17 Sep
2006
17 Sep
'06
4:17 p.m.
Please enlighten me as to what type of trackball was
used in the 1950s ? I
am genuinely interested. Thank you.
Trackballs and joysticks were used in 1950s era radar indicators,
mostly for fire control. I think the first use of the trackball was in
a Canadian aircraft radar set, used to designate targets with a
cursor. The X and Y positions were transmitted to the radar as a set
of synchro signals that were fed to come sort of fire control
computer.
The earliest use that I know of for an X Y positioner for data input,
in this case a joystick, is the AN/MPG-1 artillery radar of 1945.
--
Will