Published at LXer:

Six degrees of freedom (6DOF) devices allow for movement in three axes, tilt in two axes, and rotation in the third. Some of these devices look like small joysticks -- for example, the SpaceNavigator. These devices are typically used for computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) and other 3-D applications. With a new programming library, you can now also use them with Linux applications. You might wonder why you would ever want to use such a device with a desktop application. Well, imagine using the rotation of the device to control your video playback speed, or moving the x-axis of the device to see the next image in a slideshow.

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