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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.
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Computer Mouse Co-inventor William English Dies at 91
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Wow! Look!! A stray meatball!! Let's interview it!
(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.
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