Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!welch
From: welch@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu (Arun Welch)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: Mouse cord nuisance from lap (was Re: Monitors: What Next?)
Message-ID: <27860@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>
Date: 17 Nov 88 22:07:42 GMT
References: <15572@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <16891@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> <31811@bbn.COM> <1227@microsoft.UUCP>
Organization: Ohio State Computer & Info Science
Lines: 49

In article <1227@microsoft.UUCP>, michaelw@microsoft.UUCP (Michael Winser) writes:
> In article <1405@neoucom.UUCP> wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) writes:
> >I'd like to see a microwave or infrared operated mouse that used
> >doppler shift or some form of interferometry for sensing motion
> >over an arbitrary surface.  I suppose this could be done with an
> 
> I've that Xerox (or maybe Park Place)  has just such a mouse.  A
> friend of mine who once worked there told me about it.
> Apparently you could use any surface that had colour changes.  Wooden
> table tops, cordoroy trousers, even your jeans!
> 
Actually, it doesn't use doppler shift or anything else like that,
just a regular little red light.  However, it does work on any
patterned surface.  The best surface is the gray sheet of paper it
comes with, which is the same thing as the standard grey surface used
for setting contrast for photographs. I've used all the
above-mentioned surfaces in a pinch, and even the back of my hand...
And, you don't need to worry about some funky mouse pad, when one
of our grey-sheets tears/wears out, we just copy another one on the
local copier, or have our laser printer print out a grey-scale test
pattern...


> Does anyone know if this is commercially available?  I tried to find
> one about a year ago, but gave up and instead, bought a mouse from
> logitech (no complaints).
> 
As far as I know, it is only available on the Xerox workstations,
which it comes with.  You can buy one from xerox for ~$500, the bottom
of mine sez the part number is 18K00250.  It's got a funny little plug
that plugs into the Xerox keyboard, so I don't know how much use this
would be.  The 1108/8010 mouse had a more standard 17-pin connector on
them, and you should be able to buy a whole 8010 for about $500 used.
Now that Xerox has decided to move off of their own proprietary
hardware to Sun platforms, I've heard rumors that someone at PARC has
developed an interface for the Xerox mouse to the Sun, but I haven't
seen it. [Religious insert:  After working with a Xerox mouse, I can't
stand to use the Sun/Mouse Systems mouse].

But, this has nothing to do with the NeXT box, except that the NeXT
has a two-button mechanical mouse [barf].

...arun


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arun Welch
Lisp Systems Programmer, Lab for AI Research, Ohio State University
welch@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu