SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Computer mouse co-inventor William English dies at 91:
One of the pioneers of the modern computer interface has passed away: the New York Times reports that William "Bill" English died on July 26th from respiratory failure at the age of 91. Alongside Douglas Englebart at the Stanford Research Institute, English helped develop the first computer mouse and put together a 1968 "Mother of All Demos" that outlined many concepts that would come to PCs over the decades, such as graphical user interfaces, online text editing, video calls and hypertext links.
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Computer Mouse Co-inventor William English Dies at 91
|
Log In/Create an Account
| Top
| 14 comments
| Search Discussion
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
In the Halls of Justice the only justice is in the halls.
-- Lenny Bruce
(Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday August 05 2020, @11:30AM (6 children)
I don't think you can play soon very well with the trackball and this explains a lot.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday August 05 2020, @11:34AM (1 child)
>play soon
Lol I wrote DOOM
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @07:45PM
So autocorrect changed from UPPERCASE to lowercase? Haven't seen any of the correction nannies do that (except for the first letter on proper nouns).
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Wednesday August 05 2020, @07:03PM (3 children)
Explains what? Real Doom players only use the keyboard anyway, and trackballs work at least as well as mice for games like FPSes and RTSes if not better (you can't do a 1440 degree noscope with a mouse unless you crank up DPI unusually high or have an unusually wide desk).
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 05 2020, @08:04PM (1 child)
Track balls are better when they are larger. Here's an early one at 4.5 inches (114mm),
https://www.castleclassicarcade.com/archives/restored-atari-1978-football-xo [castleclassicarcade.com]
Longer story, explains that size was from standard candlepin (Canadian bowling)
https://arcadeblogger.com/2016/07/29/the-secret-history-of-the-arcade-trackball/ [arcadeblogger.com]
Not mentioned is that the track ball application required a ball that was more accurately spherical than for candlepin (or billiards for smaller size balls), so the manufacturer had to tighten tolerances.
But the best one was prototyped at Atari Coin-Op (arcade games). It used a full sized bowling ball (8.5") and was designed to be operated by foot for a game that never made production. Organists that use a foot-pedal keyboard could have cleaned up on that game. Sorry my google-fu didn't turn up a pic, but I did try it out personally, it was built in hardware.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday August 05 2020, @09:46PM
Missile command had a trackball. It's a pity many of you didn't live the arcades of 1979-84. Best place ever, together with disco clubs 197x-89 if you eliminated cigarette smoke which was a problem when you danced 22:00-03:30 indoor. I'd give the internet up to see contemporary youngsters having that kind of fun, really.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Wednesday August 05 2020, @09:41PM
I find your reply very interesting. I assumed hardcore players would have explored playing with trackball instead of mice if the former were better. Guess I must order one and try out for myself.
Account abandoned.