Mouse Alternatives
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I had a thought last night - improving productivity using a foot controlled mouse - keeping hands free for the keyboard. 90% of life in VS is keyboard driven, with shortcuts, chords, etc, but you still seem to have to jump to the mouse every now and again - this got me thinking last night that my feet don't do a lot when I'm coding (other than being mauled by the dog when she wants some attention). I was wondering if anyone has tried an alternate cursor control method, a quick Google found that there are foot mice and ones that react to head movement. Cheers Tom
Chris et al spent ages looking for Mouse Alternatives, and had to settle on Hamsters!
------------------------------------ In science, 'fact' can only mean 'confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.' I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms. Stephen J Gould
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Tom John wrote:
improving productivity using a foot controlled mouse
No offends, but are you a manager?
50-50-90 rule: Anytime I have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability I'll get it wrong...!!
d@nish wrote:
No offends, but are you a manager?
How could that not be offensive? :laugh:
Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]
I only read code that is properly indented, and rendered in a non-proportional font; hint: use PRE tags in forum messages
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I had a thought last night - improving productivity using a foot controlled mouse - keeping hands free for the keyboard. 90% of life in VS is keyboard driven, with shortcuts, chords, etc, but you still seem to have to jump to the mouse every now and again - this got me thinking last night that my feet don't do a lot when I'm coding (other than being mauled by the dog when she wants some attention). I was wondering if anyone has tried an alternate cursor control method, a quick Google found that there are foot mice and ones that react to head movement. Cheers Tom
I'd imagine that foot mice are good preperation for playing the drums.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
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I'd imagine that foot mice are good preperation for playing the drums.
Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.
Can you imagine the results of using a foot mouse, combined with a good MP3 player, used by a programmer who really gets into the music (ie, foot tapping, chair dancing, etc)? :-D Come to think of it, this might explain Vista...:suss:
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
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A good method would be to use an ocular tracking device found in the miltary (similar to the AH64 Longbow). Although this isn't commercially available it would make a great product for a start up.
Software Kinetics (requires SL3 beta) - Moving software
Norm .net wrote:
Although this isn't commercially available it would make a great product for a start up.
Nonsense, there are lots of eye trackers commercially available: http://asleyetracking.com/site/Products/MobileEye/tabid/70/Default.aspx[^] http://www.sr-research.com/EL_II.html[^] http://www.smivision.com/en/eye-gaze-tracking-systems/products/iview-x-hed.html[^] I don't think they are quite at the stage where you could pick one up at Best Buy, nor are they priced for the average consumer. But they do exist.
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Norm .net wrote:
Although this isn't commercially available it would make a great product for a start up.
Nonsense, there are lots of eye trackers commercially available: http://asleyetracking.com/site/Products/MobileEye/tabid/70/Default.aspx[^] http://www.sr-research.com/EL_II.html[^] http://www.smivision.com/en/eye-gaze-tracking-systems/products/iview-x-hed.html[^] I don't think they are quite at the stage where you could pick one up at Best Buy, nor are they priced for the average consumer. But they do exist.
Wjousts wrote:
I don't think they are quite at the stage where you could pick one up at Best Buy, nor are they priced for the average consumer.
Exactly.
Software Kinetics (requires SL3 beta) - Moving software
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I had a thought last night - improving productivity using a foot controlled mouse - keeping hands free for the keyboard. 90% of life in VS is keyboard driven, with shortcuts, chords, etc, but you still seem to have to jump to the mouse every now and again - this got me thinking last night that my feet don't do a lot when I'm coding (other than being mauled by the dog when she wants some attention). I was wondering if anyone has tried an alternate cursor control method, a quick Google found that there are foot mice and ones that react to head movement. Cheers Tom
IMO the developer spends 99.9% of the time thinking and only 0.01% typing/interacting with the IDE; hence the mouse/trackball/whatever input device cannot directly affects the productivity. Additionally how you going to use the “stinky mouse” scroll and how the hell I’ll play CoD 4 with my feet? If it will be a mouse alternative I would put my bet on some laser/infrared ring-like device on your point finger.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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IMO the developer spends 99.9% of the time thinking and only 0.01% typing/interacting with the IDE; hence the mouse/trackball/whatever input device cannot directly affects the productivity. Additionally how you going to use the “stinky mouse” scroll and how the hell I’ll play CoD 4 with my feet? If it will be a mouse alternative I would put my bet on some laser/infrared ring-like device on your point finger.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
Deyan Georgiev wrote:
If it will be a mouse alternative I would put my bet on some laser/infrared ring-like device on your point finger.
Or if you're using 2010 beta, on your middle finger :)
Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in? Author of Guardians of Xen (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel)
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Tom John wrote:
improving productivity using a foot controlled mouse
No offends, but are you a manager?
50-50-90 rule: Anytime I have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability I'll get it wrong...!!
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IMO the developer spends 99.9% of the time thinking and only 0.01% typing/interacting with the IDE; hence the mouse/trackball/whatever input device cannot directly affects the productivity. Additionally how you going to use the “stinky mouse” scroll and how the hell I’ll play CoD 4 with my feet? If it will be a mouse alternative I would put my bet on some laser/infrared ring-like device on your point finger.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
Deyan Georgiev wrote:
hell I’ll play CoD 4 with my feet
OK - here's the truth - I was actually playing WoW at the time and figured a decent foot solution would be reasonable for character control... then I figured the same "productivity" solutioin may help with coding... Busted!
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Norm .net wrote:
Although this isn't commercially available it would make a great product for a start up.
Nonsense, there are lots of eye trackers commercially available: http://asleyetracking.com/site/Products/MobileEye/tabid/70/Default.aspx[^] http://www.sr-research.com/EL_II.html[^] http://www.smivision.com/en/eye-gaze-tracking-systems/products/iview-x-hed.html[^] I don't think they are quite at the stage where you could pick one up at Best Buy, nor are they priced for the average consumer. But they do exist.
We played with $40K USA ones back 2 to 5 few years ago. Way too expensive, way too inaccurate, way too complicated to operate, does not work well with some eye glasses and finally does not work well if you can not keep your eyes wide open.
John
modified on Monday, November 30, 2009 9:52 AM
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I had a thought last night - improving productivity using a foot controlled mouse - keeping hands free for the keyboard. 90% of life in VS is keyboard driven, with shortcuts, chords, etc, but you still seem to have to jump to the mouse every now and again - this got me thinking last night that my feet don't do a lot when I'm coding (other than being mauled by the dog when she wants some attention). I was wondering if anyone has tried an alternate cursor control method, a quick Google found that there are foot mice and ones that react to head movement. Cheers Tom
Tom John wrote:
I was wondering if anyone has tried an alternate cursor control method
Might make for an interesting home project--converting an old electronic organ footpedals to a mouse control. Maybe the stops could be converted to macros. ;) Marc
I'm not overthinking the problem, I just felt like I needed a small, unimportant, uninteresting rant! - Martin Hart Turner
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Can you imagine the results of using a foot mouse, combined with a good MP3 player, used by a programmer who really gets into the music (ie, foot tapping, chair dancing, etc)? :-D Come to think of it, this might explain Vista...:suss:
"A Journey of a Thousand Rest Stops Begins with a Single Movement"
Roger Wright wrote:
foot tapping
Right, that's what would do me in.
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I had a thought last night - improving productivity using a foot controlled mouse - keeping hands free for the keyboard. 90% of life in VS is keyboard driven, with shortcuts, chords, etc, but you still seem to have to jump to the mouse every now and again - this got me thinking last night that my feet don't do a lot when I'm coding (other than being mauled by the dog when she wants some attention). I was wondering if anyone has tried an alternate cursor control method, a quick Google found that there are foot mice and ones that react to head movement. Cheers Tom
One problem: training and muscle memory. I imagine a foot-based solution will require substantial training time, since you are trying to get your leg/ankle/foot to perform a precision task. You already have the neural wiring to perform precise, rapid motions with your hands. Unless you're an Olympic gymnast, you probably don't have that kind of kinesthetic sense in your legs and feet.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
I had a thought last night - improving productivity using a foot controlled mouse - keeping hands free for the keyboard. 90% of life in VS is keyboard driven, with shortcuts, chords, etc, but you still seem to have to jump to the mouse every now and again - this got me thinking last night that my feet don't do a lot when I'm coding (other than being mauled by the dog when she wants some attention). I was wondering if anyone has tried an alternate cursor control method, a quick Google found that there are foot mice and ones that react to head movement. Cheers Tom
If we start using our feet into our work the term “coding monkeys” will be finally fully justified.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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I had a thought last night - improving productivity using a foot controlled mouse - keeping hands free for the keyboard. 90% of life in VS is keyboard driven, with shortcuts, chords, etc, but you still seem to have to jump to the mouse every now and again - this got me thinking last night that my feet don't do a lot when I'm coding (other than being mauled by the dog when she wants some attention). I was wondering if anyone has tried an alternate cursor control method, a quick Google found that there are foot mice and ones that react to head movement. Cheers Tom
I use my right foot for audio transcription control, not sure my left foot could cope with doing the spatial control. But I have a keyboard with a scroll wheel, back, forward, close, and edit (mark, cut, paste, copy) buttons (not keys, they don't repeat), clustered at the left end of keyboard, and a trackball at the right end above the number pad, so I rarely use the mouse or even the trackball in text intensive tasks. I use the mouse for web surfing, not sure that eyeball tracking would work for that. I'm often surprised at how many people aren't aware of the context menu button. On real keyboards it's usually wedged between the right alt & ctrl keys - I often see people grab the mouse just to do a right click.
"we shall patiently bear the trials that fate imposes on us" -- Anton Chekhov Uncle Vanya
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I had a thought last night - improving productivity using a foot controlled mouse - keeping hands free for the keyboard. 90% of life in VS is keyboard driven, with shortcuts, chords, etc, but you still seem to have to jump to the mouse every now and again - this got me thinking last night that my feet don't do a lot when I'm coding (other than being mauled by the dog when she wants some attention). I was wondering if anyone has tried an alternate cursor control method, a quick Google found that there are foot mice and ones that react to head movement. Cheers Tom
A lot of people use TrackIR for view movement in flight sims instead of using a mouse. There was one I used to use called headmouse which didn't require you to use a goofy headpiece though, it just tracked your head movement using a webcam. Found this, looks to be a continuation of the original of some sort. http://robotica.udl.es/headmouse/headmouse2/headmouse2e.html[^]
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IMO the developer spends 99.9% of the time thinking and only 0.01% typing/interacting with the IDE; hence the mouse/trackball/whatever input device cannot directly affects the productivity. Additionally how you going to use the “stinky mouse” scroll and how the hell I’ll play CoD 4 with my feet? If it will be a mouse alternative I would put my bet on some laser/infrared ring-like device on your point finger.
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
Deyan Georgiev wrote:
IMO the developer spends 99.9% of the time thinking and only 0.01% typing/interacting with the IDE
I think that distribution is a bit off. Or maybe I'm really good at thinking while I'm typing...
-- Kein Mitleid Für Die Mehrheit
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I had a thought last night - improving productivity using a foot controlled mouse - keeping hands free for the keyboard. 90% of life in VS is keyboard driven, with shortcuts, chords, etc, but you still seem to have to jump to the mouse every now and again - this got me thinking last night that my feet don't do a lot when I'm coding (other than being mauled by the dog when she wants some attention). I was wondering if anyone has tried an alternate cursor control method, a quick Google found that there are foot mice and ones that react to head movement. Cheers Tom
You might be interested in this: http://www.eyewriter.org/[^] which uses a hacked PS3 eye wired to some empty glasses, open source software available here[^], could presumably be used with any other suitable webcam etc video source. On the commercial side, I've tried the headmouse extreme[^] which is expensive, but not prohibitively if you have a need for mouse replacement (my wife destroyed her wrists/forearms writing her phd thesis). It works straight out of the box (appears as a usb mouse), mounts on your screen and tracks a dot you put on your head/hat/glasses but did seem to lead to a stiff neck from precise head movement.
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I had a thought last night - improving productivity using a foot controlled mouse - keeping hands free for the keyboard. 90% of life in VS is keyboard driven, with shortcuts, chords, etc, but you still seem to have to jump to the mouse every now and again - this got me thinking last night that my feet don't do a lot when I'm coding (other than being mauled by the dog when she wants some attention). I was wondering if anyone has tried an alternate cursor control method, a quick Google found that there are foot mice and ones that react to head movement. Cheers Tom
Is it the good ol' touch-screen for mouse moving not enough? However the mouse has an advantages. Most of the time (all of the time is more accurate) I didn't notice my right hand moves between mouse and keyboard when I change the mouse-clicking mode with keyboard-typing mode and vice versa. To be a programmer, that makes you really quick in hands movement. (And trust me, that helps you with the girls :laugh: )