Re: [9fans] Samterm up down key patch

[plan9@sigint.cs.purdue.edu]

On Wed, Nov 15, 2006 at 09:49:56PM -0500, erik quanstrom wrote:
> On Wed Nov 15 00:13:41 EST 2006, rsc@swtch.com wrote:
>> http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-39116
>> Also IBM makes external mouse/keyboards with the
>> 3-button thinkpad trackpoints on them.
>
> it appears that ibm no longer produces these goodies,
> unfortunately.  i would like to try a desktop trackpoint
> keyboard.  especially if it could be used in conjunction
> with a real mouse.

Maybe they're not as good an idea as they seem.  According to Douglas and
Mithal, it's faster to reach for the mouse than to use a TrackPoint.
Isometric joysticks are too hard to control due to their sensitivity to
involuntary tremors in the actuating finger, which means you'll spend
more time trying to put the cursor where you want it that you'll save
by not reaching your hand to the mouse and back.

Still, it might be nice for gross movements like scrolling or selecting
a window.  Pie menus would be an ideal application.


The Effect of Reducing Homing Time on the Speed of a Finger-Controlled
Isometric Pointing Device [1]

Differences in Movement Microstructure of the Mouse and the Finger-Controlled
Isometric Joystick [2]

[1] http://portal.acm.org/ft_gateway.cfm?id=191805&type=pdf&coll=&dl=acm&CFID=15151515&CFTOKEN=6184618
[2] http://portal.acm.org/ft_gateway.cfm?id=238533&type=pdf