Mouse Alternatives
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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
John M. Drescher wrote:
does not work well if you can not keep your eyes wide open.
Asians can't use them then?
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Or a church organ player! These usually have a second (or usually third or fourth) keyboard (named a "manual") that is played with the feet, providing all the really low notes. Similarly a concert harp requires both hands to pluck, whilst the feet move seven pedals up and down to select different notes. My point is that these skills can obviously be learnt where there is a need, or they are sufficiently useful. The same is true of touch typing. The fact most of us do not have these skills presently is irrelevant.
I wasn't saying they couldn't be learnt. I was merely pointing out that fine motor skills in the legs/ankles/feet are much less common than in the hands for your typical population.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
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
Don't look now, Marc, but you've got a univoter lurking about.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
Don't look now, Marc, but you've got a univoter lurking about.
Software Zen:
delete this;Gary Wheeler wrote:
Don't look now, Marc, but you've got a univoter lurking about.
Heh, that's the least of my problems. ;) 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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The best mouse alternative is usually the keyboard. Learning keyboard shortcuts takes a bit of effort but for common operations gives a much faster result.
The keyboard is definitely the way to go. If you want to be more productive unplug your mouse for a day or 2 and learn the shortcuts. Maybe I take this to the extreme but I also: * Use key mapping software to bind common tasks to keys * Use third party desktop management and window switching software * Memorize, practice and time doing complex tasks only with they keyboard Basically if there are more than a few steps to doing something it should be automated via some sort of script.
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Gary Wheeler wrote:
Don't look now, Marc, but you've got a univoter lurking about.
Heh, that's the least of my problems. ;) Marc
I'm not overthinking the problem, I just felt like I needed a small, unimportant, uninteresting rant! - Martin Hart Turner
Same here. Thus far today I've visited a customer site, installed a bug fix that worked but another part of the app failed, reverted the software, bowed, scraped, and humbled myself for the customer, and come back here. The two guys involved in the part that failed have earned my wrath, and I have revoked their candy jar privileges for the duration.
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
Ok... out of curiosity I ripped apart an old shoe and a mouse i had lying around and i made this frankenstein of a shoe mouse. I found it to be very uncomfortable. I hope that helps.
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John M. Drescher wrote:
does not work well if you can not keep your eyes wide open.
Asians can't use them then?
Ouch
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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
That is a great idea for the rest of us. I had been thinking of the childern born in India with three or more arms. How natural it would be to use a mouse without taking your hands off the keyboard. (I couldn't wait for us humans to evolve that third arm.) But, for those of us with only two hands, I think I could get used to a foot mouse. Heck, they had something like that for sewing machines for decades. Only, now evolve it to allow multi-direction movement and toe presses. We could start using muscles we never knew we had. You should sell (mention) this idea to Microsoft. It may sound stupid at first, but anything that makes the job easier. You can't expect software to do it all.
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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: )
How well can you use a touch screen without taking your hands off of the keyboard (assuming that you have a detached monitor)? Unless you get a third hand, someone else's help, or use your feet, you can still try your nose.
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How well can you use a touch screen without taking your hands off of the keyboard (assuming that you have a detached monitor)? Unless you get a third hand, someone else's help, or use your feet, you can still try your nose.
A) Use it the same way as mouse, but screen touching is far more accurate than the mouse. You'll be faster. B) Running on-screen keyboard may do the trick. Actually it is a better variant, since your two hands will cover most part of the screen, then you can access on-screen keyboard and something on the other side of the screen in no-time.
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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'm quite happy with something similar to this: <a href="http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/gbweb/LenovoPortal/en\_GB/catalog.workflow:item.detail?GroupID=38&Code=55Y9041¤t-category-id=E9ADAEB6787146E29B78400A33E7FE8A&&hide\_menu\_area=yes">http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/gbweb/LenovoPortal/en\_GB/catalog.workflow:item.detail?GroupID=38&Code=55Y9041¤t-category-id=E9ADAEB6787146E29B78400A33E7FE8A&&hide\_menu\_area=yes</a>[<a href="http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/gbweb/LenovoPortal/en\_GB/catalog.workflow:item.detail?GroupID=38&Code=55Y9041¤t-category-id=E9ADAEB6787146E29B78400A33E7FE8A&&hide\_menu\_area=yes" target="_blank" title="New Window">^</a>] (Laptop keyboard with trackpoint and spirit board)