A mouse is just two buttons, and a two-dimensional motion tracking system, right? Oh, and a scroll wheel. And a third button. And…now you’re realizing that mice can be pretty complicated. [DIY Yarik] proves that in spades with his impressive—and complex—mouse build. The only thing is, you might argue it isn’t really a mouse.
The inspiration for the mouse was simple. [Yarik] wanted something that was comfortable to use. He also wanted a mouse that wouldn’t break so often—apparently, he’s had a lot of reliability issues with mice in recent years. Thus, he went with a custom 3D-printed design with a wrist rest at the base. This allows his hand to naturally rest in a position where he can access multiple buttons and a central thumbstick for pointing. In fact, there’s a secondary scroll control and a rotary dial as well. It’s a pretty juicy control surface. Code is up on GitHub.
The use of a thumbstick is controversial—some might exclaim “this is not a mouse!” To them, I say, “Fine, call it a pointing device.” It’s still cool, and it look like a comfortable way to interface with a computer.
We’ve seen some other neat custom mice over the years, too, like this hilarious force-feedback mouse. Video after the break.
Not even trackballs are “mice” but you’re calling this joystick adjacent contraption a mouse?
Are digitizer pens or touchscreens mice too?!
This maybe a crossover between joystick and nipple but not a mouse.
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing_stick?useskin=vector for trackpoint / nub / clit
I mean why? Clickbait trolling by intentionally misusing a commonly know & defined term (in the IT/computer realm)?
Was this article edited afterwards or something? Or maybe you didn’t really read it. Either way yeah, as for this mouse-sized-device-used-for-clicking-and-other-mouse-functions-type-device . . . how would anyone possibly mistake it for a true, pure-bred mouse? Left click, right click, a wheel if you’re extra fancy . . .
I Initially read this one when first posted, and to my recollection, it does seem to have been edited.
I was wondering why Lewin would do this.
It sends mouse USB/Bluetooth HID reports, and identifies itself as a mouse to the computer
Checkmate! :D
If it identifies itself as a mouse, we should accept it for what it is.
Interesting mechanism, I don’t think I’ve seen that particular one before. I wonder how it’ll stand up to long-term use
Been in use for video game controllers since the late 90’s …
Yeah, but this one is 3d printed.
I honestly don’t believe the creator that by the third day he was only using his diy mouse, and not his normal mouse
I have made my own gamepad, macropad and gyro controlled mouse. It takes a herculean amount of effort to get used to a new kind of interface device and if its not a superset of your old device (meaning it can do everything your old mouse could, and more), you will switch between the two, before going back to your old mouse.
I don’t know. Maybe since he implemented scrolling and mouse control along with a bunch of more keys, it was indeed more convenient for him to use his diy mouse
the springs would annoy me greatly, but i don’t use acceleration. i would be losing the cursor all the time if i used this.
I’m not against the concept, but imo it would be better if it was an absolute mouse and behaved like a conventional trackball. I don’t think diy trackballs need to have continuous scrolling for simple mechanisms. continuous scrolling mechanisms are prone to dirt ingress.
if the joystick was a half ball in appearance to a trackball it would be less sensitive and more accurate.
He replaced the springs with rubber bands and put a sponge to dampen it, giving it more accuracy and removing the kickback.
i kind of hate mice so i am always thinking about hacks like this. i don’t like the ergonomics of a normal mouse, i can’t figure out how to get a trackball into my laptop, and i hate hate hate touchpads (which i use every day). touchpads are so unreliable. subjectively, they used to suffer from a lack of auto-calibration, and now, the auto-calibration can drift depending on your usage patterns. they don’t always register one finger, and they don’t always register two fingers, and they don’t always reject palms and bellies. and their buttons tend to run between hard to push and hard to push precisely.
so the only progress i’ve made is i invented a program that monitors for keyboard events and converts them into mouse events. a ‘trigger key’ (one of the unused win95 or mode keys, depending on the keyboard) plus arrows and three keys for the buttons. it’s pretty unsatisfactory but to this day i use it as a more reliable touchpad button.
but the thing on my mind is, what is Yarik’s complaint about normal mice?
That they’re uncomfortable for long periods and that the microswitches aren’t durable enough – although I wonder how hard he compresses microswitches to find that they don’t reach around 1,000,000 minimum operations
Touchpads are terrible. I prefer trackpoint myself, especially if it’s data entry.
Just out of curiosity, why are you belly-flopping onto your trackpad?
depends on the chair i’m sitting on but i use my laptop on my lap in recliners and hammocks and so on. it happens :)
Cue the popular image of Gabe Newell in a lounge chair on the beach 😂
I would like to try a combination of gaze tracking and an analog stick like this.
The stick’s absolute coordinates would be mapped into the section of the screen where you’re looking.
Your eyes could quickly move the cursor to the general area of the clickable thing, and the stick would give more precision while allowing your eyes to relax a bit.
You could even have the section remain stationary while the stick is deflected, to allow looking at another area/monitor without disrupting your hover location, or the “looked-at section” could even be snapped to a grid.