 So I've never actually done a hardware video on this channel almost exclusively. I talk about software and Linux and all this stuff that was associated with Linux I've never done one on actual hardware that I own before for the most part I just assume most people don't care and Honestly, well, I do own a lot of hardware most of my hardware is actually quite old now The obvious exception that is the keyboard that I talked about on the podcast that it was quite expensive and I'm quite proud of it but Telling everyone that you spent a lot of money on a custom mechanical keyboard kind of feels Weird, so I don't talk about that at all all that much either other than the fact that it's awesome and it was entirely too expensive, but that's not the point of the Point is that normally I don't do hardware stuff on this but over the last Four or five months or so. I've been on a quest of a certain sort I've been trying to find a really good mouse now the mouse that I've Used prior to this for like a year and a half or so was the MX master 2 You might not be able to see it, but it's sitting back there on my standing desk And it's a good mouse. It still works fine. It's a little worn out, but it was fine So when I started to think about getting a new mouse I was just going to replace it with the new version. So what I was really looking for was usb-c simply because Micro usb or whatever the hell they call the little the really little usb connectors that are a pain in the ass If you don't get right their direction the right direction. I was looking for a usb-c mouse So I picked up the MX master 3 which uses usb-c and it's almost as good as the second one I don't care for the side scroll wheel on it nearly as much and I don't know And it feels a little cheaper to me than the second one did but it's still a good mouse It's also like a hundred dollars. So it's pretty expensive. So I was using the MX master 3 for a while And it was good. It's fine. The thing is is the thing about this desk is that it's it's wide But it has a drawer over here underneath this monitor So the where the keyboard and stuff sits is on this little pull-out keyboard tray and it's only about 25 or 26 inches wide. So that's the reason why I don't use a full with keyboard I have to use a small one but I also means that I don't have a lot of room for a mouse and I also don't have a lot of room for a mouse pad and The thing about this desk is it's made of oak and it's old so it has Scruffs and scratches and all this stuff on it from use So it makes it a necessity to have a mouse pad and the problem is is that for the most part If you just want a mouse pad they can and that sits off to the side of your keyboard It takes a space, right? And I don't really have that space So when distro tube did his video on the Kensington trackball that he owns I was like you wanna know I've never tried a trackball before and DT usually knows what he's talking about. So I'll buy this thing. It was like $80 at the time I'll leave links to the ones that I'm talking about in the video description But the Kensington one I bought it and I got it home and it sucks like it's so bad like I don't I can't I Don't know whether or not there's a setting somewhere Either in software or hardware that I needed to change in order to get this thing to be more accurate Or if it just wasn't compatible with the way I use a mouse but for whatever reason that is the least accurate pointing device I've used since like the like the Manual ball my mice that used to be the norm, you know, you know, I'm talking about the mouse had like a ball at the bottom and Those things weren't accurate at all like they had rollers and stuff to X and Y rollers But anyways the point is that Kensington trackball is very very inaccurate Like if you want to edit a video in that thing where you actually have to have to accurately slice You know like a timeline It's almost impossible. They could just did not work. So at that point I was kind of like maybe a trackball is not for me You know, maybe this is just the way all trackballs are I'll go back to using the MX master 3 and I did for a little while like I couldn't use that for more than a week I don't know if I made it a week. It just was not a good device, but I'm kind of stubborn, you know, like Everyone a lot of people say the trackballs are really good. So I Figured you want strew it. I'll try a different one. So then I ended up with this one here. Now, this is a Logitech Something or the other I don't know the exact model I will look it up and again have a link in the video description and The difference between this and the Kensington winter I can't actually hold up because it's you know elsewhere I keep looking up actually where it's at But the difference between this one and that one is that that one is a finger tracker meaning that you do it with The claw this one here is a thumb tracker when you use it with your thumb and this is a good device it's really accurate and It kind of feels like a normal mouse. It's kind of shaped like a normal mouse You can actually hold it like a normal mouse and it has the normal mouse You know button placements and it has the normal scroll wheel and stuff Whereas with the Kensington the scroll wheel goes around the trackball and that's really annoying It was really hard to get used to and it was also really freaking loud But that was kind of behind the point the thing is about this one is that for the longest time I didn't know how to clean it like I'm a dude, so I don't read instructions like at all So there's a little hole at the bottom of this and I just thought that that was a place to put like a q-tip So you can clean it It wasn't for like a until like a week ago that Zany told me that that Hole there was so you can put something sharp in there to pop the ball out So that you could actually clean inside the hole I felt like a dumbass because of course that's what it's for but up until that point I just assumed it couldn't be cleaned and it needed to be clean because like the ball was Had a lot of friction and it just was not smooth and it became almost unusable And because I didn't know how to clean that thing about sometimes actually sometime in early January Before I knew how to clean that and assumed that it was just broken because again Much too easy to read instructions. I decided I was gonna try one last track ball And I looked for some recommendation and I saw a recommendation from craft computing about the elicom huge And that looks like this now I saw this and I was like this thing looks cool like it looks Neat right it has a lot of buttons on it that you can program and It looks like it's neat and craft computing had said that it was really good And it took ages for this thing to get here like I only just got this this week I ordered it in early January it came from Japan and apparently shipping is a big deal now but the point is I got this thing and it's just as inaccurate as The Kensington one only it seems to be something that need need to break in a little bit I Looked at some reddit posts and apparently you can go through and use it for like seven or ten days or whatever And it gets smoother like that's the problem with this one isn't so much that is inaccurate like I can actually edit a video and Do all the stuff that you need to do with a normal mouse on this on the elicom huge and it works fine It's just not smooth right and now that I know that you can pop the ball out like this I Figured well, you know, maybe there's just something in there That is, you know keeping it from being smooth, but that doesn't seem to be the case and like if you if you're doing big mom Movements, it's not bad, but when you're trying to do small movements, there's like some friction. It's not great and The scroll wheel the scroll wheel here is on the side and that has taken a while to get used to So what's the point like why am I making this video? Why have I spent 10 minutes talking about mice and track balls? The reason why is because I I wanted to Try to caution people that are out there looking for something new because the thing about at least track balls If you're looking for a track ball, it seems to be Very very hit or miss or whether or not it's good or not And there doesn't seem to be a lot of really good ones out there around this price point I was never going to spend there's there are a few out there that are like $250 or more that are supposedly fantastic track balls I'm never spending that amount of money on a track ball Especially now maybe if it was like my first one and I didn't have this knowledge of going through these three And it was just naive about it Maybe but now that I've gone through and spent three that are about three that are on the hundred dollars I don't think I'd ever spend more than this on a track ball. This one here still remains my favorite out of the three The Kensington one is useless for me because it's just not accurate at all Trying to pinpoint, you know, where you need to click is just not possible Without, you know trial and error really, it's not great the alicom I'm gonna continue to use that one and see if I can get it to be broken in like they say on Reddit Hopefully that gets a little bit more smooth as you use it because apparently it collects some like hand oil or something like that And it get will get smoother. I did try some like some kind of like keyboard lube Like this crowd talk stuff and that didn't work To make it smoother But anyways, the reason why I was making the video is just because I want to caution anybody out there who's out there looking for Something like this is that I highly recommend you not to be like me if you find one That you order one and you find that it's not right for you send it back I should have done that But I I'm usually stubborn to keep the stuff that I ordered I hardly ever sent anything back unless it's absolutely broken I just would like to recommend that you don't be like me if you find one that you don't it just doesn't work for you Send it back Because at least when it comes to track balls, it seems to be very very hit or miss You know the one thing that I missed is I used to have the g502 with the wire It's a gaming mouse was way beyond more than what I ever needed But I missed that thing because it had weights in the bottom I don't know why I thought about that just now But anyways, I like a hefty mouse is the thing is that I like a mouse that's you know has some heft to it It's not as big of a deal when you have a track ball mouse But that was one of the reasons why I didn't like the MX master 3 was because it's it's a little bit lighter Then the MX master 2 was and it threw me off The g502 had weights in the bottom and that's one thing about the alicom huge here that I have a bigger problem with Did this thing it feels cheap like it was like 80 bucks, but It feels cheap, you know, and that's not a good experience when you're talking about kind of money Anyways, this is was a rambly video. I'm sure it's not going to appeal to very many people But I just wanted to put it out there kind of to document my Adventures over the last few months of trying to find a track ball that works for me It's probably most of this has come down to the preference that I just seem to be happier with a track ball that Use the thumb instead of the index fingers and the middle finger So maybe that is anyway, so if you have comments about this kind of stuff, you can leave those in the comment section below I'm gonna stop now before I ramble on for any more time You can also follow me on Twitter at Linuxcast. You can support me on patreon at patreon.com Slash Linux cast before I go. I'd like to take one thing my current patrons Today Devon Patrick, I'll promise Marcus Megalyn Jackson. I have to receive a subrogate Linus Garrick Mitchell art center Mitchell art center carbon did Jeremy Sean Odin martini. Merrick camp Joshua Lee J dogs Peter a crucible dark benefit from glad a Thanks everybody for watching. I'll see you next time