Mouse In Present Technology Information Technology Essay

In computing, a mouse is a hand controlled, pointing device for interacting with a digital computer that has a graphial user interface. Physically, a mouse is an object held under one of the user’s hands, with one or more buttons.The mouse can be moved around on a flat surface to control the movement of a cursor on the computer display screen. It sometimes features other elements, such as “wheels”, which allow the user to perform various system-dependent operations, or extra buttons or features that can add more control. It has one or more buttons,and can be used to select text, activate programs, or move items around the screen by quickly pressing and releasing one of the buttons or by keeping a button depressed while moving the device.This is called clicking and dragging.

History of component:

The first mouse prototype was invented in 1963,by Douglas Engelbart with the assistance of his colleague Bill English at the Stanford Research Institute. They named the device the mouse as early models had a cord attached to the rear part of the device looking like a tail and generally resembling the common mouse. Engelbart never received any royalties for it, as his patent ran out before it became widely used in personal computers.

Several other experimental pointing-devices developed for Engelbart’s On-Line System exploited different body movements – for example, head-mounted devices attached to the chin or nose – but ultimately the mouse won out because of its simplicity and convenience. The first mouse,which was a bulky device,used two gear-wheels perpendicular to each other: the rotation of each wheel translated into motion along one axis.

A mouse has already been developed and published by the German company,Telefunken, just a few weeks before Engelbart released his demo in 1968. Unlike Engelbart’s mouse, the Telefunken model had a ball, as it can be seen in most later models until today. Since 1970 it was shipped as a part and sold together with Telefunken Computers. Some models from the year 1972 are still well preserved.

Bill English, builder of Engelbart’s original mouse, invented the ball mouse in 1972 while working for Xerox Parc. The ball-mouse replaced the external wheels with a single ball that could rotate in any direction. It came as part of the hardware package of the Xerox Alto computer. Perpendicular chopper wheels housed inside the mouse’s body chopped beams of light on the way to light sensors, thus detecting in their turn the motion of the ball. This variant of the mouse resembled an inverted trackball and became the predominant form used with personal computers throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The Xerox PARC group also settled on the modern technique of using both hands to type on a full-size keyboard and grabbing the mouse when required.

Engelbart’s original mouse did not require a mousepad.The mouse had two large wheels which could roll on virtually any surface. However, most subsequent mechanical mice starting with the steel roller ball mouse have required a mousepad for optimal performance.

The mousepad, the most common mouse accessory, appears most commonly in conjunction with mechanical mice, because in order to roll smoothly, the ball requires more friction than common desk surfaces usually provide. For gamers,optical/laser mice or So-called “hard mousepads” also exist.

Most optical and laser mice do not require a pad. Whether to use a hard or soft mousepad with an optical mouse is largely a matter of personal preference. One exception occurs when the desk surface creates problems for the optical or laser tracking, for example, a transparent or reflective surface.

Mouse in present technology:

There are different types of mouse in present technology.Nowadays they came up with laser mouse and optical mouse. Optical mice make use of one or more light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and an imaging array of photodiodes to detect movement relative to the underlying surface, rather than internal moving parts as does a mechanical mouse. A Laser mouse is an optical mouse that uses coherent (Laser) light.

Cordless or wireless

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/Microsoft-wireless-mouse.jpg/220px-Microsoft-wireless-mouse.jpg

Cordless or wireless mice transmit data via infrared radiation or radio(includingBluetooth). The receiver is connected to the computer through a serial or USB port. The newer nano receivers were designed to be small enough to remain connected in a laptop or notebook computer during transport, while still being large enough to easily remove.

A mouse typically controls the motion of a cursor in two dimensions in a graphical user interface (GUI). Clicking or hovering (stopping movement while the cursor is within the bounds of an area) can select files, programs or actions from a list of names, or (in graphical interfaces) through small images called “icons” and other elements. For example, a text file might be represented by a picture of a paper notebook, and clicking while the cursor hovers this icon might cause a text editing program to open the file in a window.

Some systems allow two or more mice to be used at once as input devices. 16-bit era home computers such as the Amiga used this to allow computer games with two players interacting on the same computer. The same idea is sometimes used in collaborative software, e.g. to simulate a whiteboard that multiple users can draw on without passing a single mouse around.

Microsoft windows, since Windows 98, has supported multiple simultaneous pointing devices. Because Windows only provides a single screen cursor, using more than one device at the same time generally results in seemingly random movements of the cursor. However, the advantage of this support lies not in simultaneous use, but in simultaneous availability for alternate use: for example, a laptop user editing a complex document might use a handheld mouse for drawing and manipulation of graphics, but when editing a section of text, use a built-in trackpad to allow movement of the cursor while keeping his hands on the keyboard. Windows’ multiple-device support means that the second device is available for use without having to disconnect or disable the first.

The three-button scrollmouse has become the most commonly available design. As of 2007 (and roughly since the late 1990s), users most commonly employ the second button to invoke a contextual menu in the computer’s software user interface, which contains options specifically tailored to the interface element over which the mouse cursor currently sits. By default, the primary mouse button sits located on the left-hand side of the mouse, for the benefit of right-handed users; left-handed users can usually reverse this configuration via software.

Mouse for games:

Mice often function as an interface for PC-based computer games and sometimes for video games consoles. They are able to make small, precise motions in the game more easily. The left button usually controls primary fire. If the game supports multiple fire-modes, the right button often provides secondary fire from the selected weapon. The right button may also provide bonus options for a particular weapon, such as allowing access to the scope of a sniper rifle or allowing the mounting of a bayonet or silencer.

Gamers can use a scroll wheel for changing weapons, or for controlling scope-zoom magnification. On most FPS games, programming may also assign more functions to additional buttons on mice with more than three controls. A keyboard usually controls movement (for example, WASD,for moving forward, left, backward and right, respectively) and other functions such as changing posture. Since the mouse serves for aiming, a mouse that tracks movement accurately and with less latency will give a player an advantage over players with less accurate or slower mice. Games using mice for input have such a degree of popularity that many manufacturers, such as Logitech,Cyber Snipa , Razer USA ltd and Steel Series, make peripherals such as mice and keyboards specifically for gaming. Such mice may feature adjustable weights, high-resolution optical or laser components, additional buttons, ergonomic shape, and other features such as adjustable DPI.

List of wireless mouse with nano recievers:

Conceptronic

Eminent

Genius

Kensington

Logitech

Microsoft

Rock

Saitek

Speedlink

Sweex

Toshiba

Verbatim

Nowadays,desktop computers are being replaced by laptops and palmtops.Although mouse can be used for laptops but laptops usually have mouse in the form of touchpads.

A touchpad (or trackpad) is a pointing device,featuring a tactile sensor, a specialized surface that can translate the motion and position of a user’s fingers to a relative position on screen. They are a common feature of laptop computers and also used as a substitute for a computer mouse where desk space is scarce. Touchpads vary in size but are rarely made larger than 40 square centimetres (6.2 sq in). They can also be found on personal digital assistants(PDAs) and some portable media players, such as the iPod using the click wheel.

As touchpads began to be introduced in laptops in the early 1990s, there was often confusion as to what the product should be called. No consistent term was used, and references varied, such as: glidepoint, touch sensitive input device, touchpad, trackpad, and pointing device. Users were often presented the option to purchase a pointer stick, touchpad, or trackball. Combinations of the devices were common, though touchpads and trackballs were usually included at the exclusion of the other.

Touchpads are primarily used in self-contained portable laptop computers and do not require a flat surface near the machine. The touchpad is close to the keyboard, and only very short finger movements are required to move the cursor across the display screen.While advantageous, this also makes it possible for a user’s thumb to move the mouse cursor accidentally while typing. Touchpad functionality is available for desktop computers in keyboards with built-in touchpads.