Re: The Hardware Thread
Reply #186 –
Just in case, I acquired the trackball called Kensington Expert Mouse, hoping it might be about as good as Kensington Trackball with Scroll Ring or even better, because it (the former) has more buttons. It turns out that precisely the greater number of buttons is a problem.
The greater number of the buttons increases the desire to remap the functions and remapping is a hastle. The greater number of the buttons also increases the strain on the memory of where each function is and how to position the hand to find them. Due to this, the Expert Mouse model cannot be out of sight the way my Scroll Ring model can.
Both models have a scroll ring, but the scroll ring of the Scroll Ring model definitely feels sturdier, more reliable and generally a better tool for the job of a scroll ring. Already on the first day I doubt the scroll ring of the Expert Mouse model can survive half as long as that of my Scroll Ring model has. Whereas I am quite sure my Scroll Ring model and its scroll ring will keep delivering in the future at least as long as they already have.
There is a hole under the ball of the Scroll Ring model, allowing the dirt to fall through. There will be more dirt maintenance with the Expert Mouse model.
The design of the entire body of the Expert Mouse model is flawed. I mean the idea that the entire device should be ascending the further away it is from you is wrong. I would prefer the device to be horizontally flat and as low as possible. Granted, due to the huge ball the device cannot be too low, but it surely should not be ascending the further away it is from you. Trackball should ideally be able to serve as handrest, but an ascending surface puts tension in the wrist.
I tried the Expert Mouse model for a while the other way around, with the high end towards me, and it felt much better on the same level as the keyboard, but it would take too much configuring to remap the buttons and the ball to make it work. In comparison, the Scroll Ring model has a better overall design because it is able to serve as a handrest.
At the desk where I put the Expert Mouse model, I have an option to place it on the lower level than the keyboard or a higher level. On the lower level it would be out of direct sight, making it hard to find the buttons groping in the dark. And the higher level might be too high. We'll see.
Anyway, I will try to keep it. I like the original placement of the functions on the Expert Mouse model: the lower buttons do left-click and right-click. The upper left does mid-click and the upper right turns back (in browsers, but not in file managers).
Maybe it would be cool to map the last button as double-click or paste, but I made a different change in the default configuration: Enabled the so-called button scrolling and mapped that button for scrolling. Now by holding down the button I can scroll by rolling the trackball instead of the scroll ring. (The scroll ring will keep working too.)
xinput --set-prop "Kensington Expert Mouse" "libinput Scroll Method Enabled" 0, 0, 1
xinput --set-prop "Kensington Expert Mouse" "libinput Button Scrolling Button" 8