Re: Sun workstation mouse problems

[Laura Myott <lmyott -at- SVCDOC -dot- MC -dot- XEROX -dot- COM>]

Beverly Parks says:

> Hmm..  I didn't know that. If the mouse pad was rotated--as in
> my quick test, above--you would achieve the same effect. Maybe
> this was the problem?? Otherwise, I wonder if my PC mouse pad
> will work with my Sun mouse, and vice versa. I'm gonna try it!
> (Both are manufactured by Mouse Systems.)

After figuring out that it was the mouse pad and not the mouse, I took
a close look at the two pads.  The old pad had a different grid size than
the new pad (I believe the old grid had wider spacing between lines).
To tell the difference, the old Sun mouse is rectangular, flat, and all beige.
The pad that goes with it has only the grid on it and the lines are a
bluish color.  The new Sun mouse is rounded on the end (like a MS mouse) and
the buttons and underside are the Sun purple-gray color.  The pad that goes
with the new mouse has a black grid (I believe) and the Sun logo in one
corner.

It seems strange to me that Sun would come out with two different types of
optical "mice" and corresponding pads.  In a work environment like ours,
where almost everyone works on Sun workstations, it's not uncommon for
peripheral swapping to occur.  The very reason I discovered the mouse pad
differences was due to accidental mouse pad swapping after the our lab was
moved from one end of the hall to the other.  You would think they would
keep their own equipment internally compatible. :-)

Laura Myott
Technical Writer
Interim Technology Professionals
lmyott -at- svcdoc -dot- mc -dot- xerox -dot- com