Tales of battery operated mice<\/p>\n
By Zatni Arbi<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Have you been handling your mouse like a
\nmatchbox? Do you have to drag it all over your desktop to get the
\ncursor to the spot where you want it on the screen? Then it is
\ntime to go out and buy a new mouse. That was just what I did last
\nweek.<\/p>\n
No mouse lives forever. I had been using my Logitech Cordless
\nMouseMan Pro for at least four years. I ordered it directly from
\nthe U.S.-based Outpost.com, part of a testing project in which I
\nwas commissioned to check whether it would be cheaper to order
\ncomputer products from a U.S. direct mail store than to go Glodok
\nPlaza. The result, of course, was negative. Even if you included
\nall the taxi fares, the time you would have to spend just to get
\nthis one piece of equipment, and the hassle of having to haggle
\nover the price, it would still be cheaper to get the mouse
\nlocally.<\/p>\n
Back to the Cordless MouseMan Pro, which we could consider one
\nof the high-end mice at that time, was a treat to my palm. The
\nuseful third button was right there on the left side, just where
\nmy thumb usually rested. I set it to simulate doubleclicking. In
\nthe past couple of months, however, the cursor became
\nincreasingly less responsive to the mouse's movements. I had to
\nshove it around quite a bit to use it. The problem would abate
\nwhen I put the receiver closer to where the mouse was. That was
\nactually an indication that the transmitter inside the mouse was
\nlosing its strength.<\/p>\n
Finally, changing the batteries did not help much. I realized
\nthen that it was time to put the MouseMan Pro to pasture. At any
\nrate, it had been serving me for four productive years, so now it
\nhad earned the right to rest peacefully as a proud, dead mouse.<\/p>\n
Cordless<\/p>\n
The convenience of a cordless mouse is clear. Once you have
\ntried it, you will not go back to the corded one. The mouse
\nitself contains a small transmitter that sends a digital radio
\nfrequency (RF) signal to a receiver to tell the computer where
\nthe cursor should be. To be able to do this, the mouse needs two
\nAA batteries, which can last for up to six months. The receiver
\nis connected to the PC via the USB, PS\/2 or serial port, and
\ndraws power from the computer.<\/p>\n
In the case of the MouseMan Pro, we could use two cordless
\nmice with one single receiver, too, or combine the cordless mouse
\nwith a cordless keyboard.<\/p>\n
Logitech has always been my top choice among mouse makers.
\nDuring my brief visit to Ratu Plaza, I was able to find only two
\nmodels of cordless mice: The Cordless Wheel Mouse and the more
\nexpensive Cordless MouseMan Wheel. The price difference was
\naround Rp 100,000, but, like my old Cordless MouseMan Pro, the
\nCordless MouseMan Wheel has an additional button on the left
\nside. Both models came with Duracell batteries included. One of
\nthe stores there gave me the final price of Rp 535,000 for the
\nCordless MouseMan Wheel and I almost bought it. Luckily, I did
\nnot have enough money with me at that time. On my way to the ATM,
\nI stopped at another store and the guy there offered the same
\nmouse for Rp 495,000. I took it right away.<\/p>\n
I have also fallen in love with the scroll button, which came
\nwith the USB mouse for my new HP Pavilion. Like using any
\ncordless device, once you have tried using the scroll button, you
\nwill not even glance a mouse without a scroll button, which will
\ndrag the screen up and down for you. Almost all of Logitech's
\nmice now come with this really useful button.<\/p>\n
Installing the mouse gave me no problem at all. This USB mouse
\ncame with an adaptor for the PS\/2 port, which I used as the old
\nMouseMan Pro was connected to my PC via the PS\/2 port. The setup
\nprogram in the CD-ROM also ran smoothly.<\/p>\n
It asked me whether I would like to set up the new mouse and,
\nafter a couple of adjustments, it worked flawlessly.<\/p>\n
Wheel of Fortune<\/p>\n
The mouse's zoom function, which I can enable by pressing the
\nCtrl key while moving the scroll button, allows me to enlarge the
\ndisplay of the characters in a Word document or a Web page on the
\nfly. For someone with rather limited vision, this is quite a
\nhelpful feature.<\/p>\n
In addition, as the name indicates, MouseMan Wheel came with
\nan extra mouse interface, the WebWheel, which is part of
\nLogitech's MouseWare. WebWheel is useful if you have a permanent
\nconnection to the Web. Each time we press the scroll button down,
\na wheel appears on the screen, as shown in the accompanying
\npicture. Using the wheel, we can tell the browser to go back to
\nthe previous Web page, reload the current page, stop loading a
\npage or jump to any of the links on the wheel.<\/p>\n
If you can wait, however, you had better buy the newer
\nCordless MouseMan Optical. I was unable to find one in Ratu
\nPlaza, mainly because I was in a bit of a hurry when I shopped
\nfor the mouse. There may be a store in Ratu Plaza or other
\ncomputer shopping centers that has this model. The good thing
\nabout an optical mouse is that there is no ball, roller or
\nchamber to clean up. It hardly requires any maintenance, is more
\nprecise and can work on almost any surface.<\/p>\n
Another thing worth noting about the new mouse lineup is that
\nthey do not come with any serial port adaptor. Thus, they are not
\nfor your old PCs, which may not have a PS\/2 mouse port or a USB
\nport. However, it is definitely not for left-handed users. If you
\nare left-handed, you should buy either the Cordless MouseMan
\nOptical or the less expensive Cordless Wheel Mouse.<\/p>\n
For now, I am quite happy with my new Cordless MouseMan Wheel,
\nalthough I should admit I was deeply shocked with the price
\nmyself. Still, compared with the US$59.95 price that Outpost.com
\nposts on its Web site for this mouse, the price I paid was still
\ncheaper. (zatni@cbn.net.id)<\/p>",
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