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spaceballs and asteroids 2

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moyesboy

moyesboy

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Nov 12, 2002
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Hi guys
I'm developing a sore elbow, RSI type of thing driving SW (and other PC applications like office) with my mouse.

I'm left handed.

I'm looking at some sort of 3D motion controller for SW that will also hopefully do the scroling and selecting in MSoffice.

I worked out the 3Dconnexion current products. They are quite expensive. I'm wondering if the licencing is non-transferable as I don't see any used ones up for sale anywhere. If it was transferable they couldn't track the Edu and non-commercial versions?
Personally when they start that non-commercial licence price game it puts me right off a product!

I dug up the review on here of the asteroid 5000 by Jeff Mirisola from 2006. This prodict doesn't seem to have taken off. Is it still current?

Also old 3D connexion serial devices seem to be the only used items I can find. Can these be used via a USB-serial adaptor? Are drivers still avaiable for XP/Vista/win7 for SW 2009/2010?

I'm interested in opinions of any LEFT HANDED users (folks who use the device with their left hand).

Thanks
Left handedly
Gordon
 
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The used ones probably aren't for sale because so many people are still using them. From what I know the USB ones cannot be used with a Serial Port adapter. Also the USB ones are faster and easier to plug in.

A Spatial Translate/Rotate Orb Input Device
Astroid now works with SolidWorks And costs a lot less than 3dconnexion devices most likely cause there is no parent company Logitech to support.
Astroid Drivers 2.12, June 24, 2009
Siemens NX , May 20, 2008
Rhinoceros , September 13, 2007
Autodesk Inventor , September 4, 2007
SolidWorks , January 24, 2007
Solid Edge , May 8, 2006

Spaceballs (Astroid still uses ball) or SpacePucks (I haven't seen a ball shaped one recently) are ideal for using to spin/pan/zoom items in your workspace. It is not really designed to be used as a mouse is for navigation as it pertains to selection and Left Click, Middle Click, Right Click etc. 3dconnexion which is now a Logitech company does or did produce Combination Mice that had a controller in the center that could be used to spin a model and still use mouse buttons.

The Spaceball devices may be able to be used as a mouse but there would have to be some behind the scenes work to be done to figure out how to record a mouse click and assign it to a button on the device.

Since you did mention you are left handed I'd suggest if you do get one of these devices, learn to use it with your opposite hand so that you can Use your mouse to select commands and menu items in solidworks while simultaneously using your opposite hand to move the Part/Assembly you are working on. There are studies showing how much faster this method is than using the same hand for 2 separate devices. Since the motion of the ball/puck for navigation is different than mouse movement it's a lot easier to not have to reteach either hand.

If you are going to SWW2010 3dConnexion has a special on their newest model the SpacePilot-Pro. I called them asking about the CSWP discounts they were supposed to give for CSWPs and was told that promo program is no longer in effect but was told they'd be willing to offer the discount anyway.

Michael
 
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Thanks for the info
I was looking at old serial devices that are available and wondering if they would work with a USB to serial device.
I wasn't trying to use a USB in a serial port on the PC.

Learning to use the rotate zoom and pan with my right hand would be the way to go, with mouse in the left. Shouldn't be a problem - I can keep my model helicopter in control with the cyclic pitch on the right stick OK...:)

when they sell the spaceball/spacepilot as personal edition, or an eductaional edition surely it must have some sort of activated software licence that cannot be sold on to a professional user? It can't just a be like a mouse that you plug in and go with?
 
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We tried USB/Serial adaptors with Spaceballs but couldn't get them to work.
We also found that some serial devices are not supported by some motherboard/Windows combinations even though there was a serial port on the motherboard. My advice would be don't get an old Serial device.
The SpaceExplorer is a pretty good device and is suitable for Left or Right hand - and the price has come down recently.
There is no license for 3DConnexion devices. All you do is install the driver. Registering the product enables you to get technical support.
That's the difference between the Personal and Commercial editions of the SpaceMouse. Personal does not get you any technical support, but has anyone EVER required it anyway.
You can still download latest drivers for any of their products.


bc.
2.4GHz Core2 Quad, 4GB RAM,
Quadro FX4600.

Where would we be without sat-nav?
 
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Spacemouse in one hand (the wrong hand) and normal mouse in the other is the norm. Once you get used to it you don't need the normal mouse much. I find I bring objects to the mouse pointer more than taking the pointer to the object.

You can use a spacemouse for navigating in MS office but it isn't great. They are pretty configurable so you might be able to get something useful out of it.
 
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moyesboy,

No, there is no lock/activation on the personal edition or any of the 3Dconnexion spaceballs. We have a couple of those around our house that we use. You can move it around to use on any computer.

I do not beleive you can use a serial to USB with the spaceballs.

Cheers,

Anna Wood
Core i7 EE965, FirePro V8700, 12 Gb RAM, OCZ Vertex 120 Gb SSD, Dell 3008WFP 30" Monitor
SW2010 SP2ev, Windows 7
 
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Anyone had any luck getting a spaceball 5000 serial to work with XP? There is a user in our office who had one and it works with his NX5 software but when we installed SW the add in did not appear. He reinstalled the latest driver from Logitec now he can see the addin but it will not work in SW. This guy is not a super computer user, he seemed hesitant to do the install himself.

I have told him to contact logitec for help or our SW reseller but he has not had time.

Thank you for your time and help,
 
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GRF,

I think you're out of luck with the 5000 serial. We had several at my current employer and can no longer get them to work. Several of us dug through the information on them in the process of trying to get them going. All have since been replaced with newer devices.
 
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Buy a 5000 USB on e-bay, you will love it. A word of caution - there are products on e-bay called Spaceball 4000 USB. DO NOT buy one. They were defective from the word go, and ought to have been destroyed, but it seems like someone has pulled them from the dumpster, and is trying to sell them.
 
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Using a spaceball 5000 in the office now. It gets the job done. Plenty of hotkeys to customize for solidworks, but mainly just helps in panning/rotating the view. Probably not going to help much in a non 3d/cad environment.

James Spisich
Design Engineer, CSWP
 
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GRF,


What you need to do is install the driver for your spaceball that 3D Connexion recommends for a 5000 Serial, v2.8.2.

Do not install the SW option for that version of software. Just install the main driver program.

Then go and get the driver for a 5000 USB version, v3.7.22. Install ONLY the SW module from the driver package.

Cheers,

Anna Wood
Core i7 EE965, FirePro V8700, 12 Gb RAM, OCZ Vertex 120 Gb SSD, Dell 3008WFP 30" Monitor
SW2010 SP2.1, Windows 7 x64
 
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Interesting, so you can get the serial one to work...

I found a spacenavigator for half the new price. Loving it.


Though the fact that you have to program the buttons for each workspece individually was fooling me for a while :)

Incidentally, My sore elbow was on my left (mouse) arm and I got a minicute left handed mouse thats on its side. This feels great - how mice should always have been (there are many right handed mice of similar design, the left handed ones are hard to find!).
 
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