Unique mouse? Yes. Useful? Yes, for the right situation, but not a replacement for a regular hand-held mouse. Easy to use? Well, let’s see. The NOHANDS Mouse is produced by Hunter Digital and says it is “the mouse made for your feet.” The hardware is two foot pedals, a dual-end cable (it can operate along with your hand mouse) and for my serial port version, a small AC power supply. (Note: for PS/2 users, installation is even simpler - no power supply required.) The documentation i s thorough and instructions for both Windows 3.x and Windows 95 are included. The manual assumes you are a novice. There are appropriate cautions and notes about health/safety and a reading list. It is strong and well constructed. Each of the two pedals has a nameplate: Clicks (left foot) and Cursor (right foot). The developer didn’t leave anything to chance. I think it would have been helpful to have some illustrations to differentiate between the two types of installation, as they did with the page on the “care and feeding” of your mouse. Right off I’ll tell you the installation of the drivers and “tutorial” software was simple and I’m a novice. Trust me. The “tutorial” I think is not what one would at first think. It is actually a brief, concise training program - an enj oyable one at that plus sound effects - a multimedia tutorial!
I’ll review the tutorial first both because it is the logical starting point for this type of equipment and also because Digital is very insistent you “tour” first. I now know why. Trying to shoot down a moving balloon or maneuver a small ball through a tight maze using your right foot is a real challenge. I flunked the first two tries through the tutorial, but it doesn’t take all that long to get the hang of manipulating the cursor using my right foot or clicking with my left foot. After a while my ank le became a little fatigued. I would expect this since it is not accustomed to moving a mouse around the screen! As I used the Nohands mouse it became more intuitive to use and I was able to make more precise movements, click on new documents, SAVE AS, c lose out programs, etc. I think it must be like going from DOS to Windows where one goes into a mouse environment for the first time.
The “Options” menu is fairly comprehensive, allowing for a wide variety of shortcuts or what I am told are called “hot key” options. You can use a hot key combination to move the pointer to OPEN or other functions you predetermine.
The Nohands mouse manual says it should work with most standard mouse drivers; however, since I thought the options menu was sufficiently useful, I installed the manufacturer’s drivers. There’s another point that I missed in the manual you should be awar e of: if you rest your feet on the pedals more than about 10-15 seconds or have no pointer activity, your mouse drops dead - but only for about eight seconds. It is designed to do this when there is no activity. Just lift your feet off the pedals for abo ut 10-15 seconds and then resume. Follow the suggestions in the manual. You’ll want a slow acceleration, for example, to start with!
Is this a replacement for a hand-held mouse? No. It is a special purpose mouse for special situations. If you cannot move your hands or are very limited in hand motion, get this foot mouse. It is innovative, well-made, versatile and if you need the capab ility, worth the price, which is about $170 on the street. (I haven’t seen them in the local stores.) It is compatible with both the PC (386+) and a Macintosh (680+). For more info go to 1-800-57-MOUSE or http://www.earthlink.net/~footmouse. Florence Berger is a HAL-PC member and math teacher at Pershing Middle School.
NOTE: Ms. Berger is donating the “mouse” to the T.H. Rogers School’s (HISD) special program for the profoundly physically handicapped.
Editor
This great idea, My First Keyboard by RF-Link , for a kids’ keyboard generally lives up to the advertising. It is designed for kids 1-1/2 to 5 years old, but I’d suggest you might want to consider the minimum age of at least two. It has a substantial and durable feel, but light enough for a kid to c arry. One of the first things you’ll see is that the keyboard letters are in alphabetical order and the number keys are zero to nine (check your own keyboard and you’ll see the difference). At this age range kids are learning the alphabet, not a keyboard…yes, I know some kids can already use a regular keyboard by five, but I think it helps reinforce learning the alphabet. There are t wo nice, pleasant software packages included: Pictures ABC and Action 123. These are basic “learning” programs and are helpful in learning letters, numbers, and shapes. However, I think that most anyone who would purchase this keyboard probably already h as some age-appropriate packages to perform the same purposes. And the graphics quality is rather dated. Nice, but not special.
What is special? First, the installation manual is almost unnecessary since all you do is plug keyboard cable in the computer and then plug the regular keyboard into the back of the kids’ board. There is a switch so you change between keyboards - you can ’t operate both at the same time. No special software or drivers are needed. It is a regular keyboard, less many of the function keys of a regular one - a safety provision! For instance, there is no repeat capability, nor can more than one key be depress ed at a time. For greater realism, I’d have preferred to have a Shift key in place of the CAPS key. The keys are large and colorful, but for a smaller child or one who is less “vigorous”, the membrane type surface is a bit too stiff and requires more pre ssure to press down. The keys are large enough for smaller and/or less motor skill-developed fingers.
How safe? As the brochure stated it is “peanut butter” proof, but not waterproof, which I wouldn’t expect. I did pour water over the surface as well as some other food items. No penetration and I just wiped the surface clean.
My son, age 4, quickly typed his name. The keyboard letters are large and easily read. What would I like to see? First, include a utility to increase the on-screen letter/ number size. I know I could go into Windows and change the font size, but that’s a real pain. At this age a kid is still trying to coordinate between keyboard action and the screen. The other improvements would be to lessen the pressure needed to activate the alpha/numerics and add a Shift key. Even with these comments, I’d still reco mmend this keyboard. I might add that it is also an excellent way to directly assist your child in learning to use not only a keyboard, but more importantly, learning to use software programs. It is a very good, innovative product at a street price of ab out $75. For more info call 1-800-681-4056.
By Brent Neal, age 4, as told to his father, Larry G. Neal, a HAL-PC member who is president of A-to-Z Specialties, Inc. and his mother, Christine.
When someone asks “do you have a mouse in your pocket ?”, you might well reply “why, yes I do: in fact it’s a Logitech Cordless Mouse Man Pro”. This little critter, about the size of the normal mouse (the one with the attached tail/cord), can facilitate browsing the PC environment. System requirements are a 386 processor or above; Windows 95 or 3.1, or DOS; and an available serial (COM) or mo use (PS/2) port. Two physical units comprise the entire package: a receiver and the mouse. Using radio technology (not infrared), Logitech has eliminated line-of-sight limitations. The literature states that the receiver (about the size of a pack of card s) will receive the mouse’s signal from up to six feet away. I walked out of my PC area and was able to transmit a workable signal from at least three times that distance with a wall in between. From that distance, the pointer and all the icons were micr oscopic. I turned on a couple of electrical devices in the area and had no interference problems. There are three programmable buttons on the mouse. Under Windows 95, a MouseWare control panel makes button assignments, selects pointer shapes, modifies cu rsor movement, sets mouse orientation and adds another mouse. Special functions (there are 50 different button assignments) can be assigned to any of the three buttons. Some of the selections are: copy, cut, double click, explore my computer, click/selec t, close application, resize window, recall application, all the function keys, etc. The mouse is designed for right handed users. The built-up left side of the mouse allows the thumb to comfortably engage the leftmost button while the rest of your digit s have the regular mouse feel for the other two buttons. Two very useful functions are the CyberJump and HyperJump commands under Windows 95. With a single click you can display an 8-position grid for either function. CyberJump is used with Netscape Navi gator. The grid commands are: go to bookmark, add bookmark, stop, go back, vert/horiz scroll, start, and display menu (the menu bar from Netscape). HyperJump performs similar type functions for whatever application it is called from; remember the menu wi ll be the menu bar from the respective application. A “SmartMove” feature, when selected, enables the cursor to jump to the next logical active command. For example, if you choose to print a document from the “File” menu, when the print dialog box appear s, the cursor will immediately jump to the “OK” button. I enjoy using the cordless mouse. It has some very useful programmable features. I might caution that if you have a twitch or tic in you right hand or arm you might find the cursor in an unexpected location on the screen. So steady as she (he or it) goes. For more info go to http://www.logitech.com.
Harold G. Spangler is a HAL-PC member who can be contacted at hgsbu54@hal-pc.org.
No bulk here, just a little Salt Lake City sand sculpted this cat a little larger than the size of your mouse but more capable. Your first look at new GlidePoint’s touchpad technology for the desktop makes you wonder where the ‘next’ mouse will be mounte d. Although there are two other capable and less expensive models, the Power Cat is their flagship. Yes, you can program auto scrolling with it up and down or for continuous dragging across-screen. It even gives you an option in Win95 of being able to do signing and notes on letters, memos or faxes without a scanner purchase, and scroll for Navigator and most non-Office 97 applications. The Glidepoint Control stuff is included by NEC, Sharp, Micron and Compaq for their laptops. Where space is limited, f or instance with laptops, this is a gem. After an easy installation in which Power Cat options you to use a serial or PS/2 port, you’re ready to tap (lightly please) highlight, drag, and activate its virtual edge extender. You will need to install Cirque ’s driver and Win 95 is needed for signatures. No prob...and easy to do - as close to plug and play as I’ve seen. Now the fun - although I found it a little different at first, smoothing your finger or tapping lightly on the sensitive 2.5” X 3” pad was neat. (Just lose that table strumming habit, bud.) You needn’t move your arm or be bound as with a mouse cord and you still get exercise(?). (Could the electronic grid pads expand the screen’s reaches a little more or is that just beginner lazy? Give me m ilk and I want cake.)
All Win95 users automatically are enabled to add signatures and surf to the Power Cat’s can-do list which you’ll use in many applications including Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Scrolling can be done, for example, in Corel Word Perf ect Suite 8, Lotus Pro 97 and Microsoft Office 97, although Microsoft Office 95 is not presently supported for vertical scroll or back/forward features. There are several other features that I found especially useful, if you read carefully. There is a se ries of special “zones”. In the upper left corner is the “right tap” which basically emulates the right mouse button functions under Win95 and very close is the “virtual” spot so you can program several functions. Nice touch, no pun intended. To ease you into its use, you can also load your regular mouse. Where space is limited, get this mouse...sorry, touch pad. About $65-75 street price and a ‘way cool’ machine. For more info, go to http://www.crique.com.
Lloyd Mabry, a HAL-PC Member, is a Transportation Consultant.
E-mail me at webmaster@hal-pc.org with any comments you have and tell me what you want to see here.