Mastodon/Fedi: The social network for people who have actually cleaned mouse balls 🖱️
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@FlockOfCats
I have a whole bag full of old mouse balls. A place I used to work threw out a lot of old mice and I collected the balls, thinking they could be useful for something in the future.Heavy, smooth, rubber coated, with a uniform size. Some day I will figure out what to do
@jannem @FlockOfCats
Some people use them in washing machine.
Of course, only works if the drum roll on horizontal axys (not like Asians washing machine) -
@jannem Well, you *could* make another marble machine with a unique sound?
Just hope it's not the rubber type that melts after a few years in a plastic bag?@eq
I checked just this spring (cleaning my room/study/garbage dump) and they're fine. Whatever they're using it's really good quality. I guess it has to be if it's going to wear against some rough tabletop with crumbs and dirt for years at a time. -
Mastodon/Fedi: The social network for people who have actually cleaned mouse balls
️@FlockOfCats Ha! I don't remember ever washing the ball, but I regularly scraped the crud off the little rollers.
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@jannem @FlockOfCats
Some people use them in washing machine.
Of course, only works if the drum roll on horizontal axys (not like Asians washing machine)@lautreg @FlockOfCats
OTOH, in vertical machines (we have one) I bet they'll make a really cool drumming sound.I just might try that the next time my wife is away
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@lautreg @FlockOfCats
OTOH, in vertical machines (we have one) I bet they'll make a really cool drumming sound.I just might try that the next time my wife is away
@jannem @FlockOfCats
I understood that theses balls help when the dress are too light. -
Mastodon/Fedi: The social network for people who have actually cleaned mouse balls
️I have done this. I agree with your conclusion.
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My work study job was in the nursing library and one of my core duties was cleaning all the mouse balls lol
@FlockOfCats @Rhube I worked in a college. We had to glue ours closed or they got stolen!
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@pussreboots @jamesrg @FlockOfCats My high school (semi-rural PA, 1981-1983) was not cool enough to have Apple IIs. If I remember correctly, we had some variation of the Radio Shack TRS-80. No mouse, of course.
@RachelThornSub @pussreboots @jamesrg @FlockOfCats
My jr high typing class had two electric typewriters that only the best students were allowed to useWe were so jealous. I never got to touch them
Never got to use a mouse until college
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@FlockOfCats and also know there there was more than one size.
@frang
American mice have bigger balls.
@FlockOfCats -
@zillion @FlockOfCats I voted yes because I thought you meant the plastic ball that the classroom mouse used to run around and pee in.
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@lautreg @FlockOfCats
OTOH, in vertical machines (we have one) I bet they'll make a really cool drumming sound.I just might try that the next time my wife is away
@jannem
Record the sound and you have invented a new type of true random number generator that is more affordable than a Lavarand.
@lautreg @FlockOfCats -
@zillion @FlockOfCats not in the last few years
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@FlockOfCats Ugh, and that stupid fiber-like formation of hairs and gunk that would form on the rollers was so hard to get off even with a q-tip... Actually, it was, more than anything else, the biggest culprit in reducing mouse accuracy. I never actually had to do any of the rest there, just get that off the rollers.
@nazokiyoubinbou
I miss removing those formations with a dentists tool. So weird and satisfying.
@FlockOfCats -
Mastodon/Fedi: The social network for people who have actually cleaned mouse balls
️@FlockOfCats The first mouse balls I cleaned were on the original version of these back in the 1980s. These mice were used on the Blit terminals that originated at Bell Labs.
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Mastodon/Fedi: The social network for people who have actually cleaned mouse balls
️@FlockOfCats Que recuerdos! aunque nada melancólicos!!
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Mastodon/Fedi: The social network for people who have actually cleaned mouse balls
️@FlockOfCats qtips Oo oh so quaint
We would go in with toothpicks, needles or anything pointy enough to scrape the wheels clean, like real little punks!
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@alterelefant @kilroy_was_here @zillion @FlockOfCats
When the mouse pointer is not moving on the screen, do you
@cluelesstoshika @alterelefant @zillion @FlockOfCats
I always just shook it while it was still down on the desk. Seemed to work better for me than picking it up.
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@FlockOfCats @Rhube I worked in a college. We had to glue ours closed or they got stolen!
@kev @FlockOfCats The mind boggles!
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Mastodon/Fedi: The social network for people who have actually cleaned mouse balls
️@FlockOfCats You mean for us "old people"??
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Mastodon/Fedi: The social network for people who have actually cleaned mouse balls
️@FlockOfCats the ball was never very dirty, it was the crud stuck to the wheels that you had to scratch off with your fingernails...
