Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!think!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!hplabs!hpda!hpcuhb!hpindda!mintz
From: mintz@hpindda.HP.COM (Ken Mintz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: help with deciding what mouse to Buy
Message-ID: <4330075@hpindda.HP.COM>
Date: 1 May 88 20:41:52 GMT
References: <40159GTI@PSUVM>
Organization: HP Technical Networks, Cupertino, Calif.
Lines: 45

> >BTW, the Logitech Mouse is an optomechanical mouse.  ...I see it as
> > combining the bad with the good (viz., the dust-sucking trackball).
>
> I've been using the Logitech Bus Mouse for a year now.  It's reliable....

  I hope it didn't sound like I was trying to knock Logitech.  I was simply
  trying to make an uncommon (unpopular?) observation.

> I've got the three button variety and have NEVER had a use for the third
> button except in mouse script work written for the Logitech.

  That's my understanding, and the Byte review makes the same observation.  I'd
  like to hear from people who know of some 3B applications and games.  The
  only one I know about is either EGA Paint or PC Paint ... I forget which one.

> I wish I had their new high res version which is supposed to be 300 dpi.

  I don't understand the need for such high resolution.  I've used both 100 and
  200 dpi mice, and I haven't noticed any benefit of the 200 dpi.  One might
  presume it affects pick accuracy.  But I would think that depends largely on
  the mapping of mouse coords to screen coords, which I think is really
  arbitrary.

  In fact, I might have found that the lower-resolution mouse is "better" (for
  me).  With one 200 dpi mouse, I found it difficult to hold position when I
  went for the button.  (It was even worse for my kids.)  I didn't have that
  problem with a 100 dpi mouse.  But there were other factors that might have
  been involved.

  Understand, I'm not trying to be provocative -- and I don't have a lot of
  mouse experience to draw on.  I'm just thinking out loud.  I seems to me that
  input resolution might be important when you're digitizing -- as you might do
  with a tablet.  But that's hard (impossible?) to do with a mouse.

  Am I missing an important point?  Is there really something to all this dpi
  stuff, or it just hype?

  BTW, just how easy is it to mix-and-match mice and applications/games?  Is
  it as easy as matching modems; or is it more like matching printers?  That
  is, just how cautious should I be in selecting a mouse:  is the mouse 
  interface a critical issue?  Does "MS Mouse compatibility" imply a mode with
  sigificant limitations; or does it simply affect the communication between
  mouse and driver?

Ken Mintz