The New Breed of Computer Mice
The lowly computer mouse has been getting a lot more fancy lately.
It used to be that the most distinguishing characteristics among them were minor differences in shape and number of buttons--two or three for mice that work on IBM and compatible computers and one button for Macintosh mice.
Now there are mice with two kinds of sensitivity settings--resolution and acceleration. Resolution is the relationship between how far you move the mouse to cause a given movement of the on-screen pointer. Acceleration allows the pointer to move farther if you move the mouse faster.
There is also “Lester,” a cordless mouse that works by infrared signal like a TV remote control.
Another just-introduced mouse looks like a fat pen and is held upright instead of lying flat on the desk.
All of these pointing devices have suggested prices ranging from about $120 to $200 depending on manufacturer and what software is bundled with them.
The standard by which to judge other mice in the world of IBM and compatibles is the Microsoft Mouse, which recently underwent its fourth transformation since it was introduced in 1983.
Microsoft kept the same smoothly sculpted external design it has had since 1987 but gave the new 400 series mouse different circuitry inside, doubling its resolution from 200 to 400 points for each inch movement of the mouse ball. (A point is an arbitrary measure; the more points per inch of mouse movement, the more sensitive your control over the mouse.)
Cabling also was redesigned so that the mouse can more easily connect with serial communications ports or special mouse cards (called “bus” cards) or the PS/2-style mouse socket on newer IBM computers. Software is included to let the mouse work with either the DOS or OS/2 operating systems.
Resolution and acceleration are controlled by invoking a special program with a combination of keyboard and mouse buttons. Resolution is adjusted on a scale from 0 to 100. The lowest value requires the greatest mouse movement for a given pointer movement on the screen. The highest number requires the least movement.
Acceleration choices consist of none, slow, moderate and fast.
The effect that different choices make is dramatic. When I tried to be an artist with Microsoft’s Paintbrush program that is packaged with the mouse, I wanted low resolution and no acceleration so that relatively large movements of mouse yielded small movements on the screen and gave better control over fine details.
But when I wanted to just pick commands from a series of pull-down menus and highlight cells in a Quattro Pro spreadsheet, I revved the mouse up to highest resolution and fastest acceleration and was quite happy.
A $150 package bundles the Microsoft mouse with Microsoft Paintbrush and menus software for use with a variety of programs. A $200 package for 80286- or 80386-based computers has Windows 286 and PC Paintbrush, a Windows program. You have to specify whether you want the serial-PS/2 or bus card version, but the price is the same.
Mouse Systems, which has long manufactured an optical mouse that must be used on a special grid-marked pad, recently introduced what it calls the “White Mouse” that has a roller ball and doesn’t need the special pad.
The $119 White Mouse has three buttons and a rounded, sculpted shape. A switch on the bottom of the mouse allows it to be used with either two or three buttons, enabling it to be compatible with other manufacturers, notably Microsoft’s two-button design and Logitech’s three-button mode.
The mouse has built-in resolution of 350 points per inch and uses software to control the degree of acceleration. Choices in Mouse System’s Ultra Res software range from no acceleration through nine levels of increasing acceleration. The top level is the equivalent of having a mouse resolution of 11,200 points per inch.
In use, I made the same kinds of choices I did with Microsoft’s mouse and had equivalent results.
The White Mouse may be a better buy, considering its suggested price of $119 complete with pop-up menus software, PC Paint Plus, applications tool kit software to design your own mouse menus for programs and 1-2 Click software to use the mouse with Lotus 1-2-3.
The MousePen from International Machine Control Systems Inc. in Paso Robles is quite a novel design. About 6 inches long with a pen-shaped body that is 5/8-inch square, it really is just what the name says, a mouse pen.
Where mice generally have a hard rubber ball about an inch in diameter to convert horizontal movement across the desktop into pointer movement on the screen, the $129 MousePen has a miniature hard plastic ball just 5/16-inch in diameter.
The resolution can be controlled by software within a range from 50 to 1,000 points per inch but doing so is more cumbersome than with either of the other two mice. It is done by typing in additional control parameters when you type the command that starts the program that operates the MousePen. It isn’t hard, but you cannot change resolution while you are running another program as you can with the others.
Also, unlike the other two, the MousePen is very sensitive to the surface you use it on. I had lousy results using it on my polished wood desktop and on several types of mouse pads because the slick plastic ball didn’t get enough traction to roll smoothly.
Had I paid attention to an introductory instruction sheet inside the package, however, I would have learned that rolling the MousePen across an ordinary sheet of paper works best. It was true, and I found the unit entirely satisfactory after that.
Two buttons are placed on the front of the pen, one above the other, with the one you use most often sitting just where your finger naturally rests. It is very easy and natural. Left-handed users should love the MousePen because it is built for use with either hand.
Software packaged with MousePen includes menus software and yet another paint program, TelePaint.
Lester, the cordless Macintosh mouse, is built by a start-up company, Lightwave Technologies Inc. of Vernon Hills, Ill.
Priced at $150, it has two components--an infrared receiver that plugs into any model Macintosh and comes with a cord about two-feet long to allow placement anywhere in the vicinity of the computer, and the cordless two-button mouse. The mouse can be used up to five feet away from the receiver and anywhere within 45 degrees either side of center.
The receiver gets its power from the computer, but the mouse needs a pair of skinny AAA cells to power it for about 100 hours of use. It turns itself off after three minutes of inactivity, but pressing a button on the left side of Lester brings it back to life again.
If you hold in the same button while you move the mouse, it either speeds up pointer movement or slows it down, depending on how fast or slow you move the mouse. The change was very noticeable when moving the pointer across the Mac’s desktop screen, but didn’t seem to have much effect working on a MacDraw II drawing. Normal resolution is 200 points per inch.
Both buttons on top of the mouse do the same thing, so you can press the left one with your thumb if you are right-handed or the right one if you are left-handed.
A cordless mouse for IBM and compatible computers is just entering production at Lightwave Technologies. Priced at $130, it will be bundled with menuing software and a paint program called Visualizer.
THE MANUFACTURERS
Microsoft Corp., 16011 Northeast 36th Way, Redmond, Wash. 98073. Phone: (206) 882-8080.
Mouse Systems Corp., 47505 Seabridge Drive, Fremont, Calif. 94538. Phone: (415) 656-1117.
International Machine Control Systems Inc., 1332 Vendels Circle, Paso Robles, Calif. 93446. Phone: (805) 239-8976.
Lightwave Technologies Inc., 306 N. Fiore Parkway, Vernon Hills, Ill. 60061. Phone: (708) 362-6555.
