I know this is mainly a keyboard related forum, but I am in need of a new mouse and would like something to go along with my ergo keyboards. I have known about the Ploopy for sometime which is an opensource trackball.
I am not a trackball user but I Iike that it is operated with the index and middle fingers instead of just the thumb also the Microsoft Traball Explorer which has a similar layout is getting great reviews despite being severly outdated. The Ploopy is also an opensource project and there are QMK builds available.
Having said all that there are a few downsides to the Ploopy. The bearings are apparentley quite loud, upgrading the firmware requieres an ISP progprmmer or similar, cases are 3d printed. But it looks cool, is opensource and has a design which could help combat RSI and carpel tunnel syndrom.
Any chanche of something like this becoming the next Kaleidoscope powered project?
Hey there ! Did you buy a Ploopy in the end ? I think I will buy one to make a good companion to my future Model100, I’m just not sure yet which one I will buy…
No, in the end I went for an Elecom Deft pro, and I regretted it. A few months later I got a Kensington Slimblade which is awesome and ambidextrous. The slimblade is at the office and the deft I still use at home, I am considering replacing it with a Gameball.
I have a Kensington slimblade that I use with my Atreus, I’d recommend it. I’m considering a Ploopy Nano for my Model 01/100 as it should sit nicely between the two halves. There’s a neat hack for QMK to allow the keyboard to work as the mouse buttons/scrollwheel toggle.
The main issue I have with the scroll wheel is when I want to scroll fast, it just does not follow ; better using long, not to fast scrolls thant short bursts of speed for long documents
The noise level is OK for me, but then I mostly use it on an open space with noisy ventilated machines ; my keyboard is much noisier than my trackball