From: uds@wsu-eng.eng.wayne.edu (Seetamraju Udaybhaskar)
Subject: Re: Portable pointing devices
Reply-To: uds@wsu-eng.eng.wayne.edu (Seetamraju Udaybhaskar)
Organization: Wayne State University, Detroit
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 18:05:51 GMT


Thanx to  douglas Baer,  for detalining the various features of
a trackman portable (and a clip-onmouse in general).

My notebook has a pen mouse. And I hate it.  I always drean
about buying a clip on portable-mouse.  To that end I called
various places, and the prices are not less $100.  The cheapest
(@ $99) are compusa and mail-order warehouses (like CDW and Damark).

I request anyome else who has bought a postable clip-on mouse to
emnail me with the proce and source, if the price is much less
than $99.  Am I being too demanding in asking for
a portbale mouse for < $99 ? (Shipping+H not included!)

(Digression : Is there a program that `reinstalls' a mouse
	after I pull out the mouse, while the computer is
	running, and re-insert the mouse LATER with
	the computer still running  and expect the mouse
	to work (without having to reboot again ?) -- especially
	I should be able to do this from one of the tasks of DOS5.0



Seetamraju Udaya Bhaskar Sarma
(email : seetam @ ece7 . eng . wayne . edu)


In article <1992Aug25.225853.1@uwovax.uwo.ca> baer@uwovax.uwo.ca writes:
>I own a Trackman, the portable version, and don't like it. I'll list my
>complaints below.   About 98% of my laptop use thus far has been at
>locations (often out of town) where I have access to a desk large enough
>to use a regular mouse, and I've just purchased a regular Logitech mouse
>for that purpose (same brand to make sure all my mouse drivers still work).
>I'll still use the Trackman for the rare instance where I need a pointing
>device on the train or plane, or for presentations (where there usually
>isn't enough room on the presentation table for a regular mouse alongside
>the overhead projector).
>
>Complaints:
>  1) Quality control, mostly.   When I first got the thing, the ball would
>  stick from time to time.  A good stiff push would get it rolling, but
>  by that time cadence has been broken and the pointing device becomes
>  more of a hassle than a help.   
>  2) Ditto, this time what appears to be an internal mouse electronics
>  problem.  After about 9 months of use, I now find that the mouse 
> doesn't properly move the cursor in the right direction under the 
> following conditions: a) mouse has been in use for between 45 min. 
>  and 1 hour.   Other axes sometimes stick a bit too, but not a major
>  problem.  Here, "sticking" refers to a situation in which the ball
>  moves fine, but there is no response on the screen.   (Works fine
>  for the first hour or so each use).  Often, it is necessary to move
>  to the left or in some other direction before a right-direction
>  response can be obtained.   A real pain.
>- on the above, have been trying to get my dealer to replace or repair
>under warrantee, but no luck so far.  Have receipt for notebook system +
>trackman, but no separate warrantee card for Logitech (though I routinely
>mail any such cards in).
>  3) General complaint, outside quality control: with a mouse, I can 
>make sweeping movements to get the cursor across the screen, or fine movements,
>just with my wrist.  With the trackman, this sort of discrim. is not possible.
>While you can adjust the "speed" , once set this speed is constant (as it is
>with a regular mouse), and with a roller-ball that limits you.
>
>In all fairness, some positives:
> - clip on devices (2 supplied) work well on almost all keyboards, laptop
> units.  There was a complaint in one of the PC mags about how it will
> cover up a floppy drive if the floppy is mounted on the side of the machine,
>  but on my machine I'm able to slip the floppy underneath it on the
>  rare instance where I need to use the floppy drive (this may not apply
>  to some really ultra-thin notebook models, though).
> - mouse buttons well located for "grip" action -- no real complaints 
>  about the transition from a 3 button mouse to the trackman with a mouse
>  button curling around the edge.
>
>
>
>> Golden Richard III             OSU Dept. of Computer and Information Science
>> grichard@cis.ohio-state.edu                                   (614) 292-0056
>-- 
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>Douglas Baer, Department of Sociology,
>University of Western Ontario, London, Canada N6A 5C2
>Internet: BAER@UWOVAX.UWO.CA   
>


Newsgroups: comp.sys.laptops