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You might think of the touchpad as an input device most commonly associated with the laptop, as the slayer of the trackball and the pointing stick, but they’ve actually been around longer than that. As far back as 1983, Apollo built touchpads into keyboards, as seen in the picture above. Though perhaps doomed to be made obsolete by the touchscreen, the touchpad still holds a place dear to our hearts.
The term “pointing stick” is the generic descriptor for the whole class of rubber doodads that we prefer to call “mouse nubbins.” Known more specifically as TrackPoint, Pointstick, StickPoint, and similar others, these are the little rubber caps found on laptop keyboards that allow you to maneuver the mouse by applying slight directional pressure. Once a dominant mobile input device, the pointing stick has largely been replaced by the touchpad, though some laptop models still offer both.
There’s no written rule that says a mouse has to be used with hands. The NoHands mouse is a pedal-based controller that lets you control your desktop cursor by moving your feet. You use one foot to rock on a pedal to navigate the pointer, and the other foot is used for left and right clicks. Besides the obvious use of the NoHands mouse for users with carpal tunnel syndrome or other wrist injuries, we know a few people who use foot-operated controllers in addition to hand-driven mice, such as for activating macros in games or even as a hidden boss key.
It’s difficult to imagine the graphic design industry without the presence of Wacom tablets. Since 1983, Wacom has been developing and improving graphic tablets that have changed the way artists work with computers. In addition to their pressure-sensitive surfaces and pen digitizers, Wacom also licenses their technology for Tablet PCs. But the most notable Wacom product in recent memory has to be the Cintiq, which combined a computer display with digitizer. The tablet/screen hybrid idea let artists draw directly on the display surface, so they could instantly visualize their work. Since launching the line with 15” Cintiqs in 2000, Wacom has improved its technology work with tablets up to 21”, with a resolution of 1600x1200.
File this under “emerging technologies.” Over the past five years, researchers have been experimenting with various forms of eye-tracking technologies that will let users control their computers with their gaze. In 2006, a Queen’s University study tested gamer satisfaction using an eye-tracking mod for Quake 2 and Neverwinter Nights, reporting that 83 percent of subjects felt an increased level of immersion when using their eyes to replace the mouselook function in game. In 2007, researchers at the Blekinge Institute of Technology repeated the experiment using a mod for Half-Life 2. Once again, players reacted positively to the test. No consumer hardware or software has been announced to take advantage of eye-tracking technologies, but it’s something we’re looking forward to trying out in the future.
The OCZ Neural Impulse Actuator, which debuted last year, is the first in what will most likely soon be a crowded market for commercial mind-computer interface devices. In other words: it lets you play games with your mind, by detecting changes in the electrical fields in your brain. The really amazing thing? It actually works—after just a little bit of practice you can run around and shoot your gun by variously thinking, straining, and furrowing your brow. Sure, it’s not good enough to actually win a game yet, but it’s an incredibly promising first step.
If the SpaceOrb is the past of 6DoF controllers, the SpacePilot Pro is its future. Logitech , who folded the SpaceOrb’s makers into its 3DConnexion brand, has fully embraced the potential for 6DoF in 3D design and modeling. With more than 20 buttons, a built-in LCD for controlling program functions and a $400 pricetag the SpacePilot Pro is professional hardware through and through. Still, it’s still hard not to want one, just a little.
Comments are closed on this article
stoneyface
November 30, 2009 at 6:12pm
i am an ergodex user and have loved this board since i unwrapped it several years ago now. i am a disabled gamer and without the ergodex i could not play any computer games that require some sort of keyboard input. my fingers are messed up and odd bent from the effects of arthritis and being able to put the keys wherever my fingers actually hit was a godsend. when i first started reading this article i thought to myself, "they better have my ergodex in there..." sure enough, it's there! what a blessing this board has become as i frag to the limit in the call of duty series or just romp around in age of conan or champions.
THANK YOU ERGODEX!!!
stoneyface
November 30, 2009 at 6:09pm
i am an ergodex user and have loved this board since i unwrapped it several years ago now. i am a disabled gamer and without the ergodex i could not play any computer games that require some sort of keyboard input. my fingers are messed up and odd bent from the effects of arthritis and being able to put the keys wherever my fingers actually hit was a godsend. when i first started reading this article i thought to myself, "they better have my ergodex in there..." sure enough, it's there! what a blessing this board has become as i frag to the limit in the call of duty series or just romp around in age of conan or champions.
THANK YOU ERGODEX!!!
K0BALT
November 26, 2009 at 8:07pm
I used Logitech's Marble Trackball when I first started getting into gaming..... it was great for Half-Life 2... Sadly, i've upgraded to the Logitech G9 mouse... when this thing finally dies, I may go back to my trackball.... once you get used to it, it's awesome. Very precise.
CyyberSpaceCowboy
November 25, 2009 at 9:38pm
www.warmouse.com Eighteen programmable buttons, a scroll wheel, and a thumb stick. It's said the OpenOffice.COM guys had their name remove once they saw the pictures (now just the OO_Mouse).
zerokool
November 30, 2009 at 10:59am
Us windows guys wouldn't be caught dead with a thing that looked that whack on our desks. Apparently you haven't seen the Razer Naga bro. That thing is teh weaksauce compared to the Razer =P
MµDiyéh
November 24, 2009 at 8:21pm
Nintendo Powerglove: a testament to the ingenuity and adaptability of pc hackers.
querzus
November 24, 2009 at 7:55pm
who's that girl in the cover? I know its a 1997 cover but she's pretty!
JohnP
November 24, 2009 at 4:44pm
Let me count the ways. My college son still uses the original MS split keyboard at a blistering pace. I have one more as a spare.
HeartBurnKid
November 24, 2009 at 4:16pm
It's not so much a piece of hardware as a set of schematics and drivers for rolling your own, but I would have put Direct Pad Pro on the list. It was the first time there was an easy way to use console pads on a PC, and thus it opened up a whole market for PS2-to-PC adapters, console controller clones, and eventually using the 360 controller on Windows.
Bustout
November 24, 2009 at 2:30pm
"typing on a keyboard with no tactile feedback whatsoever is pure torture." You could be describing my iPhone....
robbie8317
November 24, 2009 at 1:52pm
I've got a Microsoft Trackball Explorer and wish that, at the very least, Microsoft would license someone else to make it. It is VERY long in the tooth and I'd like to know of a replacement before it gives up the ghost.
TrackBall
November 24, 2009 at 12:32pm
I have been using trackballs for gameing since BF1942
There are just some things you can do with a trackball you cant do with a mouse. in 1942 loop de loops are easy with a tb conventional mouse deadly and another kill to my stats.
BF Vietnam: Same thing but switch planes with helicopters.
Now days I use what I consider to be by & far the best Trackball ever. Made by kensington.
I will pwn you ! Bringzit
TimberWolf
November 24, 2009 at 12:07pm
I still use a logitech marble mouse track ball. Greatest mouse ever!
zodi
November 24, 2009 at 10:43am
Thrustmaster HOTAS and rudder pedals. I know CH had a mention but Thrustmaster did have a much superior product with the flight simulation crowd, and it was ground breaking at the time.
Chuckles
November 26, 2009 at 5:46am
How can you mention the CH stuff without mentioning the Thrustmaster.
I had the original thrustmaster joystick and wcs (the one with the dip switches), to the wcs II (programable), to the FLCS, TQS, and F22. I actually bought a cheapo soundcard 2-3 years ago after various upgrades left me without a joystick port to still be able to use the f22 and tqs (with the Bob Church's modded digital chips...yes someone designed new chips for it). RIP, Buzz Hoffman, you brought me years of enjoyment!
gendoikari1
November 24, 2009 at 6:54pm
Hehe... double entendre; Thrustmaster is bad on its own, but combined with HOTAS(S)? Giggle-worthy.
PokeyJones
November 24, 2009 at 8:16am
One device type i didn't see make the list is the Space Explorer type "mouse" produced by 3Dconnexion. found here (http://www.3dconnexion.com/3dmouse/overview.php) this mouse allows movement on x, y, and z axis and come in models with varying numbers of buttons and functions. The device is used mostly in CAD, CAM and Solid Modeling applications, but i've occasionaly wondered if somewhere there is a gamer that loves the Space Cadets.
Guess i shoud have read all the way to the end. LAST item in the article...
tweeve
November 24, 2009 at 3:03am
I still have a Logitech MX1000, I bought it soon after it hit the market, Still works fine today. Battery life isnt what it use to be, but the mouse works great.
I also still have the original Microsoft sidewinder joystick, too bad you cant find any computers that can use it due to it using a midi/game port. As far as I know it still works, I havent found a system that it will run on in over a year. Though I know Win XP will detect it and install the correct drivers for it.
I also have a OCZ Neural Impulse Actuator, that thing is fun. More of a gimick than anything, but my brother got fairly good at using it. I was starting to get the hang of it before I stoped using it. I might have to break it out again and see if I can make it work for me again.
Muerte
November 24, 2009 at 2:18pm
I believe ther is an adapter for this that converts the pins to USB. It actually came with mine but that was almost 10 years? ago.
I dunno. I've had it forever.
Richard Smith
November 24, 2009 at 2:00am
I have six or seven IBM model "M" keyboards. They are the best of the best. I'm writing this on one now. Every time I go into a thrift-store/flea-market I look for model "M" keyboards.
Hutif
November 23, 2009 at 11:27pm
I remember having those pointing sticks on my old laptops. They always made to feel a little uncomfortable rotating that coarse, rubber nipple...
Zyryn
November 23, 2009 at 9:10pm
Back in '99, I purchased a Logitech iFeel Mouseman, and it worked great with the game "Black & White." Force feedback through the mouse was pretty darned cool! I still have this mouse, and use it regularly on my laptop....as a person with long fingers, it fits perfectly in my palm and is very comfortable to use, even though it is much larger than even standard PC mouses (mice?). Sadly, I lost the original driver CD long ago, and Logitech no longer offers the original drivers for it.....so it only works as a basic 3-button +1 scroll mouse. It still works great, but on the downside (as has always been the case with this mouse), it tends to get a little warm, resulting in unwanted hand-sweat during long usage. Ewww! Oh well...
ZYRYN
"...and the sea shall grant each man new hope, as sleep brings dreams...of home."
--Christopher Columbus
gendoikari1
November 23, 2009 at 8:45pm
I wish my keyboard had a nipple mouse on it... also, boot's covers were awesome.
praetor_alpha
November 24, 2009 at 4:55pm
Why don't more people call it a nipple?
My school gave everyone Thinkpads, and everyone said nipple.
HeartBurnKid
November 24, 2009 at 4:27pm
http://www.geek.com/articles/chips/review-lenovo-thinkpad-ultranav-keyboard-20090325/
