nano-trackball
A very small trackball-only mouse. Mechanical files, PCBs, and firmware all included. (by ploopyco)
pmw3360-breakout
Breakout board for PMW3360 optical mouse sensor (by jfedor2)
nano-trackball | pmw3360-breakout | |
---|---|---|
41 | 7 | |
406 | 80 | |
- | - | |
0.0 | 0.0 | |
over 2 years ago | almost 2 years ago | |
GNU General Public License v3.0 or later | Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal |
The number of mentions indicates the total number of mentions that we've tracked plus the number of user suggested alternatives.
Stars - the number of stars that a project has on GitHub. Growth - month over month growth in stars.
Activity is a relative number indicating how actively a project is being developed. Recent commits have higher weight than older ones.
For example, an activity of 9.0 indicates that a project is amongst the top 10% of the most actively developed projects that we are tracking.
Stars - the number of stars that a project has on GitHub. Growth - month over month growth in stars.
Activity is a relative number indicating how actively a project is being developed. Recent commits have higher weight than older ones.
For example, an activity of 9.0 indicates that a project is amongst the top 10% of the most actively developed projects that we are tracking.
nano-trackball
Posts with mentions or reviews of nano-trackball.
We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives
and similar projects. The last one was on 2023-07-05.
- Ploopy Adept is an open source, customizable trackball that sells for about $60
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Moonlander Ploopy Nano Mod
Files and Links I used 1. Final Mod: https://www.printables.com/model/520579-ploopy-nano-btu-mod-with-zsa-moonlander-right-thum 2. Github for BTU Mod & Buying BTUs: https://github.com/gbrnt/ploopy-nano/tree/master/hardware/mechanicals-btu-mod 3. Ploopy Nano; github, kit on website 4. ML Thumb Pad Blanks: https://www.printables.com/model/232829-moonlander-thumb-pad-blanks 5. Original Mount Mod: https://www.printables.com/model/480064-ploopy-nano-mount-for-zsa-moonlander-keyboard
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Moonlander + Ploopy Nano : anyone else out there?
I have been using a Moonlander for a bit more than 2 years now and have been loving it! Up until a few months ago I used a Logitech M570 alongside it. Looking for a trackball at the office, too, I then went out and bought a Logitech M575 only to realize very quickly that it just is not the same. So my search for an alternative set in almost immediately. Luckily I was also following r/Trackballs and learned about the Ploopy Nano Trackball which I hoped would pair very nicely with my Moonlander. And indeed, it does! I am still getting used to the layout changes I had to make to accomodate the one missing thumb cluster but so far I am absolutely loving it!
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This Dygmate has ALL the balls.
Ploopy*
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My first Dactyl
It’s a Ploopy Nano. Been using it, with any mouse buttons mapped to left keyboard half for about 6 months now and it’s really helped keep my hands pain free.
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Microsoft Ballpoint Mouse
The Ballpoints predate my time in the Hardware group by a few years, but I'd be surprised if anyone that worked on those devices would have expected the color to be so nice on the device all these years later, and that the plastic wasn't too brittle to keep it in use today. Might just be easier to take something like the Ploopy Nano and make a case for it to meet your needs vs. trying to retro fit the Ballpoint.
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Beeball info/guide/alternative
alternatively, Ploopy Nano (no buttons) or Meishi Trackball
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Experience customizing Raise Firmware
So far I've done 2 modifications in the form of Kaleidoscope plugins, both of which I've put up on Github for those curious: • Mouse Layer - This switches my homerow keys to mouse keys whenever mouse movement is detected: wallisc/Kaleidoscope-MouseLayer (github.com). I use to do this with Bazecor by creating a separate layer and manually switching to the layer using a layer shift, but found I used the layer so much that layer shifting became fatiguing for my finger. Then I heard of a modification in the ErgoMechKeyboards reddit where QMK was modified to trigger mouse keys on mouse which inspired me to try something similar. I'm a trackball user and I love this modification, it allows me to use the Ploopy Nano (https://ploopy.co/nano-trackball/) which has no mouse keys but I also enjoy it with my CST L-trac, which does have mouse keys but are stiff and generally less pleasant than the keyboard switches. For fun, I animate the color of all the keys I'm overriding with a rainbow shift effect, this is how it looks in action: https://imgur.com/a/ptOHkcS • Alt Tabber - This overrides certain keys when the left-alt is held. Primarily used for quick alt-tabbing: wallisc/Kaleidoscope-AltTabber (github.com). I have alt as a thumb key and using this I can change the F/J keys to turn into Tab so I can alt tab without moving my hand off the homerow. I also override 4->F4 because alt-f4 is handy. Currently I just set any overridden keys to red, but probably will update it to have some fun LED animations as well at some point Disclaimer: There's probably some inefficient code but at the very least it's fairly simple if people are just curious what a plugin code looks like.
- Possible to purchase *just* the nano board?
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Prototype: Auto-activate mouse layer on mouse movement
I believe that one is the Ploppy Nano, you can get more information about it here: https://ploopy.co/nano-trackball/
pmw3360-breakout
Posts with mentions or reviews of pmw3360-breakout.
We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives
and similar projects. The last one was on 2023-03-05.
- Another monroewilliams Trackball!
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Now comes the hard part - getting used to it
Here you go: https://github.com/jfedor2/pmw3360-breakout
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A portable trackball I wanted (ZMK powered, some buttons, fixed ball)
A core module just consists of nice!nano and a pmw3360 breakout board by jfedor2 (https://github.com/jfedor2/pmw3360-breakout) which is shown in the last picture. (By the way, jfedor2 has a lot of cool custom trackballs based on RPI which provide lots of ideas.) I'm planning to use this module to apply in various setting, and this was the first prototype to replace my Ploopy Nano.
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Split keeb users, what trackball do you use and why?
Outside of the Ploopy, if you haven't checked out u/Jfedor's stuff I highly recommend it. They created an open source rp2040-PMW3360 pcb specifically for creating new kinds of trackballs. I have bunch coming on the way now (It's a little pricier due to the smd components) and the parts to make trackball 7 when I get here. It's bigger (uses a standard billiard ball) but it seems closer to the direction I'd like. /u/azat-dev on here posted a modified Kyria using Jfedor's 3360 breakout but I don't think they can post the files because it uses modified closed source code.
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Custom Trackball Design
Personally I'd use one of Adafruit's nRF52 Feather boards with an optical sensor breakout like this (this one happens to be mine, but you can find others).
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UK/EU trackball sensor breakout boards?
Here's a nice one if you want to order your own from JLPCB: https://github.com/jfedor2/pmw3360-breakout
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DIY trackball prototype
You're absolutely right and in that spirit I've posted the STLs here and the sensor breakout here.
What are some alternatives?
When comparing nano-trackball and pmw3360-breakout you can also consider the following projects:
aball - A Ball - Buttonless trackball for all
zmk - ZMK Firmware Repository
zmk-config
rp2040-pmw3360 - RP2040+PMW3360 PCB and code
arduino-adns-5050 - Arduino library for handling the ADNS 5050 optical mouse sensor
trackball - Code for a trackball I'm building from scratch
dumbpad - Simple 4x4 numpad with rotary encoder. Powered by QMK via ATmega32u4 Pro Micro
vial-qmk - QMK fork with Vial-specific features.
ADNS5050 - Arduino Library for Avago ADNS5050
Chordie - A chording keyboard you shouldn't be scared of
trackball - A trackball mouse. Mechanical files, PCBs, and firmware all included.
ploopy-nano - A very small trackball-only mouse. Mechanical files, PCBs, and firmware all included.
nano-trackball vs aball
pmw3360-breakout vs zmk
nano-trackball vs zmk-config
pmw3360-breakout vs rp2040-pmw3360
nano-trackball vs arduino-adns-5050
pmw3360-breakout vs trackball
nano-trackball vs dumbpad
pmw3360-breakout vs vial-qmk
nano-trackball vs ADNS5050
nano-trackball vs Chordie
nano-trackball vs trackball
nano-trackball vs ploopy-nano