Right -- they're apples and ... orange farm machinery. The gyro mouse offers little more to the computer than any other mouse, AFAIK, unless maybe you mess with the winders drivows, :) The more advanced input devices offer much more, but then of course tend to rely on app-specific drivers.
In related news, I had the input-device fever about a year ago, and acquired both a small graphire tablet, and also a Contour jog/shuttle dial. YMMV, but I've found the jog/shuttle to be the best accomplice to the mouse, so far, for most general use. It also has app-specific drivers, but AFAICT the jog/shuttle maps to scrolling by default, which can be helpful to be able to scroll a little or a lot, separate from the mouse.... this kind of setup might best be cheaply emulated by using a 2nd dual-scrolling mouse, in Xwindows, and using just those two scroll wheels (remove ball or tape over optical sensor), with the "other hand" (aside from regular mouse use)... although the jog/shuttle has 5 buttons of its own, this allows for finer control as you might imagine. I forget how many weeks ago, but we had a recent discussion of using a 2nd or 3rd mouse just to have a button (or maybe scroll wheel) available to ones *feet*... :) ciao, ben On 6/15/07, larry price <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
something like this http://www.mpb-technologies.ca/mpbt/haptics/hand_controllers/cubic/cubic.html On 6/15/07, Brian Gallagher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The SpaceNavigator from 3dconnexion was what I was going to buy before I saw > the in-air mouse from Gyration. I've got a bad feeling about the mouse's > performance for CAD (based on price,) but I got to try. > > I did see this Praying Mantis looking input device (pen mounted to a > parallelogram armature that swiveled on a base) that a guy was using in the > bonus materials of some CGI movie, (Incredibles?) I can't remember. It > looked one of a kind and very expensive. > > > > On 6/15/07, Bob Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Ben Barrett wrote: > > > > > So, Xwindows experts: Anyone care to comment on how deeply X would have > > > to be re-engineered to handle multiple points of input? > > > > Oooh, ooh, I get to pretend I'm an expert! (-: > > > > X already handles multiple input devices. At this very moment my > > laptop has a trackpad, a trackpoint, and a USB mouse, and I can use > > any/all of them to push the cursor around. (When I'm at home, I use > > all those PLUS synergy to push it around from another computer's > > mouse.) > > > > But I think you're asking for multiple cursors. That's harder. > > There's a deep relationship between the cursor focus and the keyboard > > focus, and if you added more cursors, you'd have to define how > > they all affect keyboard focus. Among other things. > > > > I've worked with applications that used separate pointer input > > devices, but they didn't access the device through X. For example, > > AVS (Advanced Visualization System, www.avs.com) could use a Spaceball > > (a 6-axis input device, www.3dconnexion.com) in addition to a mouse. > > The mouse went through X, and the Spaceball always went directly to a > > 3D viewport. > > > > I've seen CAD systems with similar things (mouse plus pen input), and > > I've seen experienced users work them in both hands very productively. > > Sorry, I can't remember the name of the CAD system. It was an > > integrated HW/SW product from the 1980s. > > > > But those are both specialized apps that bypass X for at least one of > > their inputs. > > > > -- > > Bob Miller K<bob> > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > _______________________________________________ > > EUGLUG mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug > > > > > _______________________________________________ > EUGLUG mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug > > _______________________________________________ EUGLUG mailing list [email protected] http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug
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