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From: eirik@elf.stanford.edu (Eirik Fuller)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Re: UNIX needs a real text editor
Message-ID: <2506@lindy.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 27 Mar 89 08:27:57 GMT
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) >As for why the mouse is slower, I have to look at my hands when moving
) >to or from the mouse.  Moving my attention away from the screen like
) >that slows me down.  I also tend to overshoot with the mouse.  It does
) >take a fair amount of dexterity to really become quick at using a mouse.
) >I suspect quite a few people have the same problems I do with mice.
) 
) It doesn't really take dexterity, just practice.

I've also found that dexterity with one mouse doesn't always result in
immediate dexterity with another.  I prefer the mouse in GNU emacs to
most of the cursor positioning commands; I don't have to look at the
mouse to use it.  I'd have to reach for the meta key anyway, in a lot
of cases, and with the mouse support I use (I rolled my own) I get
more "bandwidth" than most motion commands; I can have three distinct
locations in one maneuver: the cursor location at which text gets
inserted, and the two ends of the region I'm grabbing (which might be
in another "window").

That's all with a Logitech (mechanical) mouse on my Tek 4316; the Sun
mice I've used (optical) make me understand why some Sun users I know
sneer at emacs mouse support.  The charitable way of saying this is
that Sun's mouse is different and takes getting used to; someone who's
suffered with one longer than I have can maybe offer an opinion on
whether it does get better with practice; I am happy with my Logitech
(though I'd consider scrapping it for a Sparc :-)

I wonder, though, what the breakdown is on optical/mechanical vs
mouse haters/mouse fans.