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Microsoft Intellimouse Optical
by By Kevin Wood— Atlanta PC Users Group , woodhead@koalacomputers.com - May 19, 2000 at 19:12:39:
What is the benefit of the Intellimouse Optical over a standard mouse? The normal mouse or trackball has a roller. As the roller turns, the mouse tracks the motion of the ball and translates that into electrical signals that correspond to the pointer movements you see on the computer screen. Eventually however, the ball gets dirty or oily, or the surface used for the mouse has insufficient friction to turn the ball and the pointer on the computer screen will stop responding.While there are numerous products and technical tips for cleaning mice and track balls, you won’t need any of them since the IntelliMouse uses an optical sensor to track motion. It actually checks the surface under the mouse 1,500 times per second to detect motion. This means you can use the mouse on almost any surface. (Reflective or very glossy surfaces do not work well!) Also, because of the speed at which it tracks motion, I would recommend limiting the speed of your hand movements to less than 1,500 per second—be careful when on that 15th cup of coffee! During testing, I used a desk, my hand, paper, even holding the mouse slightly above the surface, and the mouse always worked. This could be very bad news for mouse pad manufacturers!
The IntelliMouse came with a USB connection and an adapter so the mouse can be used in a PS2 port. I plugged the mouse into the USB Port. During the installation, the mouse lit up, indicating the operating system was talking to the device. I was pleased to note that the mouse seems to work without any requiring any special software
Use: I was able to use the mouse immediately, even without initially loading the software that came with the mouse. The mouse worked well with the software I normally use. A neat feature is that the lower rear of the mouse lights up. Great for when you need to find the mouse in a dark room! Actually, the light just lets you know that the mouse is enabled and working.
For those of you who are still getting used to using a mouse (I know there are some of you out there), this mouse is probably not for you. Not only does it have the normal two mouse buttons, it also has a scroll wheel and two extra buttons on the side, about where you rest your thumb and ring fingers. Initially, I thought these buttons performed the same functions as the corresponding buttons on the top of the mouse, they do not! The size and shape of the IntelliMouse make it very comfortable to hold and use.
Eventually I installed the IntelliPoint 3.1 mouse software. With it, I gained the ability to program the various mouse buttons to do what I wanted them to do. One drawback, however, is that no two buttons (or button and scroll wheel) can have the same function. You can, however, always set a button you do not use much to no function at all. I tend to not use the lower right button (located on the right side vs. right top of the mouse) so I disabled that button. An added bonus of the software is that you also get a lot of neat new mouse pointers! The one I use has a hand drumming the fingers rather than showing an hourglass.
Summary: Overall I liked the Intellimouse Optical. It installed easily. It worked even without special drivers (at least on my system). It worked as advertised. There was no learning curve to learn different commands in order to do the things I normally do (in other words I did not have to re-learn how to use a mouse.) Hopefully the next version of the software will permit the user to have two buttons perform the same function, but do not hold off buying the mouse just for that. I give the Intellimouse 5 stars.
System Requirements: (Per Microsoft)
1. 29 Mb of hard drive space available
2. CD-ROM Drive
3. Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows NT4 (with Service pack 3 or later), Windows 2000
4. PS/2 mouse port or USB port (Windows 98 or Windows 2000 only)
5. IntelliPoint software version 3.1 (included)
Kevin Wood has served on the APCUG COMDEX committee and as a Board of Advisors member. He has served as President of the Atlanta PC Users Group, and of the Birmingham Software Developer’s Association. There is no restriction against anyone using the article as long as it is kept in context, with proper credit given to the author. This article is brought to you by the Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an International organization to which this user group belongs.
Please notify Kevin via e-mail at woodhead@koalacomputers.com if you use this article.
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