NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Microsoft Mouse

A mouse is a handheld pointing device for computers, being a small object fitted with one or more buttons and shaped to sit naturally under the hand. The underside of the mouse houses a device that detects the mouse's motion relative to the flat surface on which it moves. The mouse's 2D motion is typically translated into the motion of a pointer on the display. Mouse Created in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop Elements by Jeremy Kemp, 2/10/05 Background info from http://computer. ... Mouse Created in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop Elements by Jeremy Kemp, 2/10/05 Background info from http://computer. ... Blue, green and red LEDs. ... The First Computer Mouse http://www. ... The First Computer Mouse http://www. ... An Apple pro mouse A pointing device is any computer hardware component that allows a user to input spatial (ie, continuous and multi-dimensional) data to a computer. ... A computer is a machine for manipulating data according to a list of instructions - a program. ... Cursors feature in many of the interfaces between computers and their users. ... Nineteen inch (48 cm) CRT computer monitor A computer display, monitor or screen is a computer peripheral device capable of showing characters and/or still or moving images generated by a computer and processed by a graphics card. ...

It is called a mouse primarily because the cord on early models resembled the rodent's tail, and also because the motion of the pointer on the screen can be mouse-like.

Mice

Early mice

The mouse was invented by Douglas Engelbart of Stanford Research Institute in 1963 after extensive usability testing. It was also called the bug, but eventually this was dropped in favor of mouse. It was one of several experimental pointing devices developed for Engelbart's oN-Line System (NLS), which was both a hardware and software system. The other devices were designed to exploit other body movements—for example, head-mounted devices attached to the chin or nose—but ultimately, the mouse won out because of its simplicity and convenience. The first computer mouse underside view held by inventor Douglas Engelbart found using a google image search. ... Douglas Engelbart Dr. Douglas C. Engelbart (born January 30, 1925 in Oregon) is an American inventor of Norwegian descent. ... Douglas Engelbart Dr. Douglas C. Engelbart (born January 30, 1925 in Oregon) is an American inventor of Norwegian descent. ... SRI International is one of the worlds largest contract research institutions. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... Usability testing is a means for measuring how well people can use some human-made object (such as a web page, a computer interface, a document, or a device) for its intended purpose, i. ... The NLS workstation showing the CRT display, keyboard, pushbuttons, and mouse NLS, or the oNLine System, was a revolutionary computer collaboration system designed by Douglas Engelbart and the researchers at the Augmentation Research Center (ARC) at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) during the 1960s. ...

The first mouse was bulky and used two gear wheels perpendicular to each other: the rotation of each wheel was translated into motion along one axis in the plane. Engelbart received patent US3541541 on November 17, 1970 for an "X-Y Position Indicator For A Display System". At the time, Engelbart intended that users would hold the mouse continuously in one hand and type on a five-key chord keyset with the other. A coordinate axis is one of a set of vectors that defines a coordinate system. ... A patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to a person for a fixed period of time in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device, method, process or composition of matter (substance) (known as an invention) which is new, inventive, and... 17 November is also the name of a Marxist group in Greece. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... The chord keyset is a small computer keyboard with a look and feel similar to those of a piano. ...

Mechanical mice

A later variation on the mouse, invented in the early 1970s by Bill English at Xerox PARC, replaced the external wheels with a single ball that could rotate in any direction. The ball's motion, in turn, was detected using perpendicular wheels housed inside the mouse's body. This variant of the mouse resembled an inverted trackball and was the predominant form used with personal computers throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The Xerox PARC group also settled on the modern technique of using both hands to type on a full-size QWERTY keyboard and grabbing the mouse as needed. 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... Bill English is a computer engineer who contributed to the development of the computer mouse while working for Doug Engelbart at SRI. He left SRI in 1971 and headed to Xerox Parc where managed the Office Systems Research Group. ... Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) was a flagship research division of the Xerox Corporation, based in Palo Alto, California, USA, which essentially created the modern personal computer paper paradigm. ... Logitech Marble Mouse Trackball A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball housed in a socket containing sensors to detect rotation of the ball about two axesâ€”like an upside-down mouse, but with the ball sticking out more. ... The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ... The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ...

Modern computer mice took form at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) under the inspiration of Professor Jean-Daniel Nicoud and the hands of engineer and watchmaker André Guignard. A spin-off of EPFL, Logitech, launched the first popular mice. The Ã‰cole Polytechnique FÃ©dÃ©rale de Lausanne (EPFL) is the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne in Switzerland (French speaking part of Switzerland). ... Picture of the miniCeline ultralight aircraft by Jean-Daniel Nicoud. ... Look up engineer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... AndrÃ© Guignard is a Swiss engineer and watchmaker. ... Logitech International S.A. (SWX: LOGN, NASDAQ: LOGI), headquartered in Apples, Switzerland, is the holding company for Logitech Group, an industry leader in the personal peripheral market. ...

The major movement translation techniques are by optical, mechanical and inertial sensors.

Optical mice

Whereas a mechanical mouse uses a ball and wheels to detect the movement of the mouse, an optical mouse uses a light emitting diode and photodiodes to detect the movement of the mouse pad. Download high resolution version (882x276, 40 KB)mouse patents File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Download high resolution version (882x276, 40 KB)mouse patents File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2160x1440, 818 KB) Summary The optical sensor from a Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer 1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2160x1440, 818 KB) Summary The optical sensor from a Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer 1. ... Various light-emitting diodes (5 mm reds, 3 mm greens and yellows) A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits incoherent monochromatic light when electrically biased in the forward direction. ... A photodiode A photodiode is an electronic component and a type of photodetector. ... Categories: Computer stubs ...

Early optical mice, such as those invented by Steve Kirsch of Mouse Systems Corporation, could be used only on a special metallic-surface (mouse pad) printed with a grid of fine blue and grey lines. As computing power grew cheaper, it became possible to embed more powerful special-purpose image processing chips in the mouse. This advance enabled the mouse to detect the relative motion of the mouse on a wide variety of surfaces, in turn translating the movement of the mouse over the surface into the movement of the pointer, eliminating the need for a special mouse pad. This advance paved the way for widespread adoption of optical mice. Steven T. Kirsch invented and owns a patent on the optical mouse. ... Mouse Systems Corporation, formerly Rodent Associates, was founded in 1982 by Steve Kirsch, inventor of the optical mouse. ... Categories: Computer stubs ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... SEM image of an integrated circuit showing defects in the aluminium layer deposition (shown in cyan). ...

Modern surface-independent optical mice work by using an optical sensor to take successive pictures of the surface the mouse is operating on. Most of these mice use LEDs to illuminate the surface that is being tracked; LED optical mice are often mislabeled as "Laser Mice", probably because a red LED is used in almost all optical mice, and the laser color many people are most familiar with is red. Changes between one frame and the next are processed by the image processing part of the chip and translated into movement on the two axes using an optical flow algorithm. For example, the Agilent Technologies ADNS-2610 optical mouse sensor processes 1512 frames per second: each frame is a rectangular array of 18*18 pixels, and each pixel can sense 64 different levels of gray. Optoelectronics is the study and application of electronic devices that interact with light. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... SEM image of an integrated circuit showing defects in the aluminium layer deposition (shown in cyan). ... A coordinate axis is one of a set of vectors that defines a coordinate system. ... Optical flow is a concept for considering the motion of objects within a visual representation. ... A pixel (a contraction of picture element) is one of the many tiny dots that make up the representation of a picture in a computers memory. ...

Optomechanical mice detect movements of the ball optically, giving the precision of optical without the surface compatibility problems, whereas optical mice detect (relative) movement of the surface by examining the light reflected off it.

Laser mice

In 2004, Logitech, along with Agilent Technologies, introduced the laser mouse with its MX 1000 model. This mouse uses a small laser instead of an LED. The new technology can increase the detail of the image taken by the mouse. The companies claim that this leads to a 20x increase in the sensitivity to the surface features used for navigation compared to conventional optical mice (see interference). Gamers have complained that the MX 1000 does not respond immediately to movement after it is picked up, moved, and then put down on the mouse pad. Newer revisions of the mouse do not seem to suffer from this problem, which is a power-saving feature. (Almost all optical mice, laser or LED based, also implement this power-saving feature, except those intended for use in gaming, where a millisecond of delay is significant.) Since it is a wireless mouse, the engineers designed it to save as much power as possible. In order to do this, the mouse blinks the laser when in standby mode (8 seconds after the last motion). This function also increases the laser life. Two wireless computer mice, with scroll wheels. ... Two wireless computer mice, with scroll wheels. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Logitech International S.A. (SWX: LOGN, NASDAQ: LOGI), headquartered in Apples, Switzerland, is the holding company for Logitech Group, an industry leader in the personal peripheral market. ... Agilent Technologies NYSE: A is the actual descendant of the instrument company founded by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard in 1939. ... Lasers range in size from microscopic diode lasers (top) with numerous applications, to football field sized neodymium glass lasers (bottom) used for inertial confinement fusion, nuclear weapons research and other physics experiments. ... Interference of two circular waves - Wavelength (decreasing bottom to top) and Wave centers distance (increasing to the right). ...

As early as 1998, Sun Microsystems provided a laser mouse with their Sun SPARC Station servers and workstations. Sun Microsystems, Inc. ...

Optical versus mechanical mice

Optical mice supporters claim they work better than mechanical mice, require no maintenance and last longer due to having fewer moving parts. Although cleaning of a broken mechanical mouse is very simple, optical mice do not normally require any maintenance other than removing lint that might collect under the light emitter. Logitech iFeel Optical Mouse shining Photo by Jeremy Kemp, 2/13/05 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Logitech iFeel Optical Mouse shining Photo by Jeremy Kemp, 2/13/05 File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

Mechanical mice supporters point out that optical mice generally cannot track on glossy and transparent surfaces, including many commercial mouse pads, causing them to periodically "spin" uncontrollably during operation. Mice with less image processing power also have problems tracking extremely fast movement, though high-end mice track at 1 metre per second (40 inches per second) and faster.

Mechanical mice boast lower power usage, so they may prove advantageous for use in wireless settings where extra current is drawn to send the signal. A wireless mechanical mouse may draw an electrical current of 5 mA or less, whereas an optical mouse typically draws 25 mA to power an LED or laser diode. Older optical wireless mice can draw even more current. This can require frequent battery changes or recharges, making them unsuitable for continuous work and an extra drain on the worlds finite resources. In electricity, current is the rate of flow of charges, usually through a metal wire or some other electrical conductor. ... External links LEd Category: TeX ... A packaged laser diode with penny for scale. ...

Because optical mice move based on the image the LED reflects, their performance on multi-coloured mousepads is sometimes unreliable. However, they will outperform mechanical mice on uneven, slick, squishy, sticky or loose surfaces, and generally in mobile situations where mouse mats are not available.

Inertial Mice

Inertial mice are usually cordless to support their main feature of mobility. Movement in two or three axes is registered using a gyroscope for every axis supported. A switch is often used to activate the movement circuitry between use, allowing the user more freedom of movement without moving the pointer. This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Buttons

In contrast to the motion-sensing mechanism, the mouse's buttons have changed little, varying mostly in shape, number, and placement. Engelbart's very first mouse had a single button; this was soon increased to three. Commercial mice usually have between one and three buttons, although in the late 1990s some mice sprouted five or more. The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ...

Most popular are mice with two buttons. The most common purpose for the second button is to invoke a contextual menu in the computer's software user interface, which contains options specifically tailored to the interface element over which the mouse was positioned. This is used by the popular Microsoft Windows operating system in its default configuration, as well as many other operating systems. By default, the primary mouse button is located on the left hand side of the mouse, for the benefit of right handed users. An example for a context menu taken from the word processor Microsoft Word. ... Microsoft Windows is a series of popular proprietary operating environments and operating systems created by Microsoft for use on personal computers and servers. ...

On systems with three-button mice, pressing the center button (a middle click) is often used as a convenience to map the action to a commonly used action, or a macro. In the X Window System, middle clicking pastes the contents of the primary buffer at the pointer's position. Many two-button mice are configured to emulate a three-button mouse by clicking both the right and left buttons simultaneously. Middle-clicks are often used as a spare button in case a function is not allocated easily. KDE 3. ... An emulator reproducing a console games playable atmosphere on a Windows computer. ...

Additional buttons

Mice have been built with five or more buttons. Depending on the user's preferences, the extra buttons may allow forward and backward web navigation, scrolling through a browser's history, or other functions. As with similar features in keyboards, however, these functions may not be supported by all software. The additional buttons are generally more useful in computer games, where quick and easy access to a wide variety of functions (for example, weapon-switching in first-person shooters) can be very beneficial. Because mouse buttons can be mapped to virtually any function, keystroke, application or switch, they can make working with such a mouse more efficient and easier to use. A computer keyboard is a peripheral modeled after the typewriter keyboard. ... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... Doom, one of the games that defined the first-person shooter genre. ...

Douglas Engelbart's view of the optimal number of buttons was "as many as possible". The prototype that popularised the idea of three buttons as standard had that number only because "we couldn't find anywhere to fit any more switches". Douglas Engelbart Dr. Douglas C. Engelbart (born January 30, 1925 in Oregon) is an American inventor of Norwegian descent. ...

Wheels

One major innovation in mouse buttons was the scroll wheel: a small wheel, with its axis parallel to the mousing surface, that can be rotated "up" or "down" to provide immediate one-dimensional input. Usually, this input is translated into "scrolling" up or down within the currently selected window. This is especially helpful in navigating a long document. The scroll wheel can often be pressed straight down, replacing the third (center) button. Doing so often activates autoscrolling in the Windows operating system (if an application supports it). Some newer mouse models allow horizontal as well as vertical scrolling. Some designs make use of a "rocker" button instead of a wheel—a pivoting button that can be pressed at the top or bottom, simulating up and down respectively. The wheel can also be used with some software applications to zoom in and out by holding down the Control key (Ctrl) on the keyboard and scrolling either up or down. Applications that include this functionality include Microsoft Word, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Mozilla Firefox. An example of a graphical user interface in Windows XP, with the My Music window displayed A window is a visual area, usually rectangular in shape, containing some kind of user interface, displaying the output of and allowing input for one of a number of simultaneously running computer processes. ... A Control key (marked Ctrl) on a modern Windows keyboard In computing, a Control key is a key, which when pressed in conjunction with another key, will perform a special operation. ... lol n00bs Microsoft Word is a word processing application from Microsoft. ... Internet Explorer, abbreviated IE or MSIE, is a proprietary graphical web browser made by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. ... Opera is an Internet suite which handles common internet-related tasks, including visiting web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, and online chat. ... Mozilla Firefox is a free, open source, cross-platform, graphical web browser developed by the Mozilla Corporation and hundreds of volunteers. ...

A more advanced form of the mouse wheel is the tilt-wheel, found on some of the higher-end Logitech and Microsoft mice. Tilt wheels are essentially conventional mouse wheels that have been modified with a pair of sensors articulated to the tilting mechanism. These sensors are mapped, by default, to horizontal scrolling.

In 2005, the Apple Mighty Mouse introduced a third variety of built-in scrolling device. It contains a scroll ball, which is essentially a small trackball embedded in the upper surface of the mouse, and is used like a two-dimensional scroll wheel. Apple Computer, Inc. ... Mighty Mouse The Mighty Mouse (codenamed Houdini) is the first multi-button USB mouse manufactured and sold by Apple Computer. ... Logitech Marble Mouse Trackball A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball housed in a socket containing sensors to detect rotation of the ball about two axesâ€”like an upside-down mouse, but with the ball sticking out more. ...

3D Mice

In the late 1990s, Kantek introduced the 3D RingMouse. This wireless mouse was worn on a ring around a finger, which enabled the thumb to access three buttons. The mouse was tracked in three dimensions by a base station. Despite a certain appeal, this mouse was discontinued because it did not provide sufficient resolution.

Connectivity and communication protocols

Like all input devices, mice need some connection to the host computer in order to transmit their input. Typical mice use a thin electrical cord plus a connector (e.g. RS-232C, PS/2, ADB or USB) for this purpose. Cordless mice use wireless communication transmit data via infrared, radio, or Bluetooth. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1788x2096, 1315 KB) A Bluetooth mouse. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1788x2096, 1315 KB) A Bluetooth mouse. ... This article is about the Bluetooth wireless specification. ... RS-232 (also referred to as EIA RS-232C or V.24) is a standard for serial binary data interchange between a DTE (Data terminal equipment) and a DCE (Data communication equipment). ... The Personal System/2 or PS/2 was IBMs second generation of personal computers. ... Apple Desktop Bus (or ADB) is a bit-serial computer bus for connecting low-speed devices to computers. ... Type A USB connector Dual images of the two Type B USB connectors, mini and full size, side and front view, compared with a U.S. 5Â¢ piece (nickel) in both images for scale. ... Image of a small dog taken in mid-infrared (thermal) light (false color) Infrared (IR) radiation is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength longer than that of visible light, but shorter than that of microwave radiation. ... This article is about the Bluetooth wireless specification. ...

The format of the data transmitted by commonly availably mice has in the past varied between different manufacturers and also depends on the type of electrical interface used.

PS/2 mouse protocol

Starting with the introduction of the IBM PS/2 personal computer series in 1987, mice for IBM compatibles became increasingly connected via a round 6-pin mini-DIN connector. The connector, pin assignment, and low-level serial format are the same as the one used by a PS/2 keyboard. For any motion, button press, or button release event, a PS/2 mouse sends over its bi-directional serial port a sequence of three bytes, with the following format: This article is about the Personal System/2 computer line made by IBM. There is another article on the PlayStation 2 made by Sony. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 5 pin 180Â° DIN connector 4 pin Mini-DIN S-Video connector Speaker DIN line socket (left) and plug DIN connectors are multi-pin electrical connectors based on a DIN standard. ... The IBM PC keyboard and its derivative computer keyboards are standardized. ...

Here, XS and YS are the sign bits of the movement vectors, XV and YV indicate an overflow in the respective vector component, and LB, MB and RB indicate the status of the left, middle and right mouse button (1 = pressed). PS/2 mice also understand several commands for reset and self-test, switching between different operating modes, and changing the resolution of the reported motion vectors.

A Microsoft Intellimouse initially uses the same format for backwards compatibility. After the host sent a special command sequence, it switches to an extended format, where a fourth byte carries information about wheel movements and two more buttons.

Apple Desktop Bus

In 1986 Apple first implemented the Apple Desktop Bus allowing up to 16 devices, including arbitrarily many mice, to be daisy-chained together. Featuring only a single data pin, the bus used a purely polled approach to computer/mouse communications and survived as the standard on mainstream models until 1998 when the iMac began a switch to USB. The Powerbook G4 retained the Apple Desktop Bus for communication with its built in keyboard and trackpad until early 2005. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Apple Desktop Bus (or ADB) is a bit-serial computer bus for connecting low-speed devices to computers. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... The correct title of this article is iMac. ... Note: USB may also mean upper sideband in radio. ... The Apple PowerBook G4 was a laptop manufactured by Apple Computer, powered by PowerPC G4 processors initially produced by Motorola, then later produced by Freescale, a Motorola spin-off. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Common button uses

There are several methods of input using a mouse, aside from the most basic moving of the device to make the pointer move.

A mouse click is the action of pressing (i.e. clicking) a button on a mouse in order to trigger an action, usually in the context of a graphical user interface (GUI) (pressing an onscreen "button" by clicking on it) or computer game (to fire a gun in a first-person shooter). The reason for the clicking noise made is due to the specific switch technology used nearly universally in computer mice. This switch is called a microswitch, or cherry switch, and uses a stiff but flexible metal strip that is bent to actuate the switch. The bending of the metal makes a snapping or clicking noise, in the same way as the safety button on the lids of vacuum packaged jars to indicate they have been opened. As to why the clicking sound is used, researchers have found that when pressing a button audible feedback, in addition to tactile feedback, gives a better response to the user.

Single clicking

This is the most common method of distinguishing mouse-based input. On single-button mice this involves using the mouse's one button. On multiple-button mice, it involves one of the buttons and is usually characterized by which button is pushed (e.g. left-clicking, right-clicking). See point-and-click. Point and click describes the simple action of a computer user moving a cursor to a certain location on a screen (point) and then clicking a mouse button, usually the left one (click), or other pointing device. ...

Double-click

A double-click occurs when the user presses the button twice in quick succession. This usually triggers an action separate from that of a single-click. For example, in the Macintosh Finder a user may single-click to select a file, and double-click to open that file. Usability studies have found that the double-click can be confusing and hard to use—for example, users with poor motor skills may not perform the second click soon enough after the first, causing the action to be registered as two single-clicks rather than a double-click. (Ironically, the double-click was introduced because the previous solution—separate mouse buttons for separate actions—was found to be confusing in user studies.) Most multiple-button mice allow setting one button to emit a double-click on a single press. Modern operating systems allow users to set the maximum interval in which the two clicks need to be made to register as a double-click. Mouse properties in GNOME, with a setting for double-click speed A double-click is the act of pressing a computer mouse button twice quickly without moving the mouse. ... The Finder is the default application program used on the Mac OS and Mac OS X operating systems that is responsible for the overall user-management of files, disks, network volumes and the launching of other applications. ...

Multiple clicking

Multiple clicks occur when the user presses the button several times in quick succession. This triggers an action separate from that of a single or double click. The triple click, for example, can be seen in word processors such as Microsoft Word and web browsers to select a whole section (e.g. a line or paragraph) of text. Professional desktop publishing applications such as QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign also utilize quadclicks (4 clicks to select a paragraph) and pentaclicks (5 clicks to select the entire story). A word processor (also more formally known as a document preparation system) is a computer application used for the production (including composition, editing, formatting, and possibly printing) of any sort of viewable or printed material. ... lol n00bs Microsoft Word is a word processing application from Microsoft. ... A web browser is a software package that enables a user to display and interact with documents hosted by web servers. ... QuarkXPress is a desktop publishing (page layout) application for Mac OS X and Windows, produced by Quark, Inc. ... Renewal of the surface coating of an adobe wall in Chamisal, New Mexico Adobe is a building material composed of water, sandy clay and straw or other organic materials, which is shaped into bricks using wooden frames and dried in the sun . ... Adobe InDesign is a desktop publishing (DTP) application produced by Adobe Systems. ...

Chords

A chord occurs when two or more mouse buttons are pressed at the same time. It is rarely used in standard interfaces. The X Window system has an option to emulate a middle mouse button with the simultaneous click of the left and right mouse buttons. Mouse chording is the capability of performing actions when multiple mouse buttons are held down, much like a chorded keyboard. ...

Click-and-drag

Once a user has clicked on an object, they can often drag the object by continuing to hold down the mouse button whilst moving the mouse.

Mouse gestures

Main article: Mouse gestures A spiral mouse gesture in the computer game Black and White. ...

A mouse gesture is a way of combining mouse movements with clicks, to indicate a software-specific command.

Tactile mice

In 2000, Logitech introduced the tactile mouse, which contained a small actuator that made the mouse vibrate. Such a mouse could be used to augment user interfaces with haptic feedback, such as giving feedback when crossing a window boundary. This article is about the year 2000. ... Logitech International S.A. (SWX: LOGN, NASDAQ: LOGI), headquartered in Apples, Switzerland, is the holding company for Logitech Group, an industry leader in the personal peripheral market. ... An actuator is the mechanism by which an agent acts upon an environment. ... Haptic From the Greek Hapthai, means pertaining to the sense of touch. ... An example of a graphical user interface in Windows XP, with the My Music window displayed A window is a visual area, usually rectangular in shape, containing some kind of user interface, displaying the output of and allowing input for one of a number of simultaneously running computer processes. ...

Other unusual variants have included a mouse that is held freely in the hand, rather than on a flat surface, and detects six dimensions of motion (the three spatial dimensions, plus rotation on three axes). It was marketed for business presentations when the speaker is standing or walking around. So far, these mouse exotica have not achieved widespread popularity. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Presentation is the process of presenting the content of a topic to an audience. ...

Mouse speed

Mouse speed is often expressed as DPI (dots per inch). The DPI is the number of pixels the mouse cursor will move when the mouse is moved one inch. Mouse sensitivity is a software trick that can be used to make a cursor move faster or slower than its DPI. Cursor acceleration can be used to make the cursor accelerate when the mouse is moving at a constant speed.

A less common unit, the "Mickey" (named after Mickey Mouse), is a measure of distance reported by a mouse. It is not a traditional unit of measurement because it indicates merely the number of "dots" reported in a particular direction. Only when combined with the DPI of the mouse does it become an indication of actual distance moved. In the absence of acceleration, the Mickey corresponds to the number of pixels moved on the computer screen. Mickey Mouse. ... Measurement is the determination of the size or magnitude of something. ...

Additionally, operating systems traditionally apply acceleration, referred to as ballistics, to the motion reported by the mouse. For example, versions of Windows prior to Windows XP doubled reported values above a configurable threshold, and then optionally doubled them again above a second configurable threshold. These doublings were applied separately in the X and Y directions, resulting in very nonlinear response. In Windows XP and many OS versions for Apple Macintosh computers, a smoother ballistics calculation is used that compensates for screen resolution and has better linearity. A ballistic body is a body which is free to move, behave, and be modified in appearance, contour, or texture by ambient conditions, substances, or forces, as by the pressure of gases in a gun, by rifling in a barrel, by gravity, by temperature, or by air particles. ... Microsoft Windows is a series of popular proprietary operating environments and operating systems created by Microsoft for use on personal computers and servers. ... Windows XP is a major revision of the Microsoft Windows operating system created for use on desktop and business computer systems. ... To do: 20th century mathematics chaos theory, fractals Lyapunov stability and non-linear control systems non-linear video editing See also: Aleksandr Mikhailovich Lyapunov Dynamical system External links http://www. ... Windows XP is a major revision of the Microsoft Windows operating system created for use on desktop and business computer systems. ... The Macintosh, or Mac, line of personal computers is designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Computer. ...

Mice or mouses?

There is a fake etymology of the word mouse, which some claim is an acronym for "Manually Operated User Selection Equipment", but the device's name came from its resemblance to a mouse and was established very early on. A Microsoft technical manual recommends the use of "mouse devices" to avoid ambiguity, though this usage has not caught on outside technical writing. The American Heritage Dictionary of English Language, Fourth Edition, states both "computer mice" and "computer mouses" are both proper plural forms for "computer mouse." A fake etymology, is an invented explanation (etymology) for the origin of a word. ... Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial letter or letters of words, such as NATO and XHTML, and are pronounced in a way that is distinct from the full pronunciation of what the letters stand for. ... Feral mouse The mouse is a mammal that belongs to one of numerous species of small rodents in the genus Mus and various related genera of the family MuridÃ¦ (Old World Mice). ... Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT, SEHK: 4338) is a U.S. software corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, with 2005 global annual sales of close to $40 billion USD and about 64,000 employees in 85 countries and regions. ... The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (AHD) is a dictionary of American English published by Boston publisher Houghton-Mifflin, the first edition of which appeared in 1969. ...

Accessories

Mousepad or Mousemat

The mousepad is the most popular mouse accessory available, and is used with most mice. It provides a smooth surface for the mouse to move across, as many desks are not suitable, and hard wood or plastic surfaces wear down mouse feet covers faster. Specialized hard mousepads are made for gamers. Most optical mice do not require a mouse pad, as they are designed to be used on any flat surface. A mousepad is sometimes required when using optomechanical mice, because the ball requires the extra friction of the mousepad to roll smoothly. Many mousepads feature artistic designs, photographs, logos, or other decoration. Optical mouse on a mousepad A mousepad (or mouse mat) is a surface for enhancing the movement of a computer mouse. ...

Mouse foot covers

Mouse foot covers (or foot pads) are made from low-friction or polished plastic. This makes the mouse glide with less resistance over a surface. Some higher quality models have Teflon feet to further decrease friction. Teflon is the brand name of a polymer compound discovered by Roy J. Plunkett (1910â€“1994) of DuPont in 1938 and introduced as a commercial product in 1946. ...

Cord managers

Accessories for managing the cord of a mouse come in different forms, but they all help manage excess cord length on mice to keep it from getting in the way.

Wrist rests

Cushioning pillows made from silicone gel, neoprene, or other spongy material are also a popular accessory. The padding provides for a more natural angle of the wrist which is aimed at reducing fatigue and excessive strain. Silicones, or polysiloxanes, are inorganic polymers consisting of a silicon-oxygen backbone (...-Si-O-Si-O-Si-O-...) with side groups attached to the silicon atoms. ... A gel (from the lat. ... Neoprene is the trade name for a family of synthetic rubbers based on polychloroprene. ...

Mice in the marketplace

In the 1970s, Xerox PARC included mice with its Xerox Star. Later, inspired by the Star, Apple Computer released the Apple Lisa, which also used a mouse. However, neither the Star nor the Lisa were commercially successful. Only with the release of the Apple Macintosh in 1984 did the mouse first see widespread use. The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... Xerox Star 8010 The Xerox Star workstation, officially known as the 8010 Star Information System was introduced by Xerox Corporation in 1981. ... Apple Computer, Inc. ... Apple Lisa The Apple Lisa was a revolutionary personal computer designed at Apple Computer during the early 1980s. ... The Macintosh, or Mac, line of personal computers is designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Apple Computer. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The Macintosh design was influential, and its success led many other vendors to begin producing mice or including them with their other computer products. The widespread adoption of graphical user interfaces in the 1980s and 1990s made mice indispensable for computer use. By 2000, Dataquest estimated that US$1.5 billion worth of mice were sold annually worldwide. The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ... The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ... This article is about the year 2000. ...

Alternative mice

Apart from the regular mouse that is operated by the hands, other mouse variants exist. These cater to those who may have an injury resulting from excessive mouse usage, or to people who feel uncomfortable with traditional designs. Some of these include:

Applications of mice in user interfaces

Usually, the mouse is used to control the motion of a cursor in two dimensions in a graphical user interface. Objects, such as files, programs, or actions, can be selected from a list of names, but, alternatively, are often represented visually by pictures called icons and buttons; the mouse cursor can be used to select or activate items by moving the cursor over the name or picture and pressing one of the mouse buttons. For example, a text file might be represented by a picture of a piece of notebook paper, and clicking on this icon might cause a text editing program to open the file in a new window. (See also point-and-click.) Cursors feature in many of the interfaces between computers and their users. ... Point and click describes the simple action of a computer user moving a cursor to a certain location on a screen (point) and then clicking a mouse button, usually the left one (click), or other pointing device. ...

Mice can also be used gesturally; that is, a stylized motion of the mouse cursor itself can be used as a form of input. In a gestural interface, a particular gesture (stylized motion) may be mapped to an action. For example, in a drawing program, moving the mouse in a rapid "x" motion over a shape might delete the shape. A spiral mouse gesture in the computer game Black and White. ...

Gestural interfaces are rarer, and often harder to use, than plain pointing and clicking, because they require finer motor control from the user. However, a few gestural conventions have become widespread, including the drag-and-drop gesture, in which: Drag-and-drop refers to the act of (or support for the act of) clicking on a virtual object and dragging it to, or onto, another virtual object. ...

This motion is commonly used to move the item from one location to another—the item is dragged from its old location and dropped in its new one. For example, a user might drag and drop a picture of a file from a folder onto a picture of a trash can, indicating that the file should be deleted.

Other uses of the mouse's input are common in special application domains. In interactive three-dimensional graphics, the mouse's motion is often directly translated into changes in the virtual camera's orientation. For example, in the Quake computer game, the mouse is usually used to control the direction in which the player's "head" faces: moving the mouse up will cause the player to look up, revealing the view above the player's head. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... For an overview of the Quake game franchise go to Quake series. ...

When mice have more than one button, software may assign different functions to each button. Often, the primary (leftmost in a right-handed configuration) button on the mouse will select items, and the secondary (rightmost in a right-handed) button will bring up a menu of alternative actions applicable to that item. For example, on platforms with more than one button, the Mozilla web browser will follow a link in response to a primary button click, will bring up a contextual menu of alternative actions for that link in response to a secondary-button click, and will often open the link in a new tab or window in response to a click with the tertiary (middle) mouse button. A person who is right-handed is more dextrous with their right hand than with their left hand: they will write with their right hand, and probably also use this hand for tasks such as personal care, cooking, and so on. ... Mozilla is a computer term that has had many different uses, though all of them have been related to Netscape Communications Corporation and its related application software. ... A tab in graphical user interfaces is a typically rectangular small box (usually containing a text label and/or an icon) associated graphically with a view pane. ... An example of a graphical user interface in Windows XP, with the My Music window displayed A window is a visual area, usually rectangular in shape, containing some kind of user interface, displaying the output of and allowing input for one of a number of simultaneously running computer processes. ...

One, two or three mouse buttons?

The issue of whether a mouse should have exactly one button or more than one has attracted a surprising amount of controversy. From the first Macintosh until late 2005, Apple shipped computers with a single-button mouse, whereas most other platforms used a multi-button mouse. Apple and its advocates argued that single-button mice are more efficient, and that multi-button mice are confusing for novice users. The Macintosh user interface is designed so that all functions are available with a single button mouse. Apple's Human Interface Guidelines still specify that all functions need to be available with a single button mouse. However, X Window System applications, which Mac OS X can also run, were designed with the use of two or even three button mice in mind, causing even simple operations like "cut and paste" to become awkward. Mac OS X natively supports multi-button mice, so many users of older Macintoshes choose to use third-party mice on their machines. On August 2, 2005, Apple introduced their Mighty Mouse multi-button mouse, which has four independently programmable buttons and a "scroll ball" which can be used to scroll in any direction. This is now the mouse supplied with all new Macintosh computers. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- â†’ Deaths in August August 31: Michael Sheard August 26: Lord Fitt August 24: Jack Slipper August 24: Maurice Cowling August 24: Dr. Tom Pashby August 23: Brock Peters August 22: Lord Lane August 21: Robert Moog August... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... KDE 3. ... Mac OS X is a proprietary operating system developed and sold by Apple Computer which is included with all currently shipping Apple Macintosh computers. ... In computing, cut and paste is a user-interface paradigm for a means of moving text (typically plain text) or other data from a source to a destination. ... August 2 is the 214th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (215th in leap years), with 151 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mighty Mouse The Mighty Mouse (codenamed Houdini) is the first multi-button USB mouse manufactured and sold by Apple Computer. ...

Advocates of multiple-button mice point out that support for a single button mouse often leads to clumsy workarounds in interfaces where more than one action may be useful for a given object. There are several common workarounds, and even widely used Macintosh software packages that otherwise fully conform to the Human Interface Guidelines, including web browsers and graphics editing programs, occasionally require the use of one of them. It has been suggested that Comparison of web browsers be merged into this article or section. ...

One such workaround is the press-and-hold technique. In a press-and-hold, the user presses and holds the single button, and after a certain period, the button press is not perceived as a single click but as a separate action. This has two drawbacks: first, as with double-clicking, a slow user may press-and-hold inadvertently. Second, the user must wait while the software detects that the click is actually a press-and-hold, otherwise their press might be interpreted as a single click. Furthermore, the remedies for these two drawbacks conflict with each other: the longer the lag time, the more the user must wait; and the shorter the lag time, the more likely it is that some user will accidentally press-and-hold when meaning to click.

Alternatively, the user may be required to hold down a key on the keyboard while pressing the button (otherwise known as mouse chording - Macintosh computers use the ctrl key). This has the disadvantage that it requires that both the user's hands be engaged. It also requires that the user perform two actions on completely separate devices in concert; that is, pressing a key on the keyboard while pressing a button on the mouse. This can be a very daunting task for a disabled user. Studies have found all of the above workarounds less usable than additional mouse buttons for experienced users. A computer keyboard is a peripheral modeled after the typewriter keyboard. ... Mouse chording is the capability of performing actions when multiple mouse buttons are held down, much like a chorded keyboard. ... Model showing the current redevelopment of the Kings Cross area with the Channel Tunnel Rail Link terminal behind the barrel vaulted St Pancras Station on the left. ...

Most machines running Unix or a Unix-like operating system run the X Window System which almost always requires a three button mouse. In X, the buttons are numbered by convention. This allows user instructions to apply to mice or pointing devices that do not use conventional button placement. For example, a left handed user may reverse the buttons, usually with a software setting. With non-conventional button placement, user directions that say "left mouse button" or "right mouse button" are confusing. The ground-breaking Xerox Parc Alto and Dorado computers from the mid-1970s used three-button mice, and each button was assigned a color. Red was used for the left (or primary) button, yellow for the middle (secondary), and blue for the right (meta or tertiary). This naming convention lives on in some SmallTalk environments, such as Squeak, and can be less confusing than the right, middle and left designations. Wikibooks has more about this subject: Guide to Unix Unix or UNIX is a computer operating system originally developed in the 1960s and 1970s by a group of AT&T Bell Labs employees including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and Douglas McIlroy. ... A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. ... An operating system is a special computer program that manages the relationship between application software, the wide variety of hardware that makes up a computer system, and the user of the system. ... KDE 3. ... Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) was a flagship research division of the Xerox Corporation, based in Palo Alto, California, USA, which essentially created the modern personal computer paper paradigm. ... A Xerox Alto Computer System The Xerox Alto, developed at Xerox PARC in 1973, was the first personal computer and the first computer to use the desktop metaphor and graphical user interface (GUI). ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ... Red is any of a number of similar colors at the lowest frequencies of light discernible by the human eye. ... Yellow is any of a number of similar colors with a wavelength of 565-590 nanometers. ... Blue is any of a number of similar colors. ... Smalltalk is an object-oriented, dynamically typed, reflective, programming language designed at Xerox PARC by Alan Kay, Dan Ingalls, Ted Kaehler, Adele Goldberg, and others during the 1970s, influenced by Sketchpad and Simula. ... The Squeak programming language is a Smalltalk implementation, derived directly from Smalltalk-80, by Smalltalks originators, so it is object-oriented, and reflective. ...

Newer mice have a scroll wheel between two buttons, and pressing the scroll wheel acts as a middle mouse button (button two). In addition, mice with five or more buttons can be useful in several environments. Microsoft's Intellimouse is the best-known of these mice, but other brands exist and are often preferred due to the bulk of some Intellimice. The extra buttons are most frequently used in browsing the web or navigating with a file browser. The middle button is the scroll wheel. ... A file manager is a software tool that provides a user interface to work with computer files. ...

Mice in gaming

Mice are often used as an interface for PC-based computer games and sometimes for video game consoles. They are often used in combination with keyboards. In arguments over which is the best gaming platform, the mouse is often cited as a major advantage for the PC. For the list, see list of computer and video games. ... A video game console is a dedicated electronic machine designed to play video games. ... A computer keyboard is a peripheral modeled after the typewriter keyboard. ...

First-person shooters

A combination of mouse and keyboard is a popular way to play first-person shooter (FPS) games. The X axis of the mouse is used for looking left and right, while the Y axis is used for looking up and down. The left mouse button is usually for primary fire. Many gamers prefer this over a gamepad or joystick because it allows them to turn quickly and have greater accuracy. The right button is often used for secondary fire of the selected gun, if the game supports multiple fire modes. A scroll wheel is used for changing weapons. On most FPS games, these functions may also be assigned to thumb buttons. A keyboard is usually used for movement (for example, WASD, for moving forward, left, backward and right, respectively) and other functions like changing posture. Since the mouse is used for aiming, a mouse that tracks movement accurately and with less lag will give a player an advantage over players with less accurate or slower mice. Doom, one of the games that defined the first-person shooter genre. ... Categories: Computer and video game stubs | Input devices | Computer and video game terminology ... For other uses, see Joystick (disambiguation). ... WASD positioning Made popular by Quake, WASD (or WSAD) is a set of four keys on the left-hand side of a QWERTY computer keyboard often used to control the players movement in first-person/third-person (FPS/TPS) computer games. ...

Invert mouse setting

In many games, such as first or third person shooters, there is a setting called "invert mouse" or similar. It allows the user to look downward by moving the mouse forward, and upward by moving the mouse backward (the opposite of the default setting). This control system is similar to aircraft control sticks, where pulling back causes pitch up and pushing forward causes pitch down; this control configuration is also typically mimicked in computer joysticks. For other uses, see Joystick (disambiguation). ...

After id Software's Doom, the game that popularized FPS games, but which did not support vertical aiming with a mouse (the y-axis was used for forward/backward movement), competitor 3D Realms' Duke Nukem 3D was one of the first games that supported using the mouse to aim up and down. It and other games using the Build engine had an option to invert the Y-axis (moving the mouse forward aims up, moving the mouse backward aims down). The "invert" feature actually made the mouse behave in the way that we now regard as normal. Soon after, id Software released Quake which introduced the invert feature as we know it now. Other games using the Quake engine were released and kept this feature. Probably because of the overall popularity of Quake, this became the current standard. id Software is a computer game developer based in Mesquite, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. ... Doom (or DOOM) is a 1993 computer game by id Software that is among the landmark titles in the first-person shooter genre. ... Corporate logo of 3D Realms 3D Realms is a computer game developer based in Garland, Texas, United States. ... Duke Nukem 3D is a first-person shooter developed by 3D Realms and released on January 29, 1996 by Apogee Software, featuring the adventures of Duke Nukem, based on a character that had appeared in earlier platform games by the company: Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II. // Synopsis Murderous aliens... Looking down in the Duke Nukem 3D level Raw Meat, notice the lines of the walls are perfectly vertical. ... Zombies attacking the player. ... The Quake engine is the game engine that was written to power 1996s Quake, written by id Software. ...

Super Nintendo

In the early 1990s, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game system became the first commercial gaming console to feature a mouse in addition to its controllers. The best-known game to have used the mouse's capabilities was Mario Paint. The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit video game console released by Nintendo in North America, Brazil, Europe, and Australia. ... The SNES Mouse The SNES Mouse is a peripheral released in 1992 for Nintendos Super Nintendo video game system (a. ... Mario Paint is a productivity title created by Nintendo for use with the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and was released in 1992 along with the SNES mouse peripheral device. ...

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