StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Every now and then the pointer abruptly goes right off the top of the screen. I hotswapped that old POS ball mouse for this optical USB mouse without rebooting, and the computer immediately detected and installed it.

Should I have rebooted, or is there another cause?

Might as well just shut down and turn it back on to see if it does anything.

Ah, looks like the problem's going away. Maybe the tracking beam is getting reflected around by the magazine I'm currently using as a mouse pad...

Yeah, I'd use something that isn't so reflective. Or better yet, nothing at all. You technically don't need a mousepad with an optical mouse. I use mine directly on my tabletop.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:Yeah, I'd use something that isn't so reflective. Or better yet, nothing at all. You technically don't need a mousepad with an optical mouse. I use mine directly on my tabletop.

That fixed it. I was able to reliably reproduce the problem by jerking the mouse toward 8 o'clock, and as often as not the pointer shot off the screen at angles of between 12 and 3 o'clock.

I used a piece of neoprene with a light gray fabric covering. I can't just not use any mousepad because my desk (if one can call it that!) is even more reflective than any magazine I've seen!

A laser mouse will fix that problem I love this damn thing.

yes, but why would you spend $80 US on a frigging mouse?

A $15 5 button optical mouse or better yet, my logitec optical trackball is perfect to me.

DarkSilver wrote:yes, but why would you spend $80 US on a frigging mouse?

Because I can. Muhaha.

Also because it's a laser mouse with a rechargable battery.

Well I decided on a piece of newsprint because it's cheap and plentiful, has a nice albedo without any glossy luster whatsoever, and is easily two or three times the area of the average mouse pad.

I also thought the freakishly small size of the mouse would hinder its usability, but I've since adapted to it. A nice side effect of its tiny size and mass is its similarly tiny inertial moment: I can take mighty swings toward targets with my Railgun, fire the thing as the crosshair slashes across the target, then immediately repeat the 'Railgun Sword Slash' on the next unfortunate llama who tries to steal my flag...

I'm kinda cheap, I use a cutting board for my mouse/trackball surface.....

why, well it's kinda on the table for use with 40k......