From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Sep 10 16:51:34 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E0E341065676 for ; Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:51:33 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from perrin@apotheon.com) Received: from outbound-mail-12.bluehost.com (outbound-mail-12.bluehost.com [69.89.18.112]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id B2C9D8FC13 for ; Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:51:33 +0000 (UTC) Received: (qmail 4700 invoked by uid 0); 10 Sep 2009 16:51:33 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO box543.bluehost.com) (74.220.219.143) by outboundproxy1.bluehost.com with SMTP; 10 Sep 2009 16:51:32 -0000 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=default; d=apotheon.com; h=Date:From:To:Subject:Message-ID:Mail-Followup-To:References:Mime-Version:Content-Type:Content-Disposition:In-Reply-To:User-Agent:X-Identified-User; b=WfPJRfBC1b+TevZ5eAEdOasDmQJ+6tWGmxBe/N0UPvYZVYsEs7hhPV5CK6fgtxEbCHa/F6zlgA32YS4kv5/miyU7HSX2CKJIp+93vUJh/hWII+tkKkP0WecXisC7Ad8b; Received: from c-24-8-180-234.hsd1.co.comcast.net ([24.8.180.234] helo=kokopelli.hydra) by box543.bluehost.com with esmtpsa (TLSv1:AES256-SHA:256) (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1Mlmrr-0005DW-E2 for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:51:32 -0600 Received: by kokopelli.hydra (sSMTP sendmail emulation); Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:51:29 -0600 Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:51:29 -0600 From: Chad Perrin To: FreeBSD Mailing List Message-ID: <20090910165129.GA20641@kokopelli.hydra> Mail-Followup-To: FreeBSD Mailing List References: <20090909210833.GA23467@thought.org> <20090910102925.1ea9ffd3.freebsd@edvax.de> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="azLHFNyN32YCQGCU" Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20090910102925.1ea9ffd3.freebsd@edvax.de> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.3i X-Identified-User: {2737:box543.bluehost.com:apotheon:apotheon.org} {sentby:smtp auth 24.8.180.234 authed with ren@apotheon.org} Subject: Re: are there any notebooks with mouse-sticks? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:51:34 -0000 --azLHFNyN32YCQGCU Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 10:29:25AM +0200, Polytropon wrote: > On Wed, 9 Sep 2009 14:08:36 -0700, Gary Kline wrote: > >=20 > > I'm looking for a small computer, 7-10" screen that has a ThinkPad-like= stick > > to act as the mouse.=20 >=20 > This "stick" is called a TrackPoint, as far as I remember. It has been > common in portable computers built by IB and Toshiba. I assume that IB was meant to be IBM. Lenovo bought IBM's PC division a few years ago, and now produces ThinkPads -- which come with trackpoints. >=20 > > Pref'ly, no touch-pad.=20 >=20 > Sadly, you will find mostly that (crap) in "modern" devices... I just turn off the touchpad in my ThinkPad's BIOS/CMOS settings. That's pretty much the *first* thing I do with a new ThinkPad, before I even install a halfway decent operating system on it. I have a tendency to accidentaly move the mouse around while typing, otherwise. >=20 > > The ASUS and just about every other > > notebook-size device has this kind of scratch-n-sniff pad; [...] >=20 > Nice name. Other names: Fingerprint sensor and coffee cup warmer. :-) Yeah . . . how warm the touchpad gets is a pretty good heuristic measure of how hot the laptop is running, at least on my ThinkPad. >=20 > > Any clues? >=20 > Look for IBM / Lenovo, maybe they still employ this fantastic and > easy to use pointing device. Allthough it would completely make sense > to use a Trackpoint for netbook class computers (litte real estate > consumption, minimal moving from "hand in typing position" to "hand > in pointing position"), it seems that the worst solution always > prevails. I haven't seen Trackpoints on "modern" stuff yet, and I'm > quite about thinking that it doesn't exist anymore. Unfortunately, the OP was asking about netbook-sized computers, and last I checked the only netbooks offered by Lenovo are IdeaPads -- which are exactly like ThinkPads, except the construction is a little cheaper and the pointing device is always a touchpad. Otherwise, however, I second the motion: ThinkPads are generally held to a higher standard of quality than the rest of the laptops in the PC world, tend to be well-supported by open source operating systems, and come with trackpoints. --=20 Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ] Quoth Philip Machanick: "caution: if you write code like this, immediately after you are fired the person assigned to maintaining your code after you leave will resign" --azLHFNyN32YCQGCU Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.10 (FreeBSD) iEYEARECAAYFAkqpLpEACgkQ9mn/Pj01uKVGjwCgndAOC4nAjteQwC7nQwzdvQ15 ZDgAoLsEL2xlJ/NybZfn2qcr9R5csshJ =zQZw -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --azLHFNyN32YCQGCU--