Kensington Trackball Compatiblity woes.......

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Janitor Tzap
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Kensington Trackball Compatiblity woes.......

Post by Janitor Tzap »

I'm reluctantly moving to a newer Operating System.
Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium.

But I'm finding that the old Kensington Expert Mouse #64215 Version 5.
Image
Is no longer supported by Kensington, or its software.
So Win7 loads it's own generic driver for it.
But it doesn't allow for the fine adjustments to the cursor speed, or acceleration, that the old Kensington software did.

I've looked at the new Kensington Expert Mouse.
But it is not as well made, and is known for Scroll Wheels failing, and Roll Beads to break or pop out.

Other new Trackballs I have looked at are around $300 or more, and only use the generic drivers that are in Win7.
{Note: These Trackballs are built with the similar heavy duty parts as my old Kensington Trackball.}

So, I've been looking for a 3rd party Mouse/Trackball Software that will adjust the cursor speed, or acceleration.

I've looked at X-Mouse but it doesn't have enough adjustments for cursor speed, or acceleration.
Also Superior-X, but it too doesn't have enough adjustments for cursor speed, or acceleration.

Does anyone known of any good Third Party Mouse/Trackball Software I could try?


Signed: Janitor Tzap

P.S.
Some one must known something about this.
I'm seeing on Ebay the old Kensington Trackballs being listed for some crazy $Money$.
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Re: Kensington Trackball Compatiblity woes.......

Post by Janitor Tzap »

Something has got to be going on with these older Kensington Trackballs.
People are selling them for crazy $Money$, and getting it. :???:

The people who seem too be making out like bandits are the Apple users.

There is a company in Japan that makes mouse software, that is MAC compatible.
http://plentycom.jp/en/index.html
That gives the MAC users full control of the Mouse or Trackball.

I've tried to contact these guys.
Too see if they have a PC/Windows version.
But each time I try the support link, I keep getting a statement about wanting to open some box? :? :???:
{I think it means "OutLook", but I removed it, because I don't use or need it.}
Can someone try contacting these guys, and get me an E-mail address that I can contact them with?

Meanwhile....
I am continuing my search for a way to still use my Trackball.

I've tried using Microsoft PS/2 Mouse Driver with Microsoft's Intell'Mouse software.
But the Pointer Speed is not fast enough.
I have to jog the ball several times just to get from the top to the bottom of the screen, or from the left side to the right side.
{Very frustrating} :x
Since when I put it back on a XP SP3 machine, with the old Kensington MouseWorks 6.22 software.
I can easily move the cursor the full area of the screen with very little hand movement.

Sorry if this sounds like I'm whining.
But after mousing around for years, and then finally finding a computer input device that I was comfortable with.
Only too later find out that support for it has been discontinued, and the newer replacement is actually worse.
Yeah, I'm upset! :x


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Re: Kensington Trackball Compatiblity woes.......

Post by JerryR »

I was able to get to their site with the link you provided and it shows only 2 products both of them for Apple.
The support area shows an Email contact: [email protected]
HTH
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Re: Kensington Trackball Compatiblity woes.......

Post by Janitor Tzap »

Thanks for the Info Jerry. :smile:

EDIT:
I have received a reply from Plentycom Systems.
Thank you for contacting us.

SteerMouse only supports Mac OS X so it does not work in Windows.
I am sorry for not giving you good news in this case.

Best regards,

Yoshi

--------------- Original Message -------------------
> Hello,
>
> I'm interested in your software, but for a version that will work under Windows 7 64-Bit.
> I have a old Kensington Expert Mouse #64215 Version 5.
>
> I can not get the old Kensington MouseWorks 6.22 software to work under Windows 7 64-Bit.
>
> But like your SteerMouse, the old MouseWorks 6.22 would let me fine tune the speed
and acceleration of my trackball when installed under Windows XP 3p 32-bit.
>
> I have been looking for months now for software, or a work around that will give me back the Fine Tuning ability that MouseWorks gave me.
> So far, your software is the only thing that even comes close to what I need.
{Slams forehead on desk out of frustration!} :x


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Re: Kensington Trackball Compatiblity woes.......

Post by dacflyer »

i could not see well, but is there 4 buttons on that mouse ?

i almost bet, that you could take a regular roller ball mouse, and use the insides from that to modify yours and make it work..maybe not all the buttons will have function, but i think you'd at least have right button and left button control and the click button under the roller wheel..

what functions do you need? what can you live with out ?
perhaps there is a emulator program to find, or maybe someone could build an adapter and program it to work with PS-2 ?
maybe someone on the Arduino site or some similar site. i am sure it would not take much to do..
( function in = a PS-2 output )
i could try to research more for you if you like ?
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Re: Kensington Trackball Compatiblity woes.......

Post by Janitor Tzap »

dacflyer wrote:i could not see well, but is there 4 buttons on that mouse ?
Yes,
it is a 4 button Trackball.
Image
dacflyer wrote:i almost bet, that you could take a regular roller ball mouse, and use the insides from that to modify yours and make it work..maybe not all the buttons will have function, but i think you'd at least have right button and left button control and the click button under the roller wheel..
Unfortunately that isn't an option with this Trackball.
The bearings that the ball sits on are also the coder wheels for the X & Y access movement.
dacflyer wrote:What functions do you need? what can you live with out ?
I need the Cursor Speed to be faster, as well as the Cursor Acceleration.
Here is the mouse control panel for my trackball in windows XP SP3 32-bit.
Image
As you can clearly see.
It is MouseWorks ability too fine tune the Acceleration, that gives the Kensington Trackball such fine precision Cursor control.
dacflyer wrote:perhaps there is a emulator program to find, or maybe someone could build an adapter and program it to work with PS-2 ?
maybe someone on the Arduino site or some similar site. i am sure it would not take much to do..
( function in = a PS-2 output )
i could try to research more for you if you like ?
Go right ahead.
I've been searching for about two months, trying to find Third Party Software that will give me back the ability too fine tune the Speed and Acceleration of the Cursor.
Tried too somehow get MouseWorks to work under the Windows 7 64-Bit OS.
Even tried to be able too use the Windows 7 64-bit Mouse driver, and yet get the fine adjustments back.

Now don't get the wrong idea.
The Kensington K64215 Trackball does function with Windows 7 64-bit OS.
I just don't have fine Speed and Acceleration adjustments any more. :x
Which made this Trackball a joy to use.
From CAD drawings, free hand drawings, web browsing, and more.

And after talking to people who went to the new Kensington K64325 Trackball.
I am leery of getting it, because it would be more of a down grade then upgrade.


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Re: Kensington Trackball Compatiblity woes.......

Post by JerryR »

If you *must* have the win xp trackball functionality for your cad program, free hand drawings etc. How about running those programs (and the mouse driver) in a virtual machine running win xp?.
When Win 7 came out, Microsoft provided a way to run a FREE copy of Win XP in a virtual machine(I think it was called xpmode)on a PC running Win 7.
I don't remember if it was available for all versions of Win 7 or just to Win 7 Pro and up. Check it out.
HTH
JerryR

EDIT
If your version of Win7 does not qualify for the free xp mode from MS, there are other free VMs that will work on any version of Win7 but you will need your own copy of XP
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Re: Kensington Trackball Compatiblity woes.......

Post by dacflyer »

ok,,
i have seen in some programs that there was a setting to run them in a compatibility mods for
which ever OS you want that could work in WIN7 or such.
is that available to you and or have you tried it yet ?
i have seen in mouse control settings you can adjust the speed etc. but i am guessing that does not work in your case, nor do you have all the button features you need.
it's all more complicated than i thought. sorry..
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Re: Kensington Trackball Compatiblity woes.......

Post by Janitor Tzap »

@Jerry

I've installed the xp mode on the Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium.
But still no luck. :sad:
When Win 7 came out, Microsoft provided a way to run a FREE copy of Win XP in a virtual machine(I think it was called xpmode)on a PC running Win 7. I don't remember if it was available for all versions of Win 7 or just to Win 7 Pro and up. Check it out.
Do you have a link or address?
Otherwise I'll try looking myself. :wink:

@dacflyer
I have seen in some programs that there was a setting to run them in a compatibility mods for
which ever OS you want that could work in WIN7 or such.
is that available to you and or have you tried it yet ?
Tried it.
No luck. :x
I have seen in mouse control settings you can adjust the speed etc. but i am guessing that does not work in your case, nor do you have all the button features you need.
Programing the button features is not the problem.

Getting the Cursor Speed and Acceleration adjusted to levels where I'm not Jogging the ball all the time,
just to get the Pointer from one side of the monitor screen to the other, is. :x

I've even tried the "Ease Of Access Center" under the "Make The Mouse Easier To Use" section.
But after adjusting the Pointer Speed and Acceleration Sliders there.
It had no effect on increasing the speed or acceleration of the pointer. :(

I've tried to force WIN7 to use the old Kensington XP drivers as well.
But it complained that they were 32-bit and not compatible with the 64-bit version. :x

If I could only find a Kensington 64-bit driver, I might be able too run Mouseworks then. :sad:


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Re: Kensington Trackball Compatiblity woes.......

Post by JerryR »

You wrote that you installed xpmode on your Win7 Home Premium and it did not help you.
You also asked for a link to xpmode.
Here is a link to xpmode:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... -windows-7
A quick look on the page
The win xp supplied is 32 bit- that should work with your 32 bit/win xp mouse driver.
BUT and it's a big BUT: it calls for Win7 PRO, ULTIMATE or ENTERPRISE as the versions required for Win xpmode installation. How did you install it on Win 7 Home Premium?
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Re: Kensington Trackball Compatiblity woes.......

Post by Janitor Tzap »

Sorry, I didn't get back to you right away.
Got some car problems going on, and work being done to the garage.
So, this got pushed aside till now.


Thanks for the Link Jerry, it saves me the time of digging it up myself.
Okay,
I went and re-read the system requirements,
and yeah, my Windows 7 version is not supported.
{Thou, I ran the install program WindowsXPMode_en-us.exe and I didn't get an error message.} :???:

I'll go through the installed programs, and uninstall it, since it isn't doing what I want anyway.


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Re: Kensington Trackball Compatiblity woes.......

Post by JerryR »

I think I read in one of your previous posts that you changed from Win XP to Win 7, Was the win XP a retail version?.
If it was and you are not using it any more, that license can be used to install Win XP on another FREE virtual machine(Oracle VM VirtualBox-is one, there are more).
HTH
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Re: Kensington Trackball Compatiblity woes.......

Post by Janitor Tzap »

JerryR wrote:I think I read in one of your previous posts that you changed from Win XP to Win 7, Was the win XP a retail version?.
If it was and you are not using it any more, that license can be used to install Win XP on another FREE virtual machine(Oracle VM VirtualBox-is one, there are more).
HTH
JerryR
I went and purchased Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and setup a new machine.
I then moved older programs over too that machine from my Windows XP SP3 32-bit {Retail version}computer.

Now I have been checking all the older devices that I still want to use, with this new computer.
Too make sure they will work under the Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS.

But alas, my favorite input device will not function the same as it does under Windows XP SP3 32-bit. :sad:


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Re: Kensington Trackball Compatiblity woes.......

Post by Janitor Tzap »

UPDATE:

Well I caved, and got a New Kensington Expert Mouse K64325 Trackball.

{Amazon was holding a Black Friday sale, and it was priced under $80.} :razz:

But all is not well......
The one I got had a scroll ring that was loose, and flopped around when you used it.
Thus, I contacted Kensington, and they sent out a replacement.
The replacement arrived, but the scroll ring on it has the opposite problem.
It is binding up too where I can't turn it! :x

Well, took the first Trackball apart, and looked at the scroll ring.
I quickly found the issue.
Two of the plastic bearings that the scroll ring rides on were missing, and tabs that held the scroll ring assembly together were gone.

I'm going to look at the one that is binding up.
Hopefully it just needs a little cleaning, and some teflon grease to get it turning smoothly.{Fingers Crossed}


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