Comment by walterbell
3 years ago
20-year old MS Explorer trackballs are still $100 on eBay.
https://www.theverge.com/22958439/trackball-diy-building-plo...
> One friend commented that it looked like MS Trackball Explorer, an iconic trackball ... If you didn’t live through the ’90s and have never heard of a trackball, that’s more than understandable. For the uninitiated, a trackball is a pointing device similar to a mouse, except you use a tiny rolling sphere to move your cursor instead of moving the entire device. Trackballs used to be much more commonplace back in the day, and trackball diehards say it can be an easier and more ergonomic way of interfacing with UI, particularly for people with mobility impairments.
> Goofy name aside, the idea motivating Ploopy mirrors something that has been going around in the DIY keyboard community for a while; namely, open-source design and flexible firmware. The files for all the products Ploopy sells are on Github for anyone resourceful enough to have them fabricated, and the device itself runs QMK, one of a few lightweight keyboard firmwares out there.
Patent expired in 2020, https://old.reddit.com/r/Trackballs/comments/g6mneu/the_pate...
I'm considering switching to a trackball, but I don't know if it works well with a wide desktop (triple monitor).
A physically large trackball like MS Explorer has inertia for movement on a large desktop. When combined with a driver that supports acceleration for large distances and fine navigation for small distances, it can work well. Also needs less desktop traversal space than a mouse.
I stopped using mine from Logitech because while not in motion there's often just enough friction that I can't make a small cursor movement, and that got annoying. Maybe it's better in other models, not sure, but other than that it was pleasant to use.
That's either a product defect or a symptom of dust accumulating near the internal optical sensors. For the latter, turn the device upside down, pop out the trackball and use a small brush to remove visible dust.
Good ones are decent, as they save desktop space. Alas, left-handed ones are usually either low-quality ones, or twice as expensive as right-handed ones.