It takes no time at all to become accustomed to them. What takes a slight bit of time is developing accuracy, but even that is no big deal. Overall, you can play longer, with less potential of loss from carpal tunnel disorders, which can be a serious threat to a dedicated PC game player. My favorite is the Logitech Marble Mouse. Kiwi1 A large amount of multi-axis trackball use puts you at a higher risk for repetitive stress disorder of the thumb a la 'Blackberry Thumb'. There has been a 500% jump in thumb surgeries in the last 5 years because of an increased use of thumb dependent devices. I would rather good wrist and elbow support on a traditional mouse than risk some kind of digit injury.

• Trackballs For Macbook

Trackballs For Macbook

Without thumbs we are just hairless dogs anyway. A large amount of multi-axis trackball use puts you at a higher risk for repetitive stress disorder of the thumb a la 'Blackberry Thumb'.

There has been a 500% jump in thumb surgeries in the last 5 years because of an increased use of thumb dependent devices. I would rather good wrist and elbow support on a traditional mouse than risk some kind of digit injury. Without thumbs we are just hairless dogs anyway.

Luamhtrad guess it's good that i use my fingers to move mine. I only use my thumb for clicking. I found trackball to be very inferior. Tracking sucks, also grease on the ball and dirt on the inside creates varying levels of sensitivity and friction. Good luck with that sensitivity guessing-game it comes down to the wire.

HavocEbonlore don't listen to this guy, he has no idea what he is talking about. Perhaps on older trackballs, 'dirt inside the ball' would matter, because they used wheels to move the ball.but so did older mice.

But now trackballs use lasers.and so do mice. Trackballs are just as efficient as mice. Anyone who says otherwise is just a fanboy. QUOTE='HavocEbonlore'I found trackball to be very inferior.

Tracking sucks, also grease on the ball and dirt on the inside creates varying levels of sensitivity and friction. Good luck with that sensitivity guessing-game it comes down to the wire. H0RSE don't listen to this guy, he has no idea what he is talking about. Perhaps on older trackballs, 'dirt inside the ball' would matter, because they used wheels to move the ball.but so did older mice. But now trackballs use lasers.and so do mice. Trackballs are just as efficient as mice.

Anyone who says otherwise is just a fanboy. Dirt and grease still affects any trackball's ability to perform, laser or not. OMG, wait guys, I gotta clean my trackball - gets sniped by guy with a mouse, PWNED!!! Nothing beats the smooth glide of a laser mouse and a quality mousepad. Post a link to these mythical laser trackball mice you speak of, because I couldn't find any.

Silly stupid horse, send your ass to the glue factory, lulz. QUOTE='HavocEbonlore'I found trackball to be very inferior.

Tracking sucks, also grease on the ball and dirt on the inside creates varying levels of sensitivity and friction. Good luck with that sensitivity guessing-game it comes down to the wire. H0RSE don't listen to this guy, he has no idea what he is talking about. Perhaps on older trackballs, 'dirt inside the ball' would matter, because they used wheels to move the ball.but so did older mice.

But now trackballs use lasers.and so do mice. Trackballs are just as efficient as mice. Anyone who says otherwise is just a fanboy. Anyway, I hate trackballs.

My G5 works great and I'll be sticking with it until it breaks. QUOTE='HavocEbonlore'I found trackball to be very inferior.

Tracking sucks, also grease on the ball and dirt on the inside creates varying levels of sensitivity and friction. Good luck with that sensitivity guessing-game it comes down to the wire. H0RSE don't listen to this guy, he has no idea what he is talking about. Perhaps on older trackballs, 'dirt inside the ball' would matter, because they used wheels to move the ball.but so did older mice. But now trackballs use lasers.and so do mice.

Trackballs are just as efficient as mice. Anyone who says otherwise is just a fanboy.I can speak from experience. Even the most sophisticated trackballs require physical bearings of some sort to keep the ball running smoothly in its socket. These bearings can accumulate dust and other debris and eventually seize.

It has proven the bane of many a Microsoft trackball (optical or not). That's why most gamers use high-end optical and laser mice. With them, the bottom has no moving parts to interfere with delicate movement.

Now, the wheels and buttons are another matter, but that's just the nature of the beast. I can speak from experience. Even the most sophisticated trackballs require physical bearings of some sort to keep the ball running smoothly in its socket. These bearings can accumulate dust and other debris and eventually seize.

It has proven the bane of many a Microsoft trackball (optical or not). That's why most gamers use high-end optical and laser mice. With them, the bottom has no moving parts to interfere with delicate movement. Now, the wheels and buttons are another matter, but that's just the nature of the beast. You know from experience huh? I have used the marble for over 6 years and the cordless trackman optical for like 3 years. From quake counterstrike to battlefield I have used a trackball.

There are no moving parts in either of those models so I dunno WTF you are talking about.-bearings and $h1t this is not a skateboard is an effing wireless mouse that is much more accurate by using your fingertips. Trackballs are completely horrid for gaming - they have bad tracking and sensitivity. For example, move the the cursor about 6 inches accross the screen, now put the cursor back to its original spot and do it again but faster, now do it again but slower. The cursor will be in a totally different spot on all three occassions. Now imagine that garbage going on while playing online FPS. Trackballs can also get greasy and that grease will thicken or get slick depenting on temperature, so friction between the contacts on the ball will start out as rough, but will loosen up as you play (friction = heat.

Also heat from your hand). You can clean the ball, but you'd have to do it like 3 times a week to maintain any sort of sensitivity and tracking consistency, also you have to clean the contacts. What do I base this all off of? I used one for 4 years when I was a kid. When I came of age and was able to buy things, I got a G5 and a SteelSeries 5L mousepad. After a week of adjusting to the new mouse I was doing far better than ever before. I was so happy when I finally got to kick that thing to the curb.

And yes, I've used all of these, but most of my experience lies with the Trackman. Seriously, get a proper mouse, you'll never look back.

Trackball for gaming is the ONLY way to go! At least with RTS Games untilCA screwed up Stormrise! Pros: 1)Not having to sit up straight and be a slave to the computer desk! 2)Not having your wrist feel like it is going to fall off after a few hours gaming!

3)Easy readjustment physically and mentally to using a trackball. Cons: 1)Most companies have felt the need to move the ball to a central location on the mouse rather than the left side as in the oldLogitech and Microsoft mice. 2)Trackball Mice require maintenance!

Anyone ever notice how you can order parts from Logitech? Mice are a personal preference as far as most people are concerned.

Not to mention the biggest preference being whyspend$50+ american dollars for a mouse or a keyboard when you can get a standard set with each included atWalMart for $19.99? Especially when it is what someone is used to and it has always worked fine. Years ago when Freelancer came out I had always been an optical fan, but a long road trip across the country made playing tihs way in a car on my laptop problematical so I bought a trackball. While it had a learning curve of coordination, especially using your thumb, I became rather proficient in just hours and have never used an optical since! The most obvious benefit is that I could play longer without discomfort in my wrist or cramping in my hand. First off, are you talking about a small, thumb-operated trackball (like some older Logitech models), or a large, center-mounted trackball operated with the palm and/or fingers (most trackballs nowadays)? (My CH Products DT225 USB falls under the latter.) That said, I just use an older Logitech G5 for gaming.

It fits me better, FPS-wise. However, there are some times when you just have to have a trackball-such as playing certain arcade games, or maybe mobile computers for when you don't have the space to move around a conventional mouse, don't want to futz around on the screen if it's a tablet (which it probably isn't), and hate trackpads and TrackPoints (or 'eraser mice', among many other nicknames, some inappropriate for this forum; ThinkPads usually have them). Trackballs are completely horrid for gaming - they have bad tracking and sensitivity. For example, move the the cursor about 6 inches accross the screen, now put the cursor back to its original spot and do it again but faster, now do it again but slower. The cursor will be in a totally different spot on all three occassions. Now imagine that garbage going on while playing online FPS.

Trackballs can also get greasy and that grease will thicken or get slick depenting on temperature, so friction between the contacts on the ball will start out as rough, but will loosen up as you play (friction = heat. Also heat from your hand). You can clean the ball, but you'd have to do it like 3 times a week to maintain any sort of sensitivity and tracking consistency, also you have to clean the contacts. What do I base this all off of?

I used one for 4 years when I was a kid. When I came of age and was able to buy things, I got a G5 and a SteelSeries 5L mousepad. After a week of adjusting to the new mouse I was doing far better than ever before. I was so happy when I finally got to kick that thing to the curb. And yes, I've used all of these, but most of my experience lies with the Trackman.

Seriously, get a proper mouse, you'll never look back. HavocEbonlore Your reasoning for bashing the trackball are EPIC FAIL.

The original version of the Expert Mouse can use a standard as a trackball. A trackball is a consisting of a held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball about two axes—like an upside-down with an exposed protruding ball. The user rolls the ball to position the on-screen, using their, or commonly the palm of the while using the fingertips to press the mouse buttons. Compared with a mouse, a trackball has no limits on effective travel; at times, a mouse can reach an edge of its working area while the operator still wishes to move the screen pointer farther. With a trackball, the operator just continues rolling, whereas a mouse would have to be lifted and re-positioned. Some trackballs have notably low friction, as well as being made of a dense material such as glass, so they can be spun to make them coast.

The trackball's buttons may be situated to that of a mouse or to a unique style that suits the user. Large trackballs are common on workstations for easy precision. Before the advent of the, small trackballs were common on, where there may be no desk space on which to run a mouse. Some small 'thumbballs' are designed to clip onto the side of the and have integral buttons with the same function as mouse buttons.

Contents. History The trackball was invented as part of a post-era radar plotting system named (CDS) by when working for the British Scientific Service. Benjamin's project used to calculate the future position of target aircraft based on several initial input points provided by a user with a. Benjamin felt that a more elegant input device was needed and invented a ball tracker system called the roller ball for this purpose in 1946. The device was patented in 1947, but only a prototype using a metal ball rolling on two rubber-coated wheels was ever built and the device was kept as a military secret. Production versions of the CDS used joysticks.

The CDS system had also been viewed by a number of engineers from, who returned to Canada and began development of the system in 1952. Designed primarily by Tom Cranston, Fred Longstaff and, they chose the trackball as the primary input, using a standard ball as the roller. DATAR was similar in concept to Benjamin's display, but used a to calculate tracks, and sent the resulting data to other ships in a task force using radio signals. DATAR's trackball used four disks to pick up motion, two each for the X and Y directions. Several rollers provided mechanical support. When the ball was rolled, the pickup discs spun and contacts on their outer rim made periodic contact with wires, producing pulses of output with each movement of the ball. By counting the pulses, the physical movement of the ball could be determined.

Since 1966, the American company Orbit Instrument Corporation produced a device named X-Y Ball Tracker, a trackball, which was embedded into radar flight control desks. A similar trackball device at the German was constructed by a team around of Telefunken Konstanz as part of the development for the computer infrastructure around the main frame , process computer and video terminal, which began in 1965. This trackball was called Rollkugel (German for 'rolling ball'). Somewhat later, the idea of 'reversing' this device led to the introduction of the first computer (still named, model ), which was offered as an alternative input device to light pens and trackballs for Telefunken's computer systems since 1968. In later trackball models the electrical contacts were replaced by a 'chopper wheel' which had small slots cut into it in the same locations as the contacts. An LED shone light through the slots to an optical sensor, As the disk rotated the slots alternately lined up and then blocked the light from the LED, causing pulses to be produced in the sensor.

The operation was otherwise similar. Mice used the same basic system for determining motion, but had the problem that the ball was in contact with the desk.

In order to provide smooth motion the balls were often covered with an anti-slip surface treatment, which was, by design, sticky. Rolling the mouse tended to pick up any dirt and drag it into the system where it would clog the chopper wheels, demanding cleanup. In contrast the trackball is in contact only with the user's hand, which tends to be cleaner.

In the late 1990s both mice and trackballs began using direct optical tracking which follows dots on the ball, avoiding the need for anti-slip surface treatment. As with modern mice, most trackballs now have an auxiliary device primarily intended for scrolling. Some have a like most mice, but the most common type is a “scroll ring” which is spun around the ball. Kensington's SlimBlade Trackball similarly tracks the ball itself in three dimensions for scrolling. As of 2013 two major companies produce consumer trackballs, and, although Logitech has narrowed its product line to two models. Other smaller companies occasionally offer a trackball in their product line.

Produced popular models including The Microsoft Trackball Explorer, but has since discontinued all of its products. In September 2017 Logitech announced release of MX-Ergo Gaming Mouse, which was released after 6 years of its last trackball mouse. Special applications. An with a trackball. Large trackballs are sometimes seen on computerized special-purpose workstations, such as the radar consoles in an room or equipment on a ship or submarine. Modern installations of such equipment may use mice instead, since most people now already know how to use one. However, military mobile anti-aircraft radars, commercial airliners (such as ) and submarine sonars tend to continue using trackballs, since they can be made more durable and more fit for fast emergency use.

Large and well made ones allow easier high precision work, for which reason they may still be used in these applications (where they are often called 'tracker balls') and in. Trackballs have appeared in, particularly early (see a ) notably Atari's and – though Atari spelled it 'trak-ball'., by, released in 1978, is commonly misunderstood to be the first arcade game to use a trackball, but in The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steven L. Kent the designer of Football, Dave Stubben, claims they copied the design from a Japanese game, Soccer (, 1973).

Trackballs, now fairly rare, were common in the early 1980s: the and consoles, as well as the competing console, though using a as their standard controller, each had one as an optional. The, a console introduced in 1996 had a trackball built into its as standard. Trackballs were occasionally used in e-sports prior to the mainstreaming of in the early 2000s because they were more reliable than ball mice, but now they are extremely rare because optical mice offer superior speed and precision. A trackball requires no mousepad and enables the player to aim swiftly (in first person shooters).

Trackballs remain in use in pub golf machines (such as ) to simulate swinging the club. Computer gamers have been able to successfully use trackballs in most modern computer games, including FPS, RPG, and RTS genres, with any slight loss of speed compensated for with an increase in precision. Many trackball gamers are competent at 'throwing' their cursor rapidly across the screen, by spinning the trackball, enabling (with practice) much faster motion than can be achieved with a and arm motion. However, many gamers are deterred by the time it takes to 'get used to' the different style of hand control that a trackball requires. Trackballs have also been regarded as excellent complements to analog, as pioneered by the Assassin 3D 1996 trackball with joystick pass-through capability.

This combination provides for two-hand aiming and a high accuracy and consistency replacement for the traditional mouse and keyboard combo generally used on games. Many such games natively support joysticks and analog player movement, like Valve's and id Software's. Trackballs are provided as the pointing device in some. Unlike a mouse, a trackball can easily be built into a console, and cannot be ripped away or easily vandalised. Two examples are the Internet browsing consoles provided in some UK outlets, and the Broadband Internet public. This simplicity and ruggedness also makes them ideal for use in industrial computers. Because trackballs for personal computers are stationary, they may require less space for operation than a, and may simplify use in confined or cluttered areas such as a small desk or a terminal.

They are generally preferred in laboratory setting for the same reason. An advantage of the trackball is that it takes less space to move than a mouse. A trackball was often included in laptop computers, but since the late 1990s these have switched to. Track balls can still be used as separate input devices with standard desktop computers but this application is also moving to trackpads due to the prevalence of gesture control in new desktop operating systems. Ergonomics.

TrackMan Marble Wheel. People with a mobility impairment use trackballs as an input device. Access to an alternative pointing device has become even more important for them with the dominance of graphically-oriented operating systems. There are many alternative systems to be considered. The control surface of a trackball is easier to manipulate and the buttons can be activated without affecting the pointer position. Trackball users also often state that they are not limited to using the device on a flat desk surface.

Trackballs can be used whilst browsing a laptop in bed, or wirelessly from an armchair to a PC playing a movie. They are also useful for computing on boats or other unstable platforms where a rolling deck could produce undesirable input. Trackballs are generally either thumb-operated, with a ball about an inch in diameter or smaller moved by one digit (almost always the thumb) and the buttons clicked by others, or finger-operated, with a ball over two inches in diameter operated by the middle fingers and the buttons by the thumb and little finger. Users favour one format or another for reasons of comfort, mobility, precision, or because it reduces strain on one part of the hand/wrist. Most, but not all, finger-operated designs are symmetrical in design, making them, while thumb-operated designs are by their nature asymmetric or “handed,” allowing the smallest examples to be held in the air. Thumb-operated trackballs are not generally available in left-handed configurations, due to small demand.

Some computer users prefer a trackball over the more common mouse for ergonomic reasons. There seems to be no conclusive evidence from studies performed to determine which type of pointing device works best for most applications. Application users are encouraged to test different devices, and to maintain proper posture and scheduled breaks for comfort. Some disabled users find trackballs easier since they only have to move their thumb relative to their hand, instead of moving the whole hand, while others incur unacceptable fatigue of the thumb.

Elderly people sometimes have difficulty holding a mouse still while; the trackball allows them to let go of the ball while using the button. At times when a user is browsing menus or websites rather than typing, it is also possible to hold a trackball in the right hand like a television remote control, operating the ball with the right thumb and pressing the buttons with the left thumb, thus giving the fingers a rest. Mobile phones. 'The Next Generation 1996 Lexicon A to Z: Track Ball'. ^ Hill, Peter C. Interview #465.

Retrieved 2013-07-18. ^ Copping, Jasper (2013-07-11). Retrieved 2013-07-18. Vardalas, John (1994). IEEE Annals of the History of Computing.

Retrieved 2007-10-15. ^ In the footsteps of the German computer mouse (in German). Heise Verlag. Retrieved 2013-01-07. Retrieved 2013-08-03.

'The Pippin Atmark'. Dennis van der Heijden (2006-03-15). For example, the is finger-operated but asymmetric. Notes Wikimedia Commons has media related to.

This article is based on material taken from the prior to 1 November 2008 and incorporated under the 'relicensing' terms of the, version 1.3 or later.