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Pictures Of The First Computer Mouse

sloan.stanford.edu — PIctures of the first computer mouse and some drawings from the patent.

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  • exobyte, on 10/12/2007, -3/+30Note the lack of a trackball in the drawings.
    • negativenancy, on 10/12/2007, -6/+9Meh, it may look bad, but I'm used to using it =/.

      Don't hate.
    • phatvolvo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5and the cable's going the wrong way!
    • resplence, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Actually it looks and feels sooo much better this way. You know, like an actual mouse.

      But obviously the current standard works better.
  • Samsara, on 10/12/2007, -5/+30Too bad it's not bluetooth.
  • JacNet, on 10/12/2007, -10/+24Wheres the scrolling button?

    A mouse isn't a mouse without a scrolling button >:(
  • devindotcom, on 10/12/2007, -1/+29Make.com replica how-to in 5...4...3...
  • gconeen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15i remember this on TSS...ah, those were the days...
  • adolfojp, on 10/12/2007, -33/+23And 40 years later Apple invents the 2nd mouse button!

    Wait... why digg me down? It was hella funny :-P
    • hosiah, on 10/12/2007, -30/+7Yeah, it hella was. Word. Give my shout-out to all the homies in Sac.
    • aximbigfan, on 10/12/2007, -11/+40dugg down becouse he saiud "hella"
    • adolfojp, on 10/12/2007, -10/+5"Hella" was part of the joke. :-(
  • Celeron, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9A block of wood? They could of shaved it to a more curved design. Guess they didn't care about ergonomics in those days.
    • pak314, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13Nobody cared about ergonomics even into the late 1990s. Look at the first mice from Apple, Microsoft and Unix vendors and they look blocky in shape.
    • theunderground5, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2yeah really try surfing the net with that for a day
    • NightRush, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6look at anything from those days. TV's, Stereo's, Just about everything except the cars were square.
  • Arcadian, on 10/12/2007, -13/+10Now is the time fob?

    What's the time fob?
    • Fedge, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16"Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country." This was a phrase used in typesetting and keyboard testing. A Lorem Ipsum of sorts.
    • Arcadian, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2I knew that, just wondering how the extra ink was so -straight- on bottom of the R. Makes it look like Fob. And Fob is a funny word.
    • stuartjmoore, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Now is the time, F.O.B.
    • spriggig, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9The word "fob" is the word "for" misspelled. The patent text that accompanies the drawing is probably describing how a user would use the mouse to select the incorrect letter for editing.
    • bradleyland, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Why do people dig down the question once it is answered? That's not how it's supposed to work. See, someone else might come along with the same question, but not see it because you dugg it down. The answer makes little sense without the question.
  • MightyGiant, on 10/12/2007, -32/+3ooooooooooooooooooooooooooollllldddd
    • aximbigfan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+24did you just figure that out, genius?
  • rollingstone21, on 10/12/2007, -20/+8Still better then a mac mouse
    • Zippo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Get back to us when you've actually used a Mighty Mouse of even an Apple Pro Mouse.
      Now, as for the damn puck... that was the work of Satan.
    • evilrobot, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4actually, Ive been trying very hard to LIKE my mighty mouse since they were introduced, and it IS the only mouse i use with this computer... and... well... it is utter crap. I would rather use this wooden mouse.
  • MSTK, on 10/12/2007, -8/+4"Now is the time fob"...?
  • Stevethegreat, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Apparently the concept is ancient (at least for the info age standards)
  • OpCzar, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11And then came the wiimote ;o)
  • Farmer77, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12I want to get a headshot with it in Counter-strike and then laugh
    • theunderground5, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7good luck with that farmer77
    • OpCzar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Would be easier than you think with the state of CSS these days...
  • grammarpolice, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I remember burning one of those with my cousin in my grandmas attic.
  • SCscoutguy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13I wonder if they warranty termite damage on that mouse?
    • theunderground5, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2don't worry of course they do
  • Aqueous, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Ouch, you'd get some nasty splinters playing steam with that...
  • WitNit, on 10/12/2007, -17/+1Hoax?
  • thefutureisours, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1wonder how much the inventor received for that? unless he was working for a company at the time who took the patent!
    • LaughingMan11, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2He was working for Stanford, so the University probably took a big cut.
  • KriLL3.2™, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6http://sloan.stanford.edu/MouseSite/Archive/patent/mouse2s.gif
    vs
    http://www.logitech.com/lang/images/0/12903.jpg

    Note the clear heritage of features, they're related alright. :)
  • zeroflake, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2That isn't a mouse, that is bill gates back hair shaver!
  • LaughingMan11, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This was Doug Engelbart's invention. There's links to a video archive of Doug's "Mother of All Demos" where he demonstrates some of the stuff that his team was working on in the late 60s in Menlo Park.

    http://sloan.stanford.edu/mousesite/1968Demo.html

    Watching this makes me marvel at the dawn of the age of modern computing that was happening right under Doug Engelbart's fingertips. In a lot of ways, the concepts from his research spawned the modern GUI and the paradigm we all use today for information management on modern computers.

    This was one critical moment in computer history, the invention of the mouse and the advent of graphics and user interface.
  • masona3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Englebart is my father-in-law's cousin, oddly enough.
  • k33l0r, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Still better than the old iMac's "puck" mouse...


    ==
    http://korhonen.matt.googlepages.com
  • Deuterium, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I think they left out the last pic, the one showing Steve Jobs stealing the mouse and then claiming he came up with the idea himself.
  • roryt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Does it have a wireless version? lol. Cool, I wonder if it works on mac. lmao. Cool, I dont fancy the wire the wrong way round thought. I think it would just get in the way.
  • Backlash420, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Nice Dr. Douglas Engelbart.
  •  

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