I saw someone using a trackball mouse at a cafe today, and I thought - shoot, I used to love trackballs. They were a big thing, and then…. Went away because laptops started coming with trackpads. Yet, for designers, who need more precise control than a finger-based trackpad, and don’t want to take up all the “roaming space” of a mouse - trackball has always been there for you. It didn’t go away. You went away. Is it time to come back?
I did some searching online, “recommendations trackball reddit” and after reading the comments, saw that one product “Ploopy Classic” kept up coning as people’s favorite. Apparently it’s a clone of a popular trackball that Microsoft made back in the day - and now the patents have expired (?).
Upon checking out the site, I learned that Ploopy Classic is an open-hardware product. You can download the source here, and make one yourself: GitHub - ploopyco/classic-trackball: A trackball mouse. Mechanical files, PCBs, and firmware all included.
On their site, you can buy a kit (parts) OR a fully assembled one (product)
https://ploopy.co/product-category/trackball/classic/
To those enterprising maker-space entrepreneurs, you ought to consider this approach for your next products. It’s an effective way to build a supportive community around a product, constantly get improvements, and easily turn a prototype into a functional business. Make something cool, document how you did it, sell its parts / complete product online. Send a prototype for free to experts in return for their feedback, and you’ve got at least 3 iterations of improvements, ready to go, and ready to sell!
