30 Sep
2010
30 Sep
'10
6:47 a.m.
Liam Proven wrote:
Mind
you, I preferred the system on the Acorn Archimedes, where
left-clicking a scrollbar arrow scrolled in the direction it pointed
but *right*-clicking it scrolled the opposite way. This was so simple
and efficient that there was no need for a wheel, really.
Hmm, I think X windows had something similar at one time - middle button to
drag the bar, left button to automatically go up and page and right button to
go down a page (if I remember right, it did jump by a screenful, rather than
smaller increments)
Nobody has
ever implemented 3-button mouse support as efficiently and gracefully
as Acorn RISC OS did, to my mind.
I've got some internal Acorn emails from that era related to their UI design -
one day I'll have to see about 'releasing' them. It's interesting reading,
seeing their thoughts about what features they should implement, and their
analysis of what the competition was up to.
The last hold-out is the cooling fan and they are a
real point of
weakness, as they clog up with dust and cause the system to fail. I
hope to see some improved, solid-state cooling mechanisms come along
and deliver sealed-box, airtight PCs with no moving parts or airflow
inside.
Hmm, those Dyson bladeless fans, maybe? (No idea how that technology works, or
if it needs a minimum size to do so effectively).
I think that *good* bladed fans rarely fail, though - it's just that 99% of
those inside modern PCs are cheap junk. Oh, and I've had old all-metal fans of
around 5" or so which are very quiet in comparison to modern plastic-bladed,
smaller versions. Maybe systems just need better airflow design/ducting and a
single larger-but-quieter fan. That and sensible grilles - a lot of PCs just
have stamped grilles with rough slot edges, and they create a huge amount of
noise (as well as collecting dust) compared to grilles of old which were
formed from round metal stock.
Then the only bits that move will be the keyboards and
mice. Mice I
regard as relatively disposable; optical ones are cheap and work well,
so despite my initial reservations about the "waste" of CPU power on
tracking the movement of the desk surface underneath the sensor, hell,
it's worth it. They're cheap, simple, need next to no cleaning or
maintenance and last for ages. Some of mine are now pushing a decade
old, work fine and have outlived 2, 3 or 4 PCs.
It's rare I've had a traditional rodent fail on me and be unfixable, though -
a good clean now and then, and the odd microswitch is about it. What I really
dislike are mice that try to be too ergonomic (OK if you have an average hand
size and are right-handed, bad for everyone else) or which have too many
unnecessary buttons (3 is good, more is pointless)
I want the thing to have a damned cable, though, not a
wireless
transciever and batteries.
Yes, me too - I like the reliability of cables. There was a lot of hoo-hah
about wireless charging a couple of years ago, but that seems to have gone
quiet for the moment (it'd at least solve the battery swap problem)
As for keyboards, well, some of my Model Ms are now
pushing 25, so I
am not worried about their longevity. :?)
Yes, this one turns 25 next year :-)
cheers
Jules