[PLUG] Re: OT (Hardware): Do pointy devices wear out?

[Keith Lofstrom]

... Troublesome pointy devices ...

I don't use a trackball, but I imagine the issues are similar to a
mouse, with the added bonus that garbage falls in, not out.  An 
occasional open/invert/shake-out-the-cookie-crumbs should be added
to the below procedures.

I have lost only one mouse to a bad switch.  I have temporarily lost
*many* mice to crud on the sensor rollers.  This takes about a minute
to clean.  A mouse with mileage on it will feel like it is moving over
gravel, and will be a bit jerky.  When you open the mouse up, there
will appear to be a little felt pad 2 mm wide on the sensor rollers
where the ball contacts them.  This is not manufacturer's original
equipment;  it is debris from your skin and clothing.  The felt comes
off easily;  there is usually a thin layer of knobby black gunk stuck
to the sensor roller underneath.  Patient scraping with a pocket knife,
or your fingernail if you are not fastidious, will remove this.  

There may also be some crud on the diagonal wheel.  Clean this too,
it does not enhance your mousing experience.

My obsessive-compulsive ritual at public libraries is to remove the
crud before using the mouse.  Sometimes librarians ask what I am 
doing, but most of them are trained by now.

Tektronix has a surplus store, open to the public, in the basement
of building 38 on thursdays from 2 to 5.  They usually have a bin
full of used mice, $1 each IIRC.  

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom           keithl at ieee.org         Voice (503)-520-1993
KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs