[chat] Scroll wheels (Was: Re: MTA wars)

[Peter Hardy <peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, Aug 10, 2003 at 01:27:09AM +1000, Michael Lake wrote:
> Ummm.... I dont think the scroll wheel is that great. Its a another 
> sneaky M$ method to keep users hands on the mice instead of on the 
> keyboard. Using the keyboard and sensible mapped keys for moving around 
> a document (i.e. using either emacs or vim) is far more efficient for 
> text. Mouses are good for CAD things.

Then you've never used a Sony Vaio laptop. :-)

They have something called a jog dial, which is a little wheely thingy,
usually sticking out of the right side of the keyboard, right about
where your little finger naturally heads towards.  Just move your right
hand across a little, and voila.

They're designed to be used with some custom Windows software to drive a
menu interface, but under linux it's a snap to get it generating scroll
events, in addition to having it pop up a user-defined menu if you push
it in.

Combine that with the joystick-style mouse in the middle of the keyboard
(with three buttons!).  Then you get pretty much everything a mouse can
offer without moving your hands more than a couple of inches.  It's
surprisingly addictive. :-)

-- 
Pete