[HN Gopher] Ploopy Adept is an open source, customizable trackba...
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Ploopy Adept is an open source, customizable trackball that sells
for about $60
Author : edward
Score : 37 points
Date : 2023-11-03 18:02 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (liliputing.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (liliputing.com)
| danShumway wrote:
| I recently started looking into trackballs; switching to a
| vertical mouse helped a _ton_ with wrist pain, and I 'm curious
| if a trackball would help even more. Additionally I've got an
| enormous drawing tablet hooked up to a flex arm and I frequently
| jump between sitting and using it as a standing desk, so I'm
| really curious about finding a mouse that I can use across
| multiple monitors that I can place _on_ the screen while I 'm
| using it as a standing desk.
|
| I've heard really good things about the Ploopy Classic and the
| Ploopy Adept is going to be on my radar whenever it starts
| shipping (funnily enough this is article title is a welcome
| surprise because I misread the CAD pricing and thought the Adept
| was selling for $80 USD) -- but can anyone attest that these
| things actually work well for normal computer usage and are
| precise enough to use a full mouse replacement?
|
| Is this something where I'm going to buy it and be immediately
| thrown off and will need to spend weeks learning how to reuse it?
| I love the idea of a stationary mouse that doesn't give me RSI
| that I can just plonk down on a desk or on top of a tilted
| display, and I love Ploopy's implementation of that idea, but I
| don't know if the reality is going to match the vision I have in
| my head.
| squigz wrote:
| My personal experience is that it helped a lot, but yes, it
| takes time to get used to :P Well worth it though, IMO. I can't
| speak to the Ploopy though, as I have a Kensington
| heatmiser wrote:
| Having developed upper back pain due to too much desk time, I
| switched to Logitech's MX Vertical mouse for a few years, along
| with moving from a typical tenkeyless to an ErgoDox (a F/OSS
| mechanical keyboard design). This offered relief for the pain
| in my upper back but a few years later I ended up developing
| pain in my wrist and forearm. I then move from the MX Vertical
| to the MX Ergo (thumb trackball) using the included spacers to
| make it as "vertical" as possible.
|
| These changes, along with a proper desk chair and more
| awareness of my posture has given many years free of desk
| related pain.
|
| I would say that fully transitioning to these peripherals did
| not take any longer than 1-2 weeks. I estimate I was obtained
| close to 70% of my baseline within a day or two and was close
| to 100% by the end of week 2. My suggestion is to transition
| one thing at a time. In my case I transitioned to the split
| keyboard which I found as harder to transition to compared to
| either the MX Vertical or MX Ergo.
|
| I am told by various ergo-nerds that the best trackball
| experience is one use with your index finger, like the Ploopy
| Classic. I haven't been compelled to switch yet though.
| tristor wrote:
| I was hoping a trackball would help me, but unfortunately I
| have De Quervain's Thumb, which means that a trackball is
| probably a no-go, but a vertical mouse was a lifechanger. I'm
| still curious about this, because in my younger days a
| trackball was what I preferred for gaming. If you do happen to
| try this and find out it helps with your wrist pain, I'd be
| interested to know, it's maybe worth me trying as well.
| Konnstann wrote:
| I use a Charybdis keyboard with a built in trackball and it's
| good for anything non-gaming in my experience, and it's really
| nice not taking my hands off of the keyboard while working.
| J_Shelby_J wrote:
| It's not even worth thinking about it.
|
| Just go and order the cheap Logitech thumb trackball. If you
| don't like it at least you have a cheapie travel device.
|
| It's completely resolved my wrist pain and I have quite a few
| top tier gaming nice, vertical mice, and other trackballs that
| I prefer it over. Trackballs are intuitive so don't worry about
| onboarding time.
| RattlesnakeJake wrote:
| I've dreamt of something like this, but with a smaller ball and a
| case made to fit in the middle of my 90's-era Microsoft Natural
| Keyboard. It would be less annoying than a ThinkPad's Trackpoint
| nub while offering the ability to do occasional mouse movement
| without my hands needing to leave the keyboard.
| 2Gkashmiri wrote:
| Wow. I have an original Microsoft ball mouse from 1998 or
| something stupid old in my work desk.
|
| Wonder if there was a way to reuse it. Doesn't have a middle
| button but it sure worked back then
| bombcar wrote:
| You can get USB to PS/2 adapters, it'll probably still work.
| mksybr wrote:
| Have you seen their nano version?
| https://github.com/ploopyco/nano-trackball
| CodeWriter23 wrote:
| Can anyone access any of their repos on their github page? I'm
| getting 404
|
| https://github.com/ploopyco
| squigz wrote:
| All repos I just tested are returning 404
| CodeWriter23 wrote:
| Either they just set them private or it's a github issue as
| mashing reload let me get in.
| ajolly wrote:
| Githubs being weird for me today I'm having a bunch of
| repos return 404
| r2_pilot wrote:
| Github is having issues per their status page.
| brirec wrote:
| As someone who uses a few remapped buttons and "drag scroll"
| (i.e., using the trackball as a huge, 2D mouse wheel), being able
| to do those mappings on the device firmware level is amazing.
|
| Applications like Karabiner-Elements and Steermouse on macOS, or
| interception-tools on Linux (or even X keyboard layouts), or
| Autohotkey and X-Input Mouse Tool or whatnot all exist, and
| they're also great. But they all need separate configuration that
| you'll have to maintain, and they all have their own quirks and
| caveats such as not working the same inside Remote Desktop
| windows. Not to mention latency/priority issues, or anti-cheat.
|
| Life is a little easier when the firmware of your input device
| emits the events that you want in the first place...
| heatmiser wrote:
| Knowing that I have my hardware "doing what it says" removes a
| meaningful amount of mental overhead from the equation. I
| recently switched to homerow modifiers[0] and it was nice to
| have that done seamlessly across all of my devices by only
| having to connect my keyboard.
|
| [0]: https://precondition.github.io/home-row-mods
| gorbachev wrote:
| I can't see the gerber files in the repo. Anyone know if they're
| available somewhere?
| evanjrowley wrote:
| I love that Poopy exists, and I love that they went with this
| design. A Kensington Expert -inspired design hasn't been
| attempted by them up until now.
|
| I just wish they weren't using QMK firmware. This puts me in the
| minority, as QMK was a much requested feature. I recognize the
| benefits too, but there is one drawback:
|
| Equipment that requires a mouse, like some expensive KVMs, or
| programs that expect certain input devices, will sometimes not
| function correctly because Ploopy trackballs present themselves
| the the computer as keyboards instead of mice.
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(page generated 2023-11-03 23:02 UTC)