extra degrees of freedom on mice
r...@greenend.org.uk
3-button Logitech thing, with a wheel as the third button - you can
either click it or turn it. It doesn't turn smoothly - it has a fixed
number of positions it can be in (which has the advantage that
clicking won't disturb it).
Applications suggested in the manual include scrolling windows
vertically and zooming in and out. Another one I thought of was menu
selection - start to move it and a menu pops up, each step you move it
moves the point to a different menu item. Click and you select.
In a mouse-controlled game you might use it to control e.g. forward
thrust while the normal movement controlled the direction you pointed
in. Clicking it could activate an afterburner or hyperdrive or
something.
What else could you do with it?
--
http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/
NB - I have moved; see web pages for new address and phone number.
Christopher Samuel
r...@greenend.org.uk doodled:
> While we're talking about GUIs, my new mouse arrived today. It's a
> 3-button Logitech thing, with a wheel as the third button - you can
> either click it or turn it. It doesn't turn smoothly - it has a fixed
> number of positions it can be in (which has the advantage that
> clicking won't disturb it).
>
[deletia]
> What else could you do with it?
How about letting you edge up to those useful corners or drops in Quake
when you've got always run turned on ? :-)
--
Christopher Samuel +44 1684 894644 C.Sa...@eris.dera.gov.uk
N-115, Defence Evaluation & Research Agency, St Andrews Road, Malvern, UK
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed above are entirely those of the author and
do not represent the views, policy or understanding of any other entity.
Alistair J. R. Young
rjk <r...@greenend.org.uk> (== rjk)
praised Shub-Internet thus:
> While we're talking about GUIs, my new mouse arrived today. It's a
> 3-button Logitech thing, with a wheel as the third button - you can
> either click it or turn it. It doesn't turn smoothly - it has a fixed
> number of positions it can be in (which has the advantage that
> clicking won't disturb it).
[snip]
> What else could you do with it?
Well, even though it doesn't turn smoothly, I had considered taking
advantage of it to move the pointer in the Z-direction in a 3d
desktop.
Now, if only I could come up with a compelling reason (as opposed to
merely nifty and/or cute reasons) to *have* a 3d desktop in the first
place...
Alistair
--
Computational Thaumaturge -- Sysimperator, dominus retis deusque machinarum.
e-mail: avata...@arkane.demon.co.uk WWW: http://www.arkane.demon.co.uk/
Wanted: Kernel hacker to develop memory-management subsystem for new free
non-Unixalike operating system. No cash, only credit and the end result
offered. Email: <laura-...@arkane.demon.co.uk> if interested.
Matt McLeod
>On 14 Oct 1998 01:29:20 +0100, in message <wwvbtng...@sfere.greenend.org.uk>,
>rjk <r...@greenend.org.uk> (== rjk)
>praised Shub-Internet thus:
>
>> While we're talking about GUIs, my new mouse arrived today. It's a
>> 3-button Logitech thing, with a wheel as the third button - you can
>> either click it or turn it. It doesn't turn smoothly - it has a fixed
>> number of positions it can be in (which has the advantage that
>> clicking won't disturb it).
>
>[snip]
>
>> What else could you do with it?
>
>Well, even though it doesn't turn smoothly, I had considered taking
>advantage of it to move the pointer in the Z-direction in a 3d
>desktop.
>
>Now, if only I could come up with a compelling reason (as opposed to
>merely nifty and/or cute reasons) to *have* a 3d desktop in the first
>place...
Use it to replace "workspaces". So your total work space is
more like a cube rather than the current usual grid.
(Or so speaks a man who has only two workspaces anyway -
"Work" and "Play")
--
Matt McLeod "I'd love to go out with you,
A BOFH for all seasons but I'm attending the opening
<ma...@netizen.com.au> of my garage door."
http://www.netizen.com.au/~matt/
Alistair J. R. Young
Matt McLeod <ma...@netizen.com.au> (== matt)
praised Shub-Internet thus:
> Alistair J. R. Young wrote:
>> On 14 Oct 1998 01:29:20 +0100, in message <wwvbtng...@sfere.greenend.org.uk>,
>> rjk <r...@greenend.org.uk> (== rjk)
>> praised Shub-Internet thus:
>>
>>> While we're talking about GUIs, my new mouse arrived today. It's a
>>> 3-button Logitech thing, with a wheel as the third button - you can
>>> either click it or turn it. It doesn't turn smoothly - it has a fixed
>>> number of positions it can be in (which has the advantage that
>>> clicking won't disturb it).
Interestingly enough, my new Logitech trackball also has a Magic
Scroll Thing, except that in its case you hold the button while moving
the ball.
>> [snip]
>>
>>> What else could you do with it?
>>
>> Well, even though it doesn't turn smoothly, I had considered taking
>> advantage of it to move the pointer in the Z-direction in a 3d
>> desktop.
>>
>> Now, if only I could come up with a compelling reason (as opposed to
>> merely nifty and/or cute reasons) to *have* a 3d desktop in the first
>> place...
> Use it to replace "workspaces". So your total work space is
> more like a cube rather than the current usual grid.
This one I had thought of, to some extent. Problem is, unless you do
some fancy 3d-perspective things, you end up with just a big stack of
windows with hot-keying (hot-mouseing?) certain ones to the top -
which is a mess that workspaces actually let you get away from.
If you *do* use said fancy 3d-perspective thing, I don't think you
gain enough over workspaces - except for clutter and cuteness - to
make it worth the pain and overhead of implementing.
> (Or so speaks a man who has only two workspaces anyway -
> "Work" and "Play")
For those who want a sickeningly cute interface to workspaces, have a
3d polyhedron floating in the corner of your screen. Each face is a
workspace - grab it with your mouse, and twist until the right face is
facing you. Drop.
Processor cycles? What processor cycles?
(I suspect this isn't quite as bad as the icons that come forward and
offer themselves to be clicked on when you point at them, or retreat
and put up a fence around themselves...)