P
Peter Jason
I am left handed and the other user isn't. We
would prefer if there were two mice, one for each.
Win7 SP1
Peter
would prefer if there were two mice, one for each.
Win7 SP1
Peter
R
Rob
Do you have two? then try it.
M
Mortimer
My experience is that PCs (Win XP, Win Vista, Win 7) support more than oneRob said:
mouse. Certainly for USB mouse; not sure about PS/2.
If you have both mice plugged in, both can control the pointer at the same
time. If you move mouse1 but keep mouse2 still, the pointer moves as you'd
expect. If you move mouse2 but keep mouse1 still, the pointer moves as you'd
expect. If you move both at the same time, you get very confused! The same
applies to a laptop with a touchpad when there's a USB mouse plugged in:
moving either moves the pointer.
So in your case, as long as the unused mouse is kept still (eg put on one
side out of the way) the other mouse will work as expected.
A
Andy Burns
Simple, plug to mice in ...Peter said:
A
Andy Burns
^Andy said:
w
Looks like I need to plug a new keyboard in
R
Rob
you can have one in each and they will work
T
The Seabat
The only problem will be the left and right click won't be reversed!
J
James Silverton
I'm not interested in having two mouses but that looks like a very good
point! I have three buttons: left, double click and right and I still
make mistakes after months of use.
M
Mortimer
Ah, is the "handedness" of the buttons common to all mice, rather than beingThe Seabat said:
configurable separately for each one?
In that case, how about having one mouse but creating two Windows users. I
*think* handedness of mouse is per-user.
Alternatively, train the left-handed user to use their right finger to
operate the right mouse button and left finger to do the left button. I'm
reasonable strongly right-handed but it was dead easy operating the mouse
with my left hand and left-clicking with the left button. Why do
left-handers expect everything to be a mirror-image for them? My mum is
left-handed but she learned from an early age to use her cutlery the
conventional way round (fork in left, knife in right) and writes (with her
left hand) with the pen in a sensible configuration, rather than trying to
curl her hand over the top of the pen. The only thing she had to adapt to,
she says, was making sure her hand didn't blot the fountain pen ink (biros
weren't very common when she was a child) with her hand.
I wonder if left-handed people in general are more strongly polarised to
using their left hand, whereas right-handed people are a little more
ambidextrous and (at a pinch) can use their left hand for non-precision
tasks that they would normally do with their right hand. I can cut with
scissors or pour from a kettle almost as easily with my left as my right,
though I'm by no means ambidextrous when it comes to writing - with my left
hand, my writing is like a five-year-old's
G
Gene Wirchenko
Being lefthanded myself, I take advantage of the usual setup for
mouses. I find it amusing that this is on the right. I can scroll
through a Webpage or document with my right hand and take notes with
my left. How do righthanders manage?
AFAIK, it will work. In a hardware course lab, we students were
to hook up as many mouses as possible to a system (and have them all
work). We came up with four. The instructor said that he had managed
six.
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
M
Mortimer
I can use a mouse with my left hand (and have no instinct to swap to use myGene Wirchenko said:
right finger for left-clicking just because it's my left hand) though it's a
little easier to use it in my right hand. Writing with my right hand while
using the mouse with my left hand is not easy but I suspect that's more
because I trying to do two different things with my two hands (the
patting-head-while-rubbing-stomach problem!) than because my mouse is in my
"wrong" hand. I have to move the mouse, stop, and *then* write: I can't do
the two simultaneously.
I've tried using a left-handed mouse (while configuring a PC for a
left-hander) and found the button-swap VERY difficult to get used to,
irrespective of whether I used the mouse in my left or right hand. Usually I
have to go into Control Panel and temporarily set the mouse to right-handed,
and write myself a BIG note to remind me to reset it afterwards
G
Gene E. Bloch
Comfort yourself. I still make mistakes after years of use.
G
Gene E. Bloch
Or a brain transplant.^
w
Looks like I need to plug a new keyboard in
That might help me - I'm a rather clumsy typist. And this spell checker
doesn't know the difference among to - too - two either.
G
Gene E. Bloch
My real problem comes when I turn my cordless mouse on. It's batteryI can use a mouse with my left hand (and have no instinct to swap to use my
right finger for left-clicking just because it's my left hand) though it's a
little easier to use it in my right hand. Writing with my right hand while
using the mouse with my left hand is not easy but I suspect that's more
because I trying to do two different things with my two hands (the
patting-head-while-rubbing-stomach problem!) than because my mouse is in my
"wrong" hand. I have to move the mouse, stop, and *then* write: I can't do
the two simultaneously.
I've tried using a left-handed mouse (while configuring a PC for a
left-hander) and found the button-swap VERY difficult to get used to,
irrespective of whether I used the mouse in my left or right hand. Usually I
have to go into Control Panel and temporarily set the mouse to right-handed,
and write myself a BIG note to remind me to reset it afterwards
powered (what a surprise for a cordless mouse!) with a switch on the
bottom.
What happens is that on occasion I put it back on the mousepad reversed.
Anyone watching me would get a good laugh out of my confusion.
G
Gene Wirchenko
I have never seen any suggestion in Windows configuration that it
handles more than one mouse.
We do not. I use a mouse "righthanded". You may have read my
other post where I mention scrolling with a mouse while taking notes.
You might try using explicitly lefthanded equipment for a while
and see how awkward it could be. By "explicitly", I mean equipment
that has to be mirror-image to use comfortably. One example of this
is a good pair of scissors.
I experimented with this a bit with darts. I got to be better
with my right hand than my left as to accuracy though still somewhat
weaker. It was amusing one afternoon. After we played one game, one
guy suggested we all play with our weak side. He saw me still playing
with my right and mentioned the change. I said that I was lefthanded.
IIRC, I trounced them.
If anything, it might be the other way around. Sometimes,I wonder if left-handed people in general are more strongly polarised to
using their left hand, whereas right-handed people are a little more
ambidextrous and (at a pinch) can use their left hand for non-precision
tasks that they would normally do with their right hand. I can cut with
scissors or pour from a kettle almost as easily with my left as my right,
though I'm by no means ambidextrous when it comes to writing - with my left
hand, my writing is like a five-year-old's
lefthanded things are not available, and we have to adapt.
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
D
Don Phillipson
This is set by the OS (expecting only one mouse, as both Bill Gates
and Linus probably assumed an age ago.) But if you had two mice
with different drivers, you could try configuring one as RH and the
other as LH, and then test whether the OS by itself reset both the same
or permitted them to differ.
G
Gene E. Bloch
Have you ever had two mouses installed simultaneously?
The Hardware tab in the Mouse Properties dialog has a list of the
installed mouses. If you only have one, you will only see one.
G
Gene Wirchenko
I meant where one configures things, but good point.
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
V
VanguardLH
Get a cordless mouse. Use it wherever you (or the other user) wants.Peter Jason said:
Make sure to get a neutrally-shaped mouse; i.e., one that is symmetrical
so it is usable by both left and right hand.
The problem is changing orientation of the primary and alternate mouse
buttons. You could just go into the Mouse applet in Control Panel to
swap the mouse buttons. There are utilities to do the same, like at
http://www.softpedia.com/dyn-search.php?search_term=swap+mouse+buttons.
You could also use a key mapper (e.g., AutoIt, AutoHotkey) to program a
hotkey combo that would swap the mouse buttons; see
http://superuser.com/questions/4396...ded-and-another-right-handed-at-the-same-time.
M
Mortimer
Years ago we had a Sun workstation at work. It had a mouse that needed aGene E. Bloch said:
special mouse mat with finely ruled lines: the horizontal lines were one
colour and the vertical lines were another. If you happened to turn the mat
through 90 degrees (and it was almost square, so it was an easy mistake to
make) the pointer would move horizontally as you moved the mouse vertically,
and vice versa. Now that was VERY confusing