From: Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Date: 08/31/00-03:43:52 PM Z
On Thu, 31 Aug 2000, Rod Fleming wrote:
>
> You nice people might be interested to know that I have just got a new
> mouse- this is a "Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer".
>
> Not great news you may think, but unlike ordinary rodents it has no ball,
> and works by reflecting a beam of light from the surface. It is absolutely
> ace for drawing - much better than any conventional mouse and better even
> than some of the cheaper graphics tablets I've tried. It makes drawing
> outlines in Photoshop laughably easy- no more sticking or jumping, and no
> moving parts to get clogged up. Definitely a step forward.
>
> I have nothing to do with BG's money bus etc- but this is a good piece of
> kit, very handy for graphics work, and it fits into the workplace better
> than a graphics tablet (not to mention being a fraction of the price). You
> could probably even get it to work on a M*c.
Rod, I see you spell M*c like some people spell G*d... and I certainly
agree. Unfortunately, it seems optical mouse requires system 9.6 or higher
on the M*c, at least according to article in today's NY Times Circuit
section. Having found 8.6 slower & overall less nice than 8.1 (tho
essential for the monster scanner), I resist further upgrades, barring an
act of G*d.
I doubt I do the fine mousing you're talking about, but as far as I could
tell, my mouse problem wasn't so much the mouse itself (easy enough to
clean -- and check the little hole *inside* the inside, almost bound to
have fuzz you need to pick out with a pin or vacuum cleaner) as the mouse
*pad.*. They were all either too slippery or too sticky. Sometimes a
particular piece of paper or cardboard worked fine, but then after a
couple of days it got worn shiny & started to slip again & the next sheet
of paper somehow wasn't the same.
Finally I got a solution has been great for over a month -- that silly-ass
"3M Precise Microsurface" which I bought in absolute desperation. It was
in fact WORSE than a piece of paper --- BUT, turn it over and mouse on the
back... a bit too sticky at first, but now excellent. Fasten it into
position with masking tape.
Incidentally, Peter Lewis, the Times computer columnist, says today, "I'm
going to vote Windows off my island." He's choosing the M*c G4 Cube
computer: "a thing of classic beauty." (But not cheap.) I don't mean to
start trouble around here (especially off-topic trouble), but figured that
merited mention, especially since Lewis has been M*c snide in the past.
Judy
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