Computer Mouse
PartsOfaComputer-Web - PartsOfaComputer-Topics
The computer mouse is a human interface or input device.
The mouse was developed by Douglas Englebert who worked for XEROX
The Xerox Alto used a GUI Graphical User Interface and had a mouse in the 1970's
Computer mice are powered by either the USB or mouse port power pins.
USB mice are more modern, but older mice are still common on lots of computers.
Older mice used a ball that turned axles connected to encoder wheels.
There is an encoder for the x or across axis and the y or up and down axis.
Inside these older mice, a light shines at the spoked encoder wheel while a light sensor looks for interuptions in the light.
When the axles get crudded up, the mouse indicator sticks and jumps around.
You can clean the axles by popping out the ball and scraping the axles with a fingernail.
A circuit on these interprets the patterns of light and dark and turns them into commands that tells the computer where the mouse has moved.
Newer, optical mice use a small camera and a light to take pictures of the surface below the mouse.
The circuit then compares differences betwen the images and tells the computer where the mouse has moved.
You can hack a mouse to add a pager motor to a mouse to turn it into a rumble mouse that will vibrate during gameplay.
Written assignment:
Write at least 3 paragraphs of at least 6 sentences to demonstrate your understanding of this topic. Use your own words, and do not copy any text from any online sources. You should provide links to web pages that have been helpful in understanding this system. Place the text on your Ning blog and print a copy to hand in. You can include photos in your post. Print this and hand it in with your notes from researching the subject.
Links:
http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa081898.htm
Search Make for Computer Mouse: http://bit.ly/cwTPc6
Rumble mouse - http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol06/?pg=122
How Stuff Works Mouse - http://computer.howstuffworks.com/mouse.htm
How Stuff Works Optical Mouse - http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question631.htm
Computer Hope Mouse - http://www.computerhope.com/help/mouse.htm
Inventor of the mouse - http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/01/maker_birthday_douglas_engelbart.html
Xerox Alto - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Alto
Triumph of the Nerds Part 3 Transcript - http://www.pbs.org/nerds/part3.html
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