Mastodon/Fedi: The social network for people who have actually cleaned mouse balls 🖱️
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@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...
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Mastodon/Fedi: The social network for people who have actually cleaned mouse balls
️@FlockOfCats
Como se llenaba eso de suciedad... Los rodillos hasta arriba de mierda. -
@RachelThornSub @pussreboots @jamesrg @FlockOfCats
My university had a DEC PDP-10 which also didn't come with a mouse
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@alterelefant @kilroy_was_here @zillion @FlockOfCats
When the mouse pointer is not moving on the screen, do you
@cluelesstoshika @alterelefant @kilroy_was_here @zillion @FlockOfCats KDE on wayland has this brilliant feature where if you shake the mouse the pointer grows. Do it long enough and it covers the screen! Quite soothing. Only feature in wayland that is brilliant, though.
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Mastodon/Fedi: The social network for people who have actually cleaned mouse balls
️@FlockOfCats
Fineeeee,
You got me.
But it did it only once and only because it bloody stopped working completely.Youngsters these days don't know how good they have it.
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@wonka @Felila @FlockOfCats No, no, no DE-fragging! It's the opposite of fragging! But almost as soothing! Although it does require a *hard* disk. You can't defrag a floppy disk.
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Mastodon/Fedi: The social network for people who have actually cleaned mouse balls
️that reminds me!
brb… cleaning my Trackball
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@FlockOfCats the ball was never very dirty, it was the crud stuck to the wheels that you had to scratch off with your fingernails...
@mossman @FlockOfCats This. It was both disgusting and so very satisfying to clean those wheels. If I could get that strip of gunk to just peel off in one piece, that was a win.
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Mastodon/Fedi: The social network for people who have actually cleaned mouse balls
️@FlockOfCats Do trackball mouse count?
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@1000millimeter @FlockOfCats A bit of isopropyl on a q-tip would always loosen it up enough to at least get unstuck for me. I did still sometimes have to use something to pull it off (needle nose pliers, hemostat, whatever.)
I don't think scratching up the rollers is a good idea.
