This Isn't Your Momma's Mouse
The marriage of mouse and laptop is an old idea. Even back before Windows,
laptop users were aware of how handy a computer mouse could be. The
problem was, unlike now, laptop users wouldn’t accept a standard desktop
mouse as a solution.
Figure 5-5 shows one funky solution to the laptop mouse problem. It’s called a
thumb-ball mouse. It plugged into the laptop’s serial port and attached either
to the lid or side of the keyboard, giving the laptop user a primitive pointing
device. Yes, using it was as awkward as eating ice cream with a knife. But it
was something.
The mouse pad
It took laptop developers years before they came up with the current solution:
the mouse pad. Originally called a touch pad, the mouse pad allows you
to control the mouse by gliding a thumb or finger along a flat surface. Buttons
nearby emulate the left and right buttons found on your typical bar-of-soap
mouse. (See Figure 5-6.)
Figure 5-5:
An early
model,
Microsoft
“thumbball”
mouse.
There is an art to using the mouse pad:
- You must be careful not to touch it in more than one spot. If you do, the
pointer jumps about on the screen as if it were being electrocuted. Only
touch the mouse pad in one spot with one finger.
- It helps to use your forefinger to move the mouse. Use your thumb to
click the left-right buttons on the bottom of the mouse pad.
- A light touch is all that’s required.
- The most difficult mouse operation is the drag. That’s where you have to
hold a button down while moving the pointer. With practice, this can be
done — but you must practice! (Another excuse to play FreeCell.)
- Try to avoid accidentally hitting the right mouse button when you mean
to hit the left one. This causes context menus to pop up in Windows.
Very frustrating.
- Some mouse pads let you tap the pad to simulate a mouse click. You can
check the Mouse icon in the Control Panel to enable or disable this feature;
refer to the section “Controlling the mouse” later in this chapter for
more information.
Figure 5-6:
The touch
pad mouse
thing.
Note that I like to refer to the mouse pad as such. Others may use the term
touch pad. That’s because a “mouse pad” can also mean a special mat on
which you use a desktop computer’s mouse. Whatever.
Where is the wheel button?
Most modern computer mice come with a wheel button. The button sits in the
middle, between the mouse’s left and right buttons, and is used to scroll, pan,
or click for various effects. People love the wheel button, and obviously they
want it on their laptops. Well, tough!
Sadly, there isn’t a standard wheel button replacement on the common laptop
mouse pad. Some manufacturers provide a button with similar features, but if
you want a wheel button, you’ll just have to end up using an external “wheel”
mouse with your laptop. (And that’s not a bad idea, anyway.)
IBM’s “happy stick” keyboard mouse
Popular on some IBM models is a joystick-like mouse that looks like a pencil
eraser jammed between the keyboard’s G, H and B keys. IBM calls it the
TrackPoint, though I prefer to call it a happy stick. Regardless, the gizmo is
actually quite handy to use.
The idea behind the happy stick is that you can manipulate it by using the
index finger of either hand. You can then use your thumb (either hand) to
click the left or right “mouse” buttons, as shown in Figure 5-7.
Figure 5-7:
The
TrackPoint.
Note that a middle button exists in Figure 5-7. That’s the “wheel” button, and
it can be used with the happy stick to scroll information in a window. While
it’s not a full replacement for the wheel button on a mouse, it’s a pretty neat
trick.
- Like the mouse pad, using the happy stick takes some training and getting
used to.
- Some IBM models come with both a happy stick and touch pad. You can
use either one.
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