Re: New Spinner control.....Optical technology (long)

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: I'm very interested. Could you send me some pictures also? (or just post them). : : OK, you guys, please don't kill me for posting this here. Consider this a "new product announcement". : : I just finished prototyping a new spinner control that uses the fancy new optical mouse technology similar to that of the "intellimouse" and others that have no balls or optical encoders. The thing worked so well that I made up 8 of them that I will sell for $40 (plus shipping) each. They come with everything you need, including your choice of spinner knobs ( I have 5 you can choose from.) If there's enough interest, I'll continue to make them available. : : Here's some advantages that I noticed: : : - Very smooth movement. My design uses 2 sets of real ball-bearings, not oil impregnated bronze bushings (although these work ok too) : : - Precise control. The optical stuff does 1500 comparisons a second, which means it picks up very small movements without noticable jitter. Anyone that has used these new mice knows the difference I am talking about. As an example, I actually found Arkanoid to be just as playable as Tempest. Something I found not to be the case with my old mouse hack. : : - No need to reverse the mouse direction settings. You turn it right and the mouse pointer moves right. Only really an issue if you want to use it with games that won't let you reverse right-to-left. But this does help with those PC games. : : - Simple installation. No plates or bolt heads on top of your CP. You will need an 11/16" wood boring bit, a screwdriver, and some pliers or wrenches. installs in about 15 minutes. : : - PS/2 mouse connection. Not really an advantage, but Windows will let you use a bunch of mice using different ports. (I have 3 on my system that all work at the same time (serial, USB, PS/2)). : : - The mouse switches have been removed and wires have been soldered in their place. This means you can easily take advantage of the 3 mouse buttons for your CP (at least in windows, I haven't tried DOS....yet). : : - Narrow footprint. The footprint is less than 2.5" square and 5" up and down. Fits well in a minimum of space. : : : : The downsides: : : The unit was designed with 3/4" panel in mind. Installing into 1/2" or less will require some modification. : : The unit does not use a counterweight, but has room for one to be added. The ball-bearings make it run smooth without the extra weight (my preference), and *no* current mouse hack can keep up with a fast, prolonged spin anyway so...... : : And then there's the price :), but there's over $25 worth of parts and about 1 hour of my time in each one, so I think it's fair. : : : : So there you have it. I've got 8 of them in boxes ready to go. If you want one, let me know. : : RandyT

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