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In this article:
- What is a computer mouse
- Major types of mouse and their working
- A comparision of Optical and Mechanical Mice
What is a computer mouse
A computer mouse is a handheld input device. It is a pointing device and allows movement on two axis. A mouse is used commonly with all Operating Systems which feature a Graphical User Interface (GUI). A mouse detects the its own movement in relation to the surface it rests upon. A mouse typically features one or more buttons that facilitate some functions. A mouse is used to move a ‘pointer’ present on the screen which ‘copies’ the movement of the mouse on the surface.
The mouse was invented in 1963 by Douglas Engelbart at the Standford Research Institute. It was the winner among many other similar devices to be used in a system developed by Douglas himself. In the patent, it was called “X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System”.
Major types of mouse and their working
- Mechanical Mice
Mechanical mouse are the most common types of mouse used. They are also known as ‘ball mouse’ owing to the ball that they feature on their bottom that moves with the mouse and actually results in the moving of the on-screen pointer. It was originally invented in the 1970s by Bill English at Xerox PARC. This type of a mouse was common until recently when other types of mice were introduced. The ball mouse, in its inverted form, is called a trackball mouse where the ball is placed on the top rather than on the bottom.
- Optical Mice
Optical mice were invented as early as the 1980s. However, these early mice had some inherent problems in the way they worked which prevented their widespread use. An optical mouse typically uses an LED or light-emitting diode and photodiodes to detect its movement. Such mice do not have any moving parts inside them which is a basic feature of mechanical mice. An optical mouse has an image processing chip that helps it detect the direction and the speed of movement. Optical mouse are better that their mechanical conterparts owing to the fact they can work on many more types of surfaces than them. This is so because instead of using a ball to detect movement (which may vary in response with respect to the surface), they use the LEDs to illuminate the underlying surface. This means that it is the reflective power of the surface that determines there response and almost all surface reflect some light.
- Laser Mice
Laser mice were first brought into the market in 1998 by Sun Microsystems for use with its SPARC Station servers and workstations. A laser mouse uses a small laser as against an LED used by optical mouse. This helps improve the resolution of the image of the surface to be tracked, supposedly increasing the sensitivity of the mouse 20 times. Laser mouse have a power-saving feature (also used by optical mouse) that turns off the laser for a brisk period after a certain period of the mouse being idle (say, 8 seconds). This increases the life of the laser. Another thing to be noted is that these mice are mostly wireless devices.
- Inertial Mice
Intertial mice are a new technology in the pointing device scene. Completely different from mechanical, optical and laser mice, they make use of a gyroscope (a device to measure angular movement) to detect the movement of the mouse on each axis. This is then converted in the respective motion for the on-screen pointer. Similar to laser mice, they are usually cordless. The user has a freedom of movement without altering the pointer position on the screen which is provided for by using a switch that deactivates the circuitry.
A Comparision of Optical and Mechanical Mice
There are various reasons why either of the two maybe better than the other. These are enumerated below:
- Optical mice tend to be good when it comes to durability owing to the fact that there are no moving parts. This also reduces maintenance requirements.
- Mechanical mice are better for use on transparent and glossy surfaces where optical mice tend to fail owing to their movement detection technique which uses reflection to detect movement.
- Optical mice are better for use on uneven and sticky surfaces where mechanical ones do not stand a chance.
- In terms of power consumtion, mechanical mice consume less power than the optical ones. This is important to consider for wireless, battery-powered mice.
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