The TrackPoint Topic

[pkamb]

A thread for discussion/appreciation of everyone's favorite ThinkPad pointing stick nub.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing_stick



XKCD ALT: "I know a lot of people hate these, but I prefer them to touchpads."

[CeeSA]

I am not shure wether this fits the topic but
a "keyboard" life w/o trackpoints is unthinkable for me.

Trackpoint half.jpg (155.07 KiB) Viewed 6021 times

[Halvar]

Good topic! Where can I best cannibalize (or buy) one, and how to get it to work?

[bhtooefr]

The easiest one to cannibalize is the TrackPoint IV Keyboard, as (I think it's that one, anyway) it uses a completely physically separate controller for its TrackPoint. PS/2 attached, so if you've got a PS/2 mouse port, you can use it.

There's also this: http://sprintek.com/products/sk8702.aspx

And, I wonder what protocol they're using for the (USB-attached, with full drivers) TrackPoint on the previous ThinkPad USB keyboard. The current one is NOT fully configurable...

[Halvar]

Great info bhtooefr! I'll start to look out for that.

[pkamb]

Personally I use the ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint (model number 55Y9003 or SK-8855, circa 2009-2013).

Design:
http://blog.lenovo.com/en/blog/the-keyb ... ped-design

The TrackPoint and 3 buttons are *great*. I also love the Big Delete Key and Home/End PgUp/PgDn cluster, which I use all the time. Great programming keyboard. Perhaps anathema to mechanical keyboard types.



Photo by Masashi Nakano

I have also purchased but have yet to switch to the Japanese version of the same, which has a tiny spacebar to make room for many additional hotkey buttons. I'm not quite sure how I'll use them, yet.



Lenovo has unfortunately retired my keyboard in favor of a chiclet style keyboard, to match their newer ThinkPad laptops.

I will likely try this eventually, but am not looking forward to "normal" Delete cluster compared to the old version. TrackPoint still looks good though.

A good review of the new keyboard and the old:
http://www.jessebandersen.com/2013/12/l ... oards.html



And more great photos:
http://benjaminhorn.io/post/thinkpad-co ... rackpoint/

[bhtooefr]

It's worth noting that the keyboard you use now has the fully tunable TrackPoint drivers that ThinkPads use, whereas the new keyboard has much simpler drivers that, as far as I know, don't offer adjustable sensitivity.

[Findecanor]

I am not shure wether this fits the topic but
a "keyboard" life w/o trackpoints is unthinkable for me.

Trackpoint half.jpg

The orange keys are mouse buttons?

[davkol]

The bad thing about low-profile trackpoints is that the rubber ages badly and once it gets stiffer, it's a PITA to operate the trackpoint. It has caused me a lot of index-finger fatigue over the years. Flat dome buttons under the spacebar aren't anything great to write home about either.

I've used both old and new Dell Latitude D series' design, thinkpads T40 to T410 and early chiclet (Edge 11) and some FS Lifebook implementation… and Unicomp EnduraPro (worst buttons ever). Better than touchpads for anything but scrolling, but that's about it. Too bad trackballs don't get enough love from manufacturers.

[jlwinkler]

Hey,
I would like to build a trackpoint into the Microsoft Slupt ergonomic keaboard.
Does anyone have a recommendation on what I need and where to get all that stuff?
I do not want to wire the trackpoint up with the electronics of the keyboard and I will be fine with a USB-cable solution in the end because I will not move the keyboard in my table too much in the end.
Thanks a lot in advance for every piece of input!
Cheers, JL

[CeeSA]

The orange keys are mouse buttons?

yes, you are right.