Calling all Unix Spaceball Users...

[unknown1]

I am looking into Spaceballs and I was wondering what users were using and
what they thought of them. Specifically I am looking at an IBM Spaceball
4000:

http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=-840&langId=-1&partNumber=33L3252&storeId=1


Any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Frederick Burke
Mechanical Engineer
Northrop Grumman Corp.
San Diego, CA

[mwright]

I am currently using the Spaceball 5000, which I think is the same as the
one you provided a link to. I like it. I tell everyone that it takes about
two weeks to get use to it, but after that you never want to go back. The
maker of the Spaceballs is 3D Connexion
<http: www.3dconnexion.com=" products.htm=">

[ptc-66265]

I am using the SpaceBall 5000 now, I did use a model 3003 for some time.
The software and twelve buttons on the 5000 makes it very flexible and
productive once you get used to using it. It really becomes habit forming
and I find myself reaching for it even when not using Pro/E.
The best part is that when switching between versions of Pro/E such as
2000i2, 2001 etc and the newer Wildfire versions there is no difference to
dynamic moves with the SpaceBall. You do not need to fight the confusion of
keyboard buttons and mouse buttons and figure out which one is correct for
the software version you are running.
The time saved and number of mouse clicks are reduced significantly also
according to white papers published on the 3Dconnexion website. The model
4000 is listed as a legacy device on the website so future support may be
short lived or non existant.

Milton A. Cochran
President
Cochran Consulting, Inc.
P.O. Box 35
Landenberg, PA 19350
610-274-0509