Touchpads

"Pete C." fired this volley in news:4bdf03f9$0$26859 $ snipped-for-privacy@unlimited.usenetmonster.com:

'appears I'm the only one with good typing posture, too .

LLoyd

I don't remember my grades in typing class. Typing class, not keyboarding class as it was later known. I took it because I knew computers would be the next big thing and that is how you talk to them.

I tend to rest my hands on the table. You elevate your arms all the time you are typing? I just gave it a test run and I could type a bit faster for some strange reason but it sure wasn't comfortable. I'll stick to my way for now.

I rely on a usb wireless mouse. As soon as I plug in the usb end and it connects to the mouse, I get a message that my touch pad has deactivated its self. Makes me think the designers knew that killing it when a better option available would be a real crowd pleaser. ;)

I used I too many times.

Wes

If I had to use a laptop for an extended period, I'd bring an external keyboard with me.

Wes

-- "Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

Larry Jaques on Mon, 03 May 2010 06:50:26

-0700 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

I saw one in a story - $24. I'll look for a store closer.

"It made sense, at the time." A universal answer which explains many decisions, particularly when years later the person being asked has no idea why the decision was made that way in the first place.

I have a network cable, but apparently one cannot simply plug it into the two ports on computers and make a simple home network. Now _that_ is dumb. I'm updating the Sneakernet protocols to work with a thumb drive. "Windows - it just works."

- pyotr filipivich We will drink no whiskey before its nine. It's eight fifty eight. Close enough!

A corded keyboard and mouse go in my shoulder bag with my laptop. I'd rather used the mouse on my knee than use a freaking touchpad. And those keyboards are ridiculous if you write for a living.

For surfing the Web, though, they're fine.

Pins 1,2,3,6 irc are what the signal goes in and out on. You need a cross over cable.

.

Actually a hub or multiport repeater would be easiest.

Wes

-- "Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

I'd go with the touch pad over the little eraser nub any day, so 12:2 or 6:1 now.

David

Wes wrote in news:wOHDn.91850$ snipped-for-privacy@en-nntp-15.dc.easynews.com:

A "crossover"/"data transfer" cable can be had for relatively little.

I got mine at a Wal-Mart but just about any moderately-stocked office supply or computer outlet should have them.

I refuse to use a machine with a cli****s.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

"RAM³" fired this volley in news:Xns9D6DC3C765091s31924netscapenet@74.209.131.10:

Called a "passive hub". Got one. (made it)

LLoyd

On Mon, 3 May 2010 09:58:56 -0700, "Steve B" wrote the following:

If they weren't $100, I'd like to try a Logitech Trackman Live! handheld presentation trackball.

Regular trackballs (marble on top) require your hand and/or arm to be lifted and moved. The Logitech Trackman Portable/Optical Trackman/Cordless Trackman Wheel and the Microsoft Ballpoint have the left-hand ball to be used by the thumb, -preventing- the carpal and shoulder problems most people experience with mouse use.

Yes, it's amazing that people can't use their thumb (or palm) to move the ball. I fell right into it and was fully up to speed within the hour.

-- Courage is the power to let go of the familiar. -- Raymond Lindquist

On Mon, 03 May 2010 20:24:48 -0400, Spehro Pefhany wrote the following:

Just because they don't have a slot which fits you?

-- Courage is the power to let go of the familiar. -- Raymond Lindquist

Somewhere downstairs I have a serial pointing device, a little three button mouse captive on it's own base. Felix is the name on it IIRC. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

I actually have one of those (thumb balls) from an old Compaq laptop.

pretty cool toy...

[ ... ]

You can with a crossover cable. The twisted pair ethernet uses two pair out of the four (8 wires) available on the RJ-45 modular connector. One pair is transmit and the other pair is receive. If you use a standard cable, it is the equivalent of each computer shouting into the other computer's mouth, and listening to the other computer's ear. Not very good for communication.

Ethernet hubs listen and talk on the opposite pair, so you use a straight through cable for talking to them.

Since the same connector is used for a lot of other functions, the pinout is not as simple as you may expect. If you hold the connector with the wire towards you and the connector blades facing up, and number from left to right, you use the following pairs:

1\______ first pair 2/ 3\ 4 \______Second pair 5 / 6/ 7 8

That is 1 & 2 for the first pair, and 3 & 6 for the second pair. Other uses for the plug use different combinations of wires. When used for a phone, the talk circuit is on pins 4 & 5 and other pins are used for things usually needed only for a phone with a hold circuit.

Other network uses for the same connector include the T1, and the Frame Relay (which use other pairs of pins.

In the cable, 1 & 2 are twisted together (pair 1) 3 & 6 are twisted together (pair 2) 4 & 5 are twisted together (pair 3) 7 & 8 are twisted together (pair 4)

To make the crossover cable:

end 1 end 2

1---------------3 2---------------4 3---------------1 6---------------2

The other four pins at each end can be left open, or crossed over as you wish.

Now -- if you have a router, it will probably do DHCP and automatically assign IP addresses to the two computers. If you have just a plain hub or a switch, or a crossover cable as described above, you will have to go into both comptuers' network configuration programs and allocate different IP addresses to the two ends. Ideally, you want to pick IP addresses which will not be used on the outside net. There are several groupings, but the one which gives you the most leeway to expand is the one which starts with "10.". There are four "octets", separated by '.'s. Ideally, pick the first three to be the same at both ends, and you can then just worry about picking different numbers for the last octet. The range of legal values of the octets are between 0 and 255, but for some reasons it will be good to avoid 0, and 255 for the last octet. By making only the last octet different, you don't have to worry about things like the netmask to allow the computers to talk to each other.

The reason that this is so complex is because it was designed not just to connect two computers together, but rather millions of computers around the world.

But you *can* make two Windows boxen talk to each other if you know how to configure it, and have (or make) either a crossover cable, or have a hub or router.

I can tell you how to do it with unix boxen, but I don't play with Windows often enough to remember how to do it. Search on the web.

You can probably pick up a used DSL modem or wireless hub or something similar and they will handle the DHCP for you, even if you don't have anything connected to the outside world. (Be careful with the wireless hub, because it will result in others driving by your house (or the nearby neighbors) being able to pick up your communications, even if you are not connected to the outside net.

Enjoy, DoN.

=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0Now

564

I have a phone wire, but I can't just plug it into the ports on two phones and make a simple home phone system. Is THAT dumb? The Ethernet adapters on your computers were designed to connect to each other through the appropriate equipment, which could be as simple as a crossover cable, or as complicated as the whole internet.

There are many switches and hubs which are smart enough to figure out which pair is being used for transmit and which for receive. I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear that there are PC Ethernet cards that do likewise, eliminating the need for crossover cables.

But the standard is quite clear on this.

BTW, which whiskey do you drink? I go back & forth between Jameson and Jack Daniels.

For surfing the web on the go, I use the touchscreen on my Droid, and it works pretty well. But I always pack a trackball (I really don't like mice) with the laptop.

Speaking of trackballs, I really like the Microsoft Trackball Explorer. Last week, I thought, "Gee, I ought to get a couple more of these." Well, it's been out of production for quite a while, so I hit ebay where I found, much to my horror, that people are selling these things for over $450!!! Supply and demand, I guess.

Today, I was out at Microcenter, and took a look at the trackballs on display. Didn't like any of them. Now what am I going to do? Any suggestions?

I posted above about this, but it bears repeating. I've been using trackballs for longer than I can remember. My weapon of choice these days is the Microsoft Trackball Explorer. You manipulate the ball with your index & middle fingers, and the buttons & wheel with your thumb. THere are two other buttons (which I don't use) that you operate with your ring finger and pinky.This is a right-handed only device.

So, I thought I ought to buy a couple more of them. They're totally out of production, and going for over $450 on ebay. So, I'm open to suggestions. I don't really like using the thumb to operate the ball, as it's way easier to be precise with the fingers. And the big Kensigntons (of which I have a couple) are too, well, big, requiring too much hand movement. Any ideas?