Dear Heimo,
The Cirque company makes a line of touchpads that they call
"Glidepoint"s. Their most recent line of touchpads are the "Cruise
Cat, Power Cat, Smart Cat, and Easy Cat" line. See:
http://www.cirque.com/welcome.html
While they do make a claim as to having "no moving parts", that's
not quite true - the buttons move, and do wear out. However, I've
been using my one at work, 8 hours a day, for over 3 years now,
and the "left-mouse-button" (software mappable) is just beginning
to wear out.
I am a firm convert to touchpads - I have them everywhere that I
have a computer that uses a mouse. They work well with DOS,
Win 9x, NT, 2000, and Linux, as even without any drivers, they
emulate a two-button mouse. With drivers, you get neat features
like remapping the buttons, and adjusting the tracking rate more
precisely. And using them has been a huge reduction in strain on
my elbows and arms.
They are a little pricier (US$50-70) than a standard two-button
mouse, but you save money in the long run. Pretty immune to dirt,
hair, grease, etc., especially if you clean with a damp cloth every
now and again.
To use, you just move a finger across the pad, and the pointer
slides across the screen. To click, tap your finger. To double-click,
double-tap. (Or use the buttons, if you prefer!) And click-and-drag is
as easy as tap-and-drag. Admittedly, it did take me the best part
of a week to get really comfortable with the motions - but I'm glad I
took the time to give it a chance.
Wonderful little replacements for a standard mouse or trackball, or
those miserable little pointing sticks that IBM's so fond of.
Anthony J. Albert
On 16 Mar 00, at 1:33, hammer wrote:
> Yolanda - what's a "cirque glidepoint" ?!
> Never seen the like (or what I would imagine under that term);
> touchpads though seem quite robust and non-clogging too. But they are
> rectangular.
>
> And why do you call it a cat ?! Hat it/he/she antennas, moustache,
> nice fur, and does nicely purr ?
>
> // Heimo Claasen // <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> // Brussels 2000-03-16
> HomePage of ReRead - and much to read ==> http://www.inti.be/hammer
>
> LAP TOP: Whar the kitty sleeps. (remember ?)
>
==============================================================
Anthony J. Albert [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Systems and Software Support Specialist Postmaster
Computer Services - University of Maine, Presque Isle
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