Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!snorkelwacker!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!batcomputer!cornell!vax8530!pv9y
From: pv9y@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: a plea to Apple -- something for the offhand
Message-ID: <4757.26a6ce67@vax5.cit.cornell.edu>
Date: 20 Jul 90 13:27:02 GMT
References: <1412@gazette.bcm.tmc.edu> <30061.26a665ae@vaxb.acs.unt.edu>
Distribution: comp
Lines: 46

At various times my girlfriend has tried using a trackball with her
feet and she said that it would take a little practice but that it
seemed like it could be done relatively easily. Then the trackball
died so we never messed with it any more. There were of course some
problems, such as what to do in the winter when it was too cold to
take your shoes (or possibly socks as well) off, or if your feet
sweated a lot in the summer, etc. I suspect some enterprising
engineers could get around the environmental problems with clever
design though.


just a thought ........... Adam


In article <30061.26a665ae@vaxb.acs.unt.edu>, ac08@vaxb.acs.unt.edu ((C. Irby)) writes:
> In article <1412@gazette.bcm.tmc.edu>, jgsmith@watson.bcm.tmc.edu (James G. Smith) writes:
>> I should make this plea to the whole pc community, but heck, I have some
>> admiration for companies with major R&D.
>> 
>> This is a plea for someone to come up with an input device for the off hand/
>> non mouse-using hand.  I would suggest a dial or pair of dials.  The immediate
>> use that I see for such a device would be to scroll the active window (one 
>> dial for horizontal and one for vertical).  The best example I know of where
>> such a system was implemented (I think very effectively) was the video game
>> Tempest.
> 
> This is going on in another string...
> 
> Why not use the built-in shift, command, option, and control keys?
> 
> It's what I do all day... trust me, it's easy...
> 
>> 
>> *
>> (Ted Nelson may have made such a statement in Computer Lib (his book), in which case he may also claim a patent or copyright or some such.)
> -- 
>                        || 
> C Irby                 || "In one 8 hour period, I worked on a VAX, a
> ac08@vaxb.acs.unt.edu  ||  Macintosh, three MS-DOS clones, a Novell server,
> ac08@untvax            ||  a Unix box, and an Apple IIGS.
>                        ||  And people wonder why my concentration is 
-- 
Adam C. Engst                                pv9y@vax5.cit.cornell.edu   
----------------------------------------------------------------------          
"I ain't worried and I ain't scurried and I'm having a good time"               
                                                           -Paul Simon