The foot mouse!

RandomTroll · 02-01-2018, 11:27 PM

Quote:

PERSONAL COMPUTERS; NEW 'MOUSE' RESIDES ON THE FLOOR

This problem could readily be overcome by putting the mouse on the floor rather than on the desk, and I always wondered why nobody had ever come up with such a device.

NOW someone has, and it is called, not surprisingly, the Foot Mouse. The treadle- reminiscent rodent ($225 from Versatron Corporation, Healdsburg, Calif. 95448, telephone 800-443- 1550) is presently geared to the I.B.M. PC, but relatives for the Apple IIe, Macintosh and Compaq are expected later this year.

http://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/12/sc...the-floor.html

hazel · 02-02-2018, 02:31 AM

First, I wouldn't pay $225 for a mouse! And according to the article, it's a crippled mouse because you can't click it (neither left nor right click).

It could be useful though for people with dexterity problems such as severe rheumatoid arthritis or those with only one hand.

ntubski · 02-02-2018, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hazel

First, I wouldn't pay $225 for a mouse!

The Wikipedia page has a link to a DIY version which claims to be doable in $30. http://www.instructables.com/id/foot...omputer-mouse/

Quote:

And according to the article, it's a crippled mouse because you can't click it (neither left nor right click).

Add foot pedals for your other foot?

BW-userx · 02-02-2018, 09:11 AM

@ $225 a pop

Quote:

The Foot Mouse - a small gray box, four and a half inches square by an inch and three-quarters high sloping to three-
quarters of an inch, topped by a rubber-buttoned disk for nonslip footing - sits beneath the desk like a gas pedal in
a car.

I wonder if they got a manual one that comes with a clutch, it should be less expensive then an automatic, don't you think?

Trihexagonal · 02-04-2018, 12:55 PM

I heard some woman in the lobby of the building I live in talking about how as a medical transcriptionist she had some foot controlled thingy she used. I had never heard of one before and asked her about it. She claimed it increased her efficiency.

That's about what she said to have paid for it, too.

I think I can manage without one.