• 2 Posts
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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 4th, 2023

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  • It does take a little practice to know when to ask if someone needs help. Generally if someone needs help in public then they’ll bring a friend or family member to help them.

    That being said, it’s always better to ask than assume. Never push someone’s wheelchair (particularly into a road without checking for cars, yes this has happened to people) unless you’ve offered assistance and the person has said yes.

    Personally, I’d rather have someone friendly ask how I’m doing and leave it at that if I say “fine”. I may not need or want help, but it’s nice to be reminded that people care.




  • That may be technically true, but what’s stopping someone from using the same button on a regular mouse?

    A regular mouse can have a large amount of movement with your elbow and very fine control with your wrist. Your thumb on a trackball may have more range or precision than either, but not both combined.

    My personal experience is that a trackball mouse is a little less accurate when trying to move a large distance precisely. Perhaps I just need more practice.



  • If you’re logically minded or don’t mind repetitive tasks, QA testing is not too difficult to get into (comparatively, I’m aware of the state of the job market). Most companies will give you on the job training, and the work can theoretically be done from home.

    It would likely require in person training and possibly a few weeks in a office at the start. As much as I’d love to recommend building a train network first, perhaps friends, neighbors, and (non-predatory) loans for taxis/rideshare would be enough until the first paycheck.

    Keep ranting online. The world is broken, not you. You may as well rant, shout, and complain about it.


  • The mouse stays in one location with grippy feet and the trackball moves the cursor. There is no sensor for mouse movement. It does take a while to get used to.

    The reason I chose it was that I didn’t have enough desk space to move a mouse. I barely even had enough space to put the mouse. Now that I’ve moved house, I just like the novelty. It’s not as accurate as a regular mouse.

    I would love a mouse that could do both regular movement and trackball movement so I could have 4 axis inputs. Sadly, I haven’t found any like that.


  • They do have a trackpad, but not in this shape.

    I was surprised when I started using the Steamdeck. The Steamdeck’s trackpad felt almost identical to my trackball mouse, and it took effectively no time to get used to it.

    The advantage of a trackball over a trackpad is that you can spin the ball for high movement speed, then stop it after a set time for fairly accurate distance. A trackball (or trackpad) will never be as accurate as a regular moue, but it is surprisingly usable (after a few months or practice).



  • My scroll wheel was very stiff and irritating at first. It did loosen over time and is now completely useable. It doesn’t free-spin, but it also doesn’t take a lot of force to move.

    The lack of clicking is a little disconcerting, but not a deal-breaker for me. I guess you could add an extra part to make it click — like putting a playing card in the spokes of a bicycle wheel.

    Because I bought the trackball mouse, I changed the trackball to scroll when a button is held. I now have horizontal and vertical scrolling, and don’t use the scroll wheel except for middle clicking.


  • The PCB has electrical buttons permanently attached. The 3D printed parts have protrusions that touch the buttons.
    You could possibly redesign the 3D printed parts only, but at some size increase you may need to start looking into redesigning the PCB.

    The good news is that the mouse itself is bigger than the picture makes it seem. You might actually be OK without modifications.

    If you do want to give it a try, I highly recommend buying the kit and fully assembling it yourself. That way you know that it works, and you have a solid foundation to apply the modifications to.


  • You don’t need to pay them anything.

    You can just download all the files they’ve made available and build one yourself. The electronics have full schematics so you can either make it yourself or send the schematics to a PCB company. The shell is entirely 3d printed. All extra hardware is readily available.

    If that sounds like a lot of work, maybe it’s worth paying the person who created it and is offering to do all that work for you.




  • All the 3d printed parts have files available online. You can 3d print new parts using any material you want.

    As far as I’m aware, PLA is mostly safe, but every company has different proprietary additives.

    Something plant based like cellulose would be nice. Longevity wouldn’t be a concern with how easy it is to reprint and reassemble.

    Wireless would be nice.



  • 18107@aussie.zonetoOpen Source@lemmy.mlOpen source computer mouse by Ploopy
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    2 days ago

    I bought a Ploopy Thumb a few years ago. I assembled it myself, and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was (when actually following the instructions).

    The small button on the right has broken twice, which wasn’t a problem because I just downloaded the stl file and reprinted the button assembly.

    I wanted horizontal scrolling, so I used QMK to make the trackball a scroll wheel when the right side button is pressed (that may explain the faster button wear). It was surprisingly easy, and there was even a comment in the source code pointing out which line I should modify for horizontal scrolling support. I guess they expected people to want this feature.

    The price is high, but I don’t expect to buy another mouse unless my needs change. The open source hardware and software is excellent, making repairability 10/10. The edges of the buttons are slightly rough, but I have the 3d printing files, so I get to choose what material it’s made of and what post processing / smoothing is used. It hasn’t bothered me enough to do anything about it.

    While I can’t recommend a trackball mouse to anyone, I can recommend Ploopy. It’s one of the few products that I feel like I actually own.

    Ploopy Thumb next to a keyboard




  • Mental health is just as important as physical health, but is often ignored because it’s harder to see.

    You wouldn’t try to keep walking on a dislocated leg even if it’s just been relocated. You’d give it time to heal before putting your full weight on it.
    Trying to push through sensory overload is just like trying to walk on an injured leg. It’s only going to make the symptoms worse until you stop and take care of it.

    Any reasonable manager would give an employee the day off to recover from a physical injury, so why would mental health be any less valid? You don’t need to give the manager a reason to go home other than you weren’t fit to work and needed the time off.

    The planning you mentioned can help, as can learning to identify when you start to feel overwhelmed and acting early. Early action often means less drastic action.

    The people who talk about “gritting their teeth” and “always pushing through” have never reached their limits and don’t understand that it’s terrible advice. When you reach your limit, something has to change.

    Given the circumstances you described, I think the decision to remove yourself from the stressful environment was the best decision you could have made.

    I’m proud of you; both for how you handled the situation, and for how you’re learning from it.