Re: [OT] How big are Logitech's balls?

[sloopy <sloopym@comcast.net>]

On Thu, 2004-03-25 at 20:29, Pigeon wrote:
> Logitech do some rather neat optical trackballs, called "Marble", with
> a speckledy ball to give the optical sensor something to work on.
> 
> Unfortunately they are all very decidedly asymmetrical and
> right-handed only.
> 
> I have a Trust Ami Track trackball, which is sensibly designed: it is
> bilaterally symmetrical and equally suitable for right- or left-handed
> use. Unfortunately it uses mechanical pickup, with the attendant
> disadvantage of picking up finger grease which causes it to stop
> working.
> 
> So I've whacked an optical sensor in it, and speckled the ball by hand
> with a felt pen. This took ages, and sooner or later I'm afraid the
> speckles are going to wear off. No doubt the Logitech speckled balls
> are more durably marked, so it would be worth my while to get a
> Logitech optical trackball just for the ball, as long as it's the
> right size.
> 
> If anyone on the list has one of the Logitech devices, could you
> please measure the diameter of the ball and let me know? Please be as
> accurate as you can. The Trust needs a 40mm diameter ball; the
> tolerance is something around +/-0.5mm.
> 
> TIA,

'ello,

although i dont know the size of the logitech ball, i personally prefer
the the kensington 'Turbo Mouse' which uses an ambidexterous design
which i prefer, i use it both left and right handed without any
problems, and the linux kernel recognizes it specifically... i
personally have an older macintosh version which is 4-5 years old (it is
a version 5.0) which i upgraded to from the 4.0 only because the 4.0
only has two buttons... but my 4.0 is about 10 years old and still works
with no problem... i have used them exclusivly since '91 so i know they
are very durable... here is a link to the list of models they have...

http://www.kensington.com/html/1436.html

i have the 8th one down... to give you an idea of the size of the ball,
mine has a billiard ball in it (i dont care much for small track balls
personally...)

sloopy.