Hardware hankerings
It used to be a given that every programmer would eventually end up writing their own compiler and language. I'm not quite there - yet - but I am at the point where I want to build my own peripherals - starting with a trackball.
I've always liked them as an element of an interface. I think it harks back to those early 80s halcyon arcade days and playing Missile Command, Crystal Castles and Marble Madness. I liked the pinpoint accuracy you could get - or as pinpoint as a bit of hardware that was battered daily by hordes of kids could get. This was years before I ever even saw a mouse, let alone used one.
For a few years now I've been using the Logitech MX Ergo and it's a fine bit of kit. I do get odd looks though from people when I pull it out of my bag for use in an office. The trackball is set to the side rather than on the top so it's operated with your thumb. It tilts up on a metal plate base which is held on by a magnet for a more comfortable holding position. But for a while I've noticed that after some heavy use of it my thumb joint starts 'locking' and it takes a bit of effort and a noticeable click to free it. So I think I need to switch to a more traditional finger controlled device.
Now I could (and might anyway) buy something like the Elecom Huge Plus https://elecomusa.com/products/huge-plus which is a beast of a thing to look at. That's some serious hardware right there. I mean, that might be the last mouse or trackball purchase I ever make.
But more likely is that I'll try and build my own from the ground up, after I mess around with some of the other assemble at home options out there (like the Adept https://ploopy.co/adept-trackball/ , Nano 2 https://ploopy.co/nano-2/ or the efog Endgame https://efog.tech/products/endgame-trackball-complete-diy-kit). Trying these out, designing my own and working through tons of iterations? That sounds awesome to me and not a complete waste of my time at all!
I've backed a few hardware offerings on Indiegogo and Kickstarter over the years (keyboards for the most part) and recall reading Bunnie Huang's Hardware Hacker book years ago and loving it. Trackballs are never going to make a fortune but getting to the point where other people might take a punt on something I've designed? That would be amazing. Never mind the adventure of actually trying to get it manufactured. Of course I'd have to tag it as something like 'the worlds first AI trackball' or something if I wanted to actually go as far as that - those sites seem to have become the betterware catalogues of AI embedded products.
