Talk:Mouse (computing)

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	Mouse (computing) is a former featured article candidate. Please view the links under Article Milestones below to see why the nomination failed. For older candidates, please check the archive.
Article Milestones Date Process Result November 2, 2004 Featured article candidate Not promoted February 7, 2005 Featured article candidate Not promoted February 6, 2007 Peer review Reviewed Current Status: Former featured article candidate

This page has been cited as a source by a media organization. See the 2005 press source article for details. The citation is in: "Apple's Mighty Mouse: What Were They Thinking?", Low End Mac, 2005-08-03.

	To-do list for Mouse (computing):	edit  · history  · watch  · refresh
Here are some tasks you can do: Verify: Find references for all statements in the article and delete any where none can be found Cleanup: Check sentence and paragraph structure remove weasel words and ambiguous statements Expand: Fill out the history as per the FAC review, get more information on trackball mice Mention symmetrical vs. asymmetrical mice Add at least a paragraph on ergonomics and mention repetitive strain injury Mention mice specially designed for people with reduced sight, which give a "hard" feeling when the cursor crosses the border of a window or enters a clickable area Consider this image for inclusion: Image:Souris_ordinateur.png Other: Is the mouse a "hand-held" device?

Archives Archive 1 Archive 2

Contents 1 Problems with Right Click 2 laser mouse from Sun 3 Care 4 Fanatec Heäd$h0t 5 Motion Sensing (XYZ) 6 Performance Statistics 7 Going on a cleanup 8 Merge Proposal 8.1 Voting 8.2 Comments 8.3 Mouse with a stick 9 Microsoft incompatible Mouse Systems Corporation

[edit] Problems with Right Click

Every once and a while, my MFing computer doesn't read the right button. Why do I have that problem? --66.218.18.122 05:03, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

If that happens only when you're browsing the internet, then you have probably stumbled upon some of the few (?) pages that still use those annoying right-click disabling javascript or ActiveX "copyright protection" schemes, usually to prevent you from downloading images and the such. There ARE ways to disable this (disabling javascript and ActiveX are the most obvious, or using more modern browsers that don't allow such behavior). If it happens randomly even when not using the internet...well then you may have a broken mouse or some trojan/virus causing that side-effect, among others. EpiVictor 10:12, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

PS: a note to all editors, I had once proposed a "right-click disabling" section for this article, describing how abusive and control-stripping it can be to the casual user, but it was removed on the grounds of, if I recall, being POV vs DRM schemes, or not directly related to the "mouse" article, which seems kinda strange... Can't it be brought back in a watered down version? EpiVictor 10:12, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

I've had things like what 66.218.18.122 had. It wasn't on "one of the few pages", instead it was on Wikipedia. Maybe just a problem on the computer itself, not reading the right click correctly. --Yancyfry jr 21:03, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

If I had this problem even on "non DRM protected" websites, I would check my computer for spyware or overly zealous toolbar extensions/malware. Since you at least reported this happens while browsing alone then it can be narrowed down to the browser, which I guess is IE....change browser and/or run a spyware/malware scanner and remover. IE is particularly prone to have had some permanent plugin preventing right clicks. EpiVictor 14:10, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] laser mouse from Sun

In the article is talked about Sun releasing in 1998 a laser mouse. Is there a source for this information? All sources I found are saying, that the Logitech mouse from 1994 is the first laser mouse. -- 88.72.248.15 12:49, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

I had the "luck" of using older Sun workstations up to 2001, and they were equipped with some sort of primitive LED or laser mouse, which however worked only on a special metallic mousepad with a printed grille pattern, and was completely blind on any other surface. Anyway, the problem is that the distinction between "high power LEDs" and "laser" tends to be somehow blurred, and most consumer-grade laser equipments actually use the former rather than "true" coherent light laser leds. EpiVictor 14:06, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the information. -- Dishayloo 05:55, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Care

The rundown of types is great fun, and even useful. The game section doesn't feel like it belongs, or at least the details should be in another article. What's missing is advice on keeping your mouse clean. Many home users ask me as an "expert" what they should buy to replace their balky mouse. I teach them how to pull the lint off the chopper wheel. Jim.henderson 09:38, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fanatec Heäd$h0t

I feel that this odditity needs some worthy mention. It shows how far companies will go to differtiate a product like a mouse that performs such a basic i/o fucntion.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2024731,00.asp http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/05/fanatec-head-h0t-gaming-mouse-reviewed/ --68.207.206.69 08:50, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Motion Sensing (XYZ)

Also worth mentioning are Gyration (Brand)gyroscopic mice and other mice that use three Axis (motion) sensors to dectect possision

• http://www.gyration.com/en-US/GyroTech.html
• http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/27/six-axis-controller-constructed-from-three-mice/--68.207.206.69 08:56, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Performance Statistics

There is no mention of what all those statistics mean on the back of a mouse box except for the DPI. The box also talks about some other stats, and I (and probably a few other people) want to know what they mean and how they affect performance. The other stats are: FP, MOPS, and CMOS size. I don't know what FP means. MOPS apparently means million operations per second, which I guess would determine how fast it realizes there's a change in its position. The CMOS size, if it's the same thing that Wikipedia lists, is just the size of some chip and well...what the hell does that have to do with the performance?!

Yeah, I got a mouse for Christmas. :P68.211.224.34 22:12, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Going on a cleanup

Hello people! I've decided this article needs a bit of a cleanup, so I'll work on it over the next few days (I'm bored on holiday). If anyone would care to help, I'd be much obliged.
To do

• Find references for statements and delete any that have no references available.
• Remove weasel words and ambiguous statements.
• Fill out the history as per the FAC Peer Review.
• Cleanup paragraphs and general tidy.

Mouse Nightshirt 13:43, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

• Good idea. Here's a link to a paper of mine that you might want to use: PDF. Dicklyon 17:22, 31 December 2006 (UTC)
• I'll keep an eye at it and help if I can (I did a cleanup a while ago but it takes really few time for an article to become a mess :-(). Could you please list the above issues with a {{todo}} template? —Gennaro Prota^•Talk 18:41, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

• Nightshirt, please, try limiting the number of edits (for instance by first working on a subpage of your user page). It becomes pretty much impossible to follow that editing rate. —Gennaro Prota^•Talk 22:18, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Merge Proposal

Further to the improvement drive for this article, I propose that Trackball be merged into this article for the following reasons:

• A Trackball is a reasonably common form of mouse, and should therefore be part of this article
• Little mention of a trackball mouse has been included in this article

Please indicate your support or opposition to this article below. Thanks. Mouse Nightshirt 22:10, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Voting

• Support — For above reasons. Mouse Nightshirt 22:10, 31 December 2006 (UTC)
• Oppose — The light pen, joystick, and trackball are pointing devices with histories pre-dating the mouse; they should be treated separately; e.g. see this 1968 book. It would make sense to survey the field in a pointing devices article, though. Dicklyon 22:18, 31 December 2006 (UTC)
• Oppose —Gennaro Prota^•Talk 22:16, 31 December 2006 (UTC)
• Oppose - Per above. ffm ^yes? 14:42, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Comments

A trackball is not a form of a mouse. It has been said, however, that a ball mouse is a form of a trackball, just turned upside down. Dicklyon 22:20, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

I suppose that's fair enough. I was under the impression that they were mice, but I'm wrong. My bad! Mouse Nightshirt 22:34, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

I closed this off, removing the merge tags. Dicklyon 00:41, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mouse with a stick

IBM made a mouse with a Pointing stick between the two buttons- before Microsoft and Logitech introduced the tilt wheel.

The image labled 4 button mouse is an Apple mouse that does not have four buttons. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.136.145.234 (talk) 08:22, 19 February 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Microsoft incompatible Mouse Systems Corporation

It seems that for serial mice, incompatibility happened. Mouse Systems Corporation had a popular version/protocol, 5 bytes supporting 3 buttons. Microsoft pushed an incompatible 3-byte 2-button protocol, and the world ended up with mice with mode switches (PC=MSC, MS=MS). But for PS/2 it seems like there was an original protocol, 3-byte 3-button, that was just extended in various compatible ways, with no incompatible Mouse Systems Corporation version. *** Still trying to figure out what this means for mice that can be used as both PS/2 and serial - it seems like PC=MSC mode should therefore not be used when connected as PS/2 -- but then, are the mice somehow smart enough to send all 3 buttons in MS PS/2 mode, even though in MS serial mode they can only send 2 buttons?-69.87.203.252 14:03, 20 March 2007 (UTC)