deskthority

Interesting Russian article about ancient pointing devices and such:
http://daomail.ru/letter/?lid=80821

Google translation here.


First trackball?


Ehm..


Doug Engelbart's first mouse, I'm sure many of you have seen the famous video called The Demo where he demonstrates it.

I have lying around what I believe is the first IBM branded mouse. It was for their first Unix workstation - the RT 6150



It weighs like a brick, yet the buttons feel disappointingly mushy, like buttons on a cheap TV remote, except with less travel. Also, with it's rectangular shape and its downward slope, it was clearly designed by someone who neither had hands, or had ever seen hands.

I'm not sure if it looks more like an early iPod, or a bar of soap.

daedalus wrote:I have lying around what I believe is the first IBM branded mouse. It was for their first Unix workstation - the RT 6150



It weighs like a brick, yet the buttons feel disappointingly mushy, like buttons on a cheap TV remote, except with less travel. Also, with it's rectangular shape and its downward slope, it was clearly designed by someone who neither had hands, or had ever seen hands.

This was one of the mice Steve Jobs conceived when he worked at IBM briefly.

Still available!

bugfix wrote:
Still available!

Are you serious? Even has the IBM logo?

I've been wanting one of those for awhile. I really like the oval shape and high bulge on them. The L40 trackpoint is alright, but those are the best.

The original PS/2 mice, although rather retro-cool, are hideously unergonomic



Whoops, I was expecting that to resize, I guess it isn't causing too much harm.

webwit wrote:

I wonder if the button on that mouse inspired this.

No, the engineer just thought it would look better with red but convincing the bureaucracy at IBM was a pain.

webwit wrote:Interesting Russian article about ancient pointing devices and such:
http://daomail.ru/letter/?lid=80821
...


Doug Engelbart's first mouse, I'm sure many of you have seen the famous video called The Demo where he demonstrates it.
...

You've forgotten the Telefunken Rollkugel:


Please notice, it is a real product and not a primitive prototype!

Some more old mice here.

Weren't these the first Logitech mice?

ah nostalgic

i wanna see more mice made out of wood.

Wow... A wooden mouse... I can see they use the natural flex inside the wood in order to make it possible to have 2 mouse buttons.

EverythingIBM wrote:

daedalus wrote:I have lying around what I believe is the first IBM branded mouse. It was for their first Unix workstation - the RT 6150



It weighs like a brick, yet the buttons feel disappointingly mushy, like buttons on a cheap TV remote, except with less travel. Also, with it's rectangular shape and its downward slope, it was clearly designed by someone who neither had hands, or had ever seen hands.

This was one of the mice Steve Jobs conceived when he worked at IBM briefly.

Seriously? For a guy that is known for his easy to use products thats hard to believe, but who knows

That wood mouse almost looks like a Razer DeathAdder.

The wooden mouse looks cool but not suitable for my clammy hands.

EverythingIBM wrote:

daedalus wrote:I have lying around what I believe is the first IBM branded mouse. It was for their first Unix workstation - the RT 6150



It weighs like a brick, yet the buttons feel disappointingly mushy, like buttons on a cheap TV remote, except with less travel. Also, with it's rectangular shape and its downward slope, it was clearly designed by someone who neither had hands, or had ever seen hands.

This was one of the mice Steve Jobs conceived when he worked at IBM briefly.

You must be joking. If Steve Jobs had designed it, it would have fewer buttons ...

That is my old mouse. More pics here.
I weighed and measured it. It weighs 244 g (9 ounces). It is 42 mm high at the highest point, sloping a little bit forward.
I wouldn't be surprised if there are lead weights inside.

webwit wrote:

Wow, I missed this last time I checked. This one is awesome, can you tell something more about it?

Yes, I went to images.google.com and typed "wooden mouse"

microsoft windows wrote:

Weren't these the first Logitech mice?

I have one like that with two buttons, a Genius Mouse... the body also says AMX to me, but we're going back a few years and all my memories of the 80s are coloured by fear of assembler.

Koeitje wrote:

webwit wrote:

Wow, I missed this last time I checked. This one is awesome, can you tell something more about it?

How much will this cost?
Will get one if it's not expensive LOL.

rockccf wrote: Wow, I missed this last time I checked. This one is awesome, can you tell something more about it?

How much will this cost?
Will get one if it's not expensive LOL.[/quote]


The shape looks like a typical razer shape to me. I'm pretty sure razer never made such a thing. Which means that's a mod :O

NewGuy wrote:http://www.alestrukov.com/

Holy shit , thats expensive. But really awesome nonetheless.

Nice overview here.

Yeah I want that wooden mouse now.

My wife might kill me if I spent the money on it though.