Amiga ISO Collection/AmigaDemoCD2.iso/ASCII/TEXTE/c.s.a.reviews/hardware/input-devices/GoldenIMAGECordlessMouse

Internet Message Format | 1994-06-02 | 10.1 KB

Path: menudo.uh.edu!usenet
From: [e-mail] (David Gilbert)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Subject: MINI-REVIEW: GoldenIMAGE cordless 4-button mouse
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
Date: 13 Apr 1993 03:18:53 GMT
Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
Lines: 226
Sender: [e-mail] (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator)
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <1qdbet$[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail] (David Gilbert)
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Keywords: hardware, mouse, cordless, remote, discontinued, commercial


PRODUCT NAME

    GoldenIMAGE cordless 4-button mouse.


BRIEF DESCRIPTION

    The Golden Image remote mouse is a cordless, battery-operated mouse
that uses infra-red beams to control the Amiga (like a TV or VCR remote
control does).  It consists of two parts: the hand-held mouse with 4
buttons, and the receiver which attaches to the Amiga's mouse port.

    This product has been discontinued due to "lack of market
interest."  You may still be able to buy one used (as I did).  The company
does sell other products for the Amiga --- for instance, a regular mouse.


AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

    Name:        GoldenIMAGE Technology Corp
    Address:    3578 E. Enterprise Drive
            Anaheim, CA 92807
            USA

    Telephone:    [phone]
            [phone]


LIST PRICE

    Since the mouse is discontinued, I have no pricing information.  I
did not buy the mouse by itself, but rather got it as part of a computer
package.  The company didn't have price information either.


SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

    None.


MACHINE USED FOR TESTING


    (Brag time ;)...

    -    A500 with 1 MB Chip RAM
    -    Vxl 030 68030 accelerator with 8 MB 32-bit RAM
    -    2.04 ROM & WorkBench
    -    GVP Series II SCSI with Quantum 105Q, 44 MB Bernoulli, and
        155 MB Wren III drives
    -    SupraFax V.32bis modem
    -    DeskJet 500 printer
    -    Two 200-watt power supplies


WHAT'S A REMOTE MOUSE?

    Glad you asked.  Think of your VCR (or TV) remote.  It works by
emitting a signal with an infra-red LED.  A remote mouse works similarly.
Like a VCR remote, you generally have to point the LED towards the device
being controlled.  However, if you angle your arm just right and make a very
positive and suggestive motion with your hand, it is sometimes possible to
bounce the beam off a sheet of glass.

    The mouse itself requires 2 "AAA" batteries.  I would strongly
recommend rechargables (they last about a week, so I estimate that
non-rechargables would last about 1 month, though I have not tested this).
It has four buttons -- three on the top, and one for the thumb -- and looks
similar to the standard Amiga mouse, but slightly rounder.

    The receiver is much smaller, and draws its power from the
computer.  It has a red face containing an LED which flashes when it
receives data from the remote mouse.  This helps you verify that the mouse
is indeed functioning and doesn't have dead batteries.


WHY A REMOTE MOUSE?

    Glad you asked.  To be honest, I don't know.  I would suppose if you
also had a remote keyboard, you could sit about ten feet away from your
computer in the comfort of an easy chair.  However, you might not be able to
see your monitor so....  you'd just have to combine that with a Sony
Multi-Sync projection TV --- you know the kind that syncs to everything ---
it's just great to whip out your IRIS 480 VGX and play "flight" to show
those Super-NES weenies what real flight simulation looks like, but I
digress....  It just might make a really comfortable work environment.

    To be truthful, I have always wanted a 3-button mouse for my Amiga,
so a 4-button mouse was impossible to pass up.  I also often want to move my
mouse out of the way to eat supper, and this mouse does not have a cord to
get in the way.  The non-existent cord also doesn't get in the way of mouse
movements.

    To those who have never experienced a three button mouse --- or even
worse, are stuck on a Mac with a ONE button mouse (even the A/UX machines
sell with one-button mice) --- three button mice are a real treat.  On your
ordinary Amiga mouse, you have one button for selection and one button for
menus (generally).  A third button (the middle one) is useful in many ways.
It basically provides you with another selection button for some other type
of selection.

    Many Amiga applications allow the user to define a use for a middle
button.  In my experience, it is very often used as a "paste" button.  In
Emacs on the Amiga, the middle button (by default) will paste the top of the
kill ring (like a cut/paste operation in other products) at the current
mouse position.

    Another reason to get this mouse was that my original mouse also
hadn't been replaced since I bought my computer --- and it was getting a
little bit tired.


DRAWBACKS

    Did you think this review would be all positive?  Of course not.
There are a few drawbacks.  The first two major ones have already been
mentioned.  One, it requires batteries.  It's not as bad as I expected with
batteries; I figured they'd last only 1 day or so.  But you have to remember
to keep them supplied or recharged.  It may be prudent to keep your
original, corded mouse around.

    The mouse also only works in straight lines from the receiver.  I
have found that it will work from 10 feet away (the length of my room), but
I have not tested it to any great extent from that position.  I have found,
however, that having the mouse too close to the receiver can yield
unexpected results.  These can include large mouse jumps when the buttons
are pressed, which I think is due to an error in reception.  To get around
this problem, I recommend that the receiver be placed back a foot or so from
the mouse pad.  On some peoples desks this may not be possible (remember the
straight line thing. ;)

    One thing that will strike the first time user if they have AmigaDOS
2.04 (or they have some similar program under 1.3) is the use of the mouse
under acceleration.  Without acceleration, the mouse pointer movement is
predictable even if it does fall a bit behind the movement of the mouse.
The mouse seems to have a bandwidth" problem.  If you move the mouse fast
enough, it cannot transmit the signal fast enough, so it catches up after
you stop.

    If you are using the acceleration feature of the 2.04 preferences or
are using some other accelerator, you will find it to be very unpredictable
at first.  After a day or two, I became pretty good at managing the mouse
with acceleration.  It's not entirely intuitive, but you get used to it like
anything else.  I use a lot of different mice... so I might adapt faster
than you do.

    Lastly, there is no indication of battery life.  Your cue to replace
batteries is simply erratic mouse movement.  In my experience, this can
either tend to do nothing, zip across the screen at the slightest movement,
or perform the auto-shutoff far too often.

    Although I have recommended rechargable batteries, I must make an
observation.  It does seem that (sometimes) when the mouse has not had much
action, the batteries are not "ready."  If the mouse is moved vigorously
for a few moments, it regains its ability.  The symptom I am describing
here is that the first couple of mouse movements might not be right
sometimes."


WHY FOUR BUTTONS?

    I'm glad you finally asked.  I have a 4-button mouse for my
workstation (at work), but I have no idea of the status of 4-button support
on the Amiga.  I do know that the Amiga supports at least three buttons.
The thumb button functions as an ON button (the mouse does the auto-shutdown
thing after about 10 minutes), but does not seem to create an input event
for the Amiga.  The middle button does create an input event, and I have
verified that it works with Emacs as described above.


COMPATIBILITY

    The mouse can be unpredictable with mouse acceleration, but it is
otherwise compatible with the Amiga mouse.  It has approximately the same
resolution --- which is subjective because I have neither the specs for the
Amiga mouse nor the GoldenIMAGE mouse.

    I have tested the mouse with some games but not too many, as my
machine never goes down (touch wood).  Any game that uses the input.device
should work.  I wonder, however, if the behavior when the mouse is moving
fast (the bandwidth problem, above) could affect the way that some games
play.  Again, ticks/distance traveled is as correct as you could expect a
mouse to be, but sometimes the timing (or velocity) of your mouse movements
is not true.


SUPPORT

    The company itself seems to be rather good for support.  Even though
I was not the original purchaser, they had no problem with sending me a
manual for free.  Good support is sometime hard to find... I may actively
look for other bits of hardware they sell.

OVERALL RECOMMENDATION

    I would not recommend spending a lot of money on this device.  This
could be why it's out of production.  It is credible and usable --- but
then, I didn't pay for it ;).  Personally, I use it because it's a three
button mouse.  I would recommend it to people with similar needs.  Possibly
playing a game based solely on the mouse (such as "Lemmings") while sitting
away from the computer is another reason.

    In all practicality, I cannot recommend the mouse for general use
because of the large number of flaws I found with it.


COPYRIGHT/DISCLAIMER

    This article is Copyright 1993 by David Gilbert.  Permission to post
on UseNet is unconditionally granted.  Any commercial use/duplication
requires the written consent of the author.  No warranty is expressed or
implied in the above text, including, but not limited to fitness of the
product for a specific purpose.  Internal consumption of computer
peripherals is not recommended.
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