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From: bob@osu-eddie.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: Exotic Interface Query
Message-ID: <3419@osu-eddie.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 7-Apr-87 20:29:15 EST
Article-I.D.: osu-eddi.3419
Posted: Tue Apr  7 20:29:15 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 11-Apr-87 03:04:57 EST
References: <8704061322.AA23763@ATHENA>
Reply-To: bob@osu-eddie.UUCP (Bob Sutterfield)
Distribution: world
Organization: The Ohio State University Dept of Computer & Information Science
Lines: 28
Summary: try a trackball

In article <8704061322.AA23763@ATHENA> sas@BFLY-VAX.BBN.COM (Seth Steinberg) writes:
>I am motor impaired and find it tedious and stressful to use a mouse.
>I can touch type and don't mind learning a few new keystrokes.

Seth,
	Not to deter you from your original search for a button-driven
window manager, but are you able to use a trackball?  It is a pointing
device that is essentially a mechanical ball mouse lying on its back,
and you stroke the ball directly with your fingertips.  They are used
in several arcade games.  A trackball requires far simpler large motor
use than a mouse, and you seem to have sufficient small motor
(fingertips for typing) ability to handle it.
	The Sun `Catalyst' catalog (a listing of 3rd-party things that
work with Suns, compiled and distributed seasonally by Sun) lists two
or three trackballs that claim to be plug-compatible with the optical
mouse that Sun sells.  This would mean that X could never tell the
difference, and you could continue to use and develop the same
interfaces as the rest of the upright-rodent-bound world.
	Disclaimer: As much as I would like to, I have never used a
trackball, but it sure seems like a nifty idea to play with for a
while.  Also, I have no financial interest in either Sun or any
peripheral manufacturers.
	I hope you find a solution that works for you.
-- 
 Bob Sutterfield, Department of Computer and Information Science
 The Ohio State University; 2036 Neil Ave. Columbus OH USA 43210-1277
 bob@ohio-state.{arpa,csnet} or ...!cb{osgd,att}!osu-eddie!bob
 (614)292-7348 (office) or -0915 (operators) or -7325 (answering machine)