I still use a mouse with my laptops. The button-less track pads are junk. Most programs are not optimized for touchscreen use and I don't want fingerprints all over my screen anyways. The Thinkpad trackpoints are OK, but they are not usable in CAD software that needs 3 buttons and a scroll wheel to navigate.
this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2024
16 points (100.0% liked)
Technology
1082 readers
10 users here now
This is the official technology community of Lemmy.ml for all news related to creation and use of technology, and to facilitate civil, meaningful discussion around it.
Ask in DM before posting product reviews or ads. All such posts otherwise are subject to removal.
Rules:
1: All Lemmy rules apply
2: Do not post low effort posts
3: NEVER post naziped*gore stuff
4: Always post article URLs or their archived version URLs as sources, NOT screenshots. Help the blind users.
5: personal rants of Big Tech CEOs like Elon Musk are unwelcome (does not include posts about their companies affecting wide range of people)
6: no advertisement posts unless verified as legitimate and non-exploitative/non-consumerist
7: crypto related posts, unless essential, are disallowed
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
FreeCAD has a navigation method specifically for trackpads
The mouse was never the best tool for a lot of computing jobs, it was just what caught on.
I still primarily use my computers as a desktop, and I don't like it when software requires me to reach over to my pointing device. When it does, the majority of the time I reach for a trackball which is far more comfortable.
After dabbling with tiling windows managers in Linux some years ago, I came to realize that pointing devices are often the slow way to do things.
The main thing I want a pointing device for these days is for scrolling through documents and web pages, and the vast majority of mice are just bad at that. Precision scrolling is only available on a handful of mice, and its niche enough that consistent software implementation is just not a thing.
I'll still keep a mouse on hand for playing the occasional video game that works better with one, but that's not really how I like to play games usually.
Back in something like 2003 the computer I had at work had a trackball instead of a mouse. I hated it, until I finally replaced it with mouse and found myself really missing my trackball. Still use them 20+ years later.
My wife still only uses Logitech track ball mice on her desktop. On the rare occasion I need to use her oc for something, it's always an interesting time haha. Only takes about 10 seconds to be 'calibrared' to it now.
I'm also using a trackball, it was Logitech ones and now a Sanwa Gravi
Been using the Kensington Expert Wireless a couple of years now.
I'm too sensitive for a trackpad. I hate touchscreens.
Look, early Android phones had a tiny trackballs, some buttons and even physical keyboard.
Who wants a stylus?
👀
I miss the physical keyboard of my first phone. It was so cool! I filled flipped out open and turned out horizontal to thumb type.
It was really hard moving to a virtual keyboard. Swype helps but it also make a ton of mistakes too.
My go to smartphone keyboard is MessagEase. A few larger buttons instead of many small. You can get quite fast on it, and larger buttons means fewer mistakes.