laptpos. I'm not so crazy about them on the desktop. I've got a couple of Billiard Ball Kensingtons myself, but I haven't used one since I hooked one up to the laptops on the swing out shelf of my AppleWorkstationDisplay for a while before I last moved.

I was in a great little "TechServe" in Philly near my son's apartment. The salesperson and owner got a big kick out of the compliment, he knows David Lerner from the VAR Council or some sort.

Whatever . . . they had a fabulous lookin' oversize trackpad that is placed on either side of those ridiculous Aluminum Chicklet Boards Apple is foisting on an ignorant public. The oversize trackpad looked useful as hell! The only time I used any such a device was a 12" x 12" Wacom Serial Tablet/Puck combo in relative mode that was, admittedly, somewhat larger than optimal. It's still leaning alongside other goodies in my closet.

A 4+" x 4+" finger tappable trackpad right next to a NumPad Impaired REAL KeyBoard (chicklets SUCK!!!!!! . . . erm . . . need not apply . . . ) could be very useful for tweaking bezier control points if it were DPI adjustable on the fly, say by the positioning of the thumb a/o pinkie in one or both of the corners.

BTW: it's Trash or jt and it's not a very high bar, I approve of just about any hack! :lol:

That being said, take it over the top! Have the LED take on a color as if it were tracking the pixels on a screen filling color range plot! [] ]'> If the ADB or Serial interface is up to it, use feedback from the positioning wheels or absolute cursor position to make the color of the ball match the cursor's position on the screen. I'll bet it would be easy over USB.

Bonus points for programming a black outlined cursor that fills with the colors as they're passed over the imaginary color plot dot in the screen buffer at the point and then trail the rainbow of what has been passed over across the cursot arrow's tail.

MegaPoints for leaving a rainbow cursor contrail behind when in cursor tracking mode! [}] ]'>