I’ve never liked the “touchpads” that are the norm on laptops these days. I’m always accidentally clicking somewhere with them while I’m typing, or accidentally moving the mouse, or something. On my old thinkpad, I had one of the little nipples, and I liked it quite well. But when that laptop died, I gave in and got one with a touchpad. I’ve been dealing ok, thinking it wasn’t that bad, and I was very glad that with only a normal about of linux-user trouble (meaning, I had to do a web search and edit a config file) I was able to turn off the “click by tapping” feature that causes me so much trouble while I’m typing. So, I was dealing.

But I had trouble. In particular, there’s some feature on there that allows one to go “back” in a web browser window by dragging to the left along the bottom of the touchpad. Well, I activated this a lot of times accidentally, and it caused me a good deal of frustration. Most notably, several times while I was making some of my [gmap pedometer](http://www.sueandpaul.com/gmapPedometer/) maps, I lost all of my work because “forward” didn’t take me back to the correct link. Ugh.

So, I thought, I should get myself an “external” trackball. So, while I was out shopping tonight, I looked for them. The one I really like was still $30, which is about the same as what I paid for it like 8 years ago. And then I got to thinking… I already have a trackball that I like! Why not buy the cheapest mouse they have, put that on my “server” machine (at which I rarely sit anymore) and move the trackball to my laptop (at which I sit a lot anymore).

So, now I’ve got the trackball on my laptop and… oh… why did I wait so long? It’s already brightened my entire experience of working on this computer! I had totally underestimated how much I was being frustrated by the touchpad. Now it’s so easy to point, to wheel, to center click, and so on… Such a simple move… But, yeah. Wow.

I know a number of people who don’t like trackballs. They are so used to physically moving a mouse that they can’t get used to rolling the ball with their thumb. I can understand that, it’s hard to change habits. But, wow, I really prefer the trackball. I barely have to move, and I’ve got excellent accuracy. So, there’s my publicly viewable opinion for the day. :)

I also bought a suit and a magnetic knife holder. Isn’t that nice?

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