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Message 1 of 54
Anonymous
1487 Views, 53 Replies

Track ball vs. Mouse

I'm just a little curious, how many of you use a track ball?. A new drafter
just started here and brought in his own track ball.
Personally, I can't see how he is going to become productive using a track
ball. But then again I have never used one while drafting.
I've sat at his desk and it seems very awkward to draft with.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You,

--
Howard Kaplan
Sidney B. Bowne & Son
235 E. Jericho Turnpike
Mineola, NY 11501
www.Bownegroup.com
Dell Optiplex GX620
Acad R2006, LDD 2006
Dual Pentium 3.2 Ghz
2 Gig of Ram
53 REPLIES 53
Message 41 of 54
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

i doubt voice control will ever catch on. for 1 there would be the noise polution in the office, can you imagine a room full of people yabbering at their computers. listen to the background noise next time you phone a call centre, and their in booths...

i would be one of the fools sneaking up behind my mate and shouting "close, no, close, no, close, no" as well
Message 42 of 54
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Noise canceling headphones would take care of the first and since the
software has to be trained and set for each voice I doubt if you'd get any
reaction to the second. Or at least no reaction from the software )

wrote in message news:5444037@discussion.autodesk.com...
i doubt voice control will ever catch on. for 1 there would be the noise
polution in the office, can you imagine a room full of people yabbering at
their computers. listen to the background noise next time you phone a call
centre, and their in booths...

i would be one of the fools sneaking up behind my mate and shouting "close,
no, close, no, close, no" as well
Message 43 of 54
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

On Mon, 8 Jan 2007 15:34:47 +0000, Allen Jessup
wrote:

>Noise canceling headphones would take care of the first and since the
>software has to be trained and set for each voice I doubt if you'd get any
>reaction to the second. Or at least no reaction from the software )

That simply creates the problem of everyone having to use headphones all of the
time for CAD work, which is almost as silly as using voice controlled CAD
sofwtare in a corporate setting in the first place.

Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com
Message 44 of 54
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Matt Stachoni wrote:
> On Mon, 8 Jan 2007 15:34:47 +0000, Allen Jessup
> wrote:
>
>> Noise canceling headphones would take care of the first and since the
>> software has to be trained and set for each voice I doubt if you'd get any
>> reaction to the second. Or at least no reaction from the software )
>
> That simply creates the problem of everyone having to use headphones all of the
> time for CAD work, which is almost as silly as using voice controlled CAD
> sofwtare in a corporate setting in the first place.


After a week or 2 they would all be a nervous wreck. Having to wear ear
phones and every time somebody wanted to talk having to tap them on the
shoulder and watching them jump out of there skin. But, it would cut
down on the time spent taking phone calls. Then again voice mail would
fill up.
Message 45 of 54
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Never said it wasn't silly. (Or that I wasn't silly.) But if you're going to
use it anyway. You should go all the way.

On a more serious note. I think, for me, the trackball and keyboard are the
best combination of input devices. But I always think there has to be a
better way. I haven't seen anything yet. But I'm always hopeful.

Allen

"Matt Stachoni" wrote in message
news:5444095@discussion.autodesk.com...
On Mon, 8 Jan 2007 15:34:47 +0000, Allen Jessup
wrote:

>Noise canceling headphones would take care of the first and since the
>software has to be trained and set for each voice I doubt if you'd get any
>reaction to the second. Or at least no reaction from the software )

That simply creates the problem of everyone having to use headphones all of
the
time for CAD work, which is almost as silly as using voice controlled CAD
sofwtare in a corporate setting in the first place.

Matt
mstachoni@comcast.net
mstachoni@bhhtait.com
Message 46 of 54
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

I could go for that here (no radio, no music, no headphone policy), finally
I could "get away" with listening to music!
Message 47 of 54
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Yeah. Same here. Never could understand how listening to everyone else
jabber to each other or on the phone. Plus the plotter, printers, copier and
scanner. Is supposed to be less distracting than music. The only reason we
have it is because some of the less mature ones turn it in to radio wars.

"Lon Neufeld" wrote in message
news:5444398@discussion.autodesk.com...
I could go for that here (no radio, no music, no headphone policy), finally
I could "get away" with listening to music!
Message 48 of 54
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

cool, yes you can do whatever with the code, its a mix of stuff learned here anyway 🙂
I want to do a class at AU on cad setup/startup tricks. That is one area where I have written a lot of workaround progs
to control things, yet allow users to customize on top of my stuff.
I'd like others to do that too - walk us through how they deal with things like non-networked laptops, beginner vs
experienced users, file cleaning...stuff that tends to be specific to a company but reveals patterns that are useful.

jseefcoot <>
|>Sweet! I like that, because the way our standards are set up those aliases will fit in nicely. (I'm guessing you have no problems with us using that code, since you posted it. . . .)
|>
|>I do like to keep all of my aliases on the left side of the keyboard, and I frequently double and triple up on keys to make that possible. I could hit MP for match properties, and do it pretty fast, but WW is a little faster, and the chance of missing is much less. I try to keep similar commands on the same key, though -- for me, V is line, VV is polyline, VVV is polyline edit; W is properties, WW is Match Properties, etc. Makes it easier to remember too.
|>
|>I use almost every key that is available to my left hand; if a key was once occupied by a default command that I never use, I redefine it in my macros. Anyting to keep my left hand in one spot. If possible, I try to associate the key with the command in some way, to keep the aliases easy to remember. For instance, I rarely need to create blocks, but I frequently break lines at a point, so for me, B is the Break command. One oddity, though, is I invariably type in numbers with my right hand on the numpad. It's pretty much the only time when I'm drafting that I'll remove my hand from the mouse completely.
James Maeding
Civil Engineer and Programmer
jmaeding - athunsaker - com
Message 49 of 54
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

Do you write to these forums under a pseudonym? maybe your sitting on the
other side of my cubicle right now?! 😄

Music has been a bone of contention around here (every once in a while we
are permitted to quietly listen to radio, then the younger kids crank it up
before heading out to the field for measurements or whatever, and we all pay
yet again)
Message 50 of 54
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

about 3 times a year we have clients visit our offices which is the reason were not allowed headphones, (looks unprofesional???) same reason we have to wear a shirt and tie.

it wouldnt take much to warn us somebody would be coming in so we could stash our headphones, and it would encourage us to look sharp a couple of times a year, rather than wearing the usual work soiled clothes with baby sick on i currently model
Message 51 of 54
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

It's not the younger ones around here. The biggest offender listens to
classical music. The problem is. Even though the is a ban on radios. It is
never enforced until it gets bad enough for a complaint.

I'd even agree that musack would be better than nothing.

Allen

"Lon Neufeld" wrote in message
news:5444643@discussion.autodesk.com...
Do you write to these forums under a pseudonym? maybe your sitting on the
other side of my cubicle right now?! 😄

Music has been a bone of contention around here (every once in a while we
are permitted to quietly listen to radio, then the younger kids crank it up
before heading out to the field for measurements or whatever, and we all pay
yet again)
Message 52 of 54
Anonymous
in reply to: Anonymous

"Logitech Trackman Wheel Mouse" here, and I love it. Use it for CAD /
programing at work.. and have a 2nd one at home for general use, and games.

From what I've seen, a Track Ball is the ONLY way to go for CAD.. or
anything else. Regular (even wireless) are just too slow.
Message 53 of 54
CADbetty
in reply to: Anonymous

I've never used a trackball, but this is what I do use:

Logitech MX700 Optical mouse.
It has two buttons near your thumb - one I've assigned as ESC and the other as ENTER. Right Click and Left Click as normal with a normal scroll bar that I can either pan or zoom with. I've never run out of space, as the mouse is optical rather than roller ball - I can reach the extents of my screen without lifting or sliding my wrist along the mouse pad. No cord to get tangled up either. (There are three extra buttons near the scroll button that are also programmable, but I do not use those.)

This mouse combined with keyboard shortcuts and express tools makes me pretty darn efficient in ADT.

Going back to the old two button mouse slows me WAY down. And I can't imagine going back to the tablet I used in college...
Message 54 of 54
rgriffin
in reply to: Anonymous

I am looking into mouse alternatives because of pain in my mouse hand & arm. The track ball looks like something that I would have to learn to use but then there was also a touch pad kind of simular to those on a lap top just bigger & then there is now a sketch pad. I am pretty comfortable using the touch pad on a lap top so I am leaning to getting one of those, plus I could use it with both hands. I am a lefty but I mouse right handed. I have been using a scroll mouse sence 1994 before then it was the digitizer & the board

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