Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
require you to move your hands from the home row to use it. This is an absolute boon for
touch typists.
I was fortunate enough to meet the actual creator of this device in early 1992 at the spring
Comdex/Windows World show in Chicago. While attending the show I had stumbled
uponagentlemanwearingsuspendersandsportingaponytailinasmallcorneroftheIBM
booth. His appearance piqued my interest because he was clearly not a “suit,” but instead
looked to be some sort of scientist or engineer. I was right, and he was there showing off
custom-madeprototypekeyboardswithasmallstickinthemiddle.Thestickwascovered
with a soft cream-colored silicone rubber coating that allowed you to press on the stick
without your finger slipping off. In fact, he told me that these were hand-built prototypes
he had installed in standard desktop keyboards, and that he was there trying to get public
reaction and feedback on the invention.
I was invited to play with one of the keyboards, which was connected to a demonstration
system.Ifoundthatbypressingonthestickwithmyindexfinger,Icouldeasilymovethe
mouse pointer around on the screen. The stick itself did not move. (It was not a joystick.)
Instead, it was connected to pressure transducers that measured the amount and direction
of the force applied by my finger and moved the mouse pointer accordingly. The harder
I pressed, the faster the pointer moved. After playing around for just a few minutes, the
pointermovementsbecameautomatic—almostasthoughIcouldjust“think”aboutwhere
I wanted the pointer to go, and it would go there.
The gentleman at the booth turned out to be Dr. Ted Selker, the primary inventor of the
device. He and Joseph Rutledge created this integrated pointing device at the IBM T.J.
Watson Research Center. When I asked him when such keyboards would become avail-
able, he could not answer—at the time there were apparently no plans for production. He
was only trying to test user reaction to the device. I filled out one of the survey forms,
indicating that I was extremely interested in the revolutionary device and would gladly
purchase one if they became available in the future.
Well, the feedback must have helped, because just over six months later, IBM had an-
nounced the ThinkPad 700, which included this device—then known as the TrackPoint
II. Since the original version came out, enhanced versions with even greater control and
sensitivity have become available.
Note
The reason the device was initially called TrackPoint II is that IBM had previously been
selling a convertible mouse/trackball device called the TrackPoint. No relationship exists
betweentheoriginalTrackPointmouse/trackball,whichhassincebeendiscontinued,andthe
TrackPoint II and later integrated devices. Since the original TrackPoint II came out, im-
proved versions known as TrackPoint III and TrackPoint IV have become available. In the
