Re: Hacking Optical Mice as position/distance encoders

Hi all!

One of the things we have to remember when we set out to use a "mass
market" device in some "other than intended" way is that the 'unseen
hand' of the marketplace will have us chasing what WAS, and often NOT
what IS...

Mice is our subject, so here's what I mean. It MAY have been possible
at one point to get some pretty decent encoders from mouse innerds.
It isn't (as responses in this thread have said) likely NOW. The
mouse has been in use for long enough and the marketplace has
demanded that its' price be cut until ONLY the REQUIRED functionality
(for the intended purpose) need be met. This means that ALL the
corners which CAN be cut, HAVE been cut...

So we may still find directions for using mouse innerds, but we might
find that what WE see is VERY different from what the writer of the
article SAW. The tricky part is knowing IF this is what we're dealing
with... Has the product shifted to the point of 'unusability' (for
our purpose) OR do we just have a BAD EXAMPLE(so if we find a GOOD
example item we can still succeed)?

Hope this helps.

Ballendo

P.S. The originator of this thread mentioned a type of mouse which
MAY be in the "usable" phase... But it's NOT an encoder mouse!


<snip> which it probably would not, as has been said! This is an

>irrational misconception of economy, here!
>
>If a "store-bought part" such as an optical encoder seems
>expensive "in the book", fiddle with the internal components of

such "at the bench" <snip>

>You will generally prove to yourself that's EXACTLY why that stuff
>IS expensive!!!!!!!!
>Jan R