[RTTY] Mouse performance

[Bill Turner]

If you have been dissatisfied with your mouse's performance I in terms
of accuracy during a contest I may have found a solution. 

I have been using USB optical mice for years and I have noticed a
certain amount of what I would call "latency" in their operation. In
other words, you have to move the mouse a small amount before the
pointer on the screen moves. It's not very much movement, just a tiny
fraction of an inch, but it's enough to be annoying. No amount of
tweaking the pointer options in mouse properties made a difference. 

On a hunch, I went on eBay and found an ancient IBM roller ball mouse
with a PS/2 type connecter and voila! problem solved.  That particular
mouse responds to the tiniest movement. And it cost less that $3
including shipping!  I could not find a brand new roller ball mouse
with PS/2 connector, so apparently they don't make them anymore. 

The main drawback to roller ball mice is they accumulate crud (the
technical term) on the rollers. It's easy to clean when you know how.
Just remove the ball and use your fingernail to scrape the rollers and
then blow out the loose crud. No chemicals required. Easy once you
learn the trick. 

I suspect part of the reason for reduced latency is that it works
directly on the motherboard even before the OS loads, as opposed to
requiring a separate software driver. I'm no expert, so this is just a
guess. Experts are welcome to comment. 

This may not work for everybody in every situation but if this has
been bothering you, maybe it's worth a try. 

Hope to see you in the BARTG this weakened. 

73, Bill W6WRT