From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2006 08:46:47 -0500 From: plan9@sigint.cs.purdue.edu To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@cse.psu.edu> Subject: Re: [9fans] Samterm up down key patch Message-ID: <20061116134647.GA7319@sigint.cs.purdue.edu> References: <40c778b9827aa0d0f86786c232cda248@coraid.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <40c778b9827aa0d0f86786c232cda248@coraid.com> Topicbox-Message-UUID: e1716fb8-ead1-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 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