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Trackball
A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball about two axes—like an upside-down ball mouse with an exposed protruding ball. Users roll the ball to position the on-screen pointer, using their thumb, fingers, or the palm of the hand, while using the fingertips to press the buttons. With most trackballs, operators have to lift their finger, thumb or hand and reposition in on the ball to continue rolling, whereas a mouse would have to be lifted itself and re-positioned. Some trackballs have notably low friction, as well as being made of a dense material such as phenolic resin, so they can be spun to make them coast. The trackball's buttons may be in similar positions to those of a mouse, or configured to suit the user. Large trackballs are common on CAD workstations for easy precision. Before the advent of the touchpad, small trackballs were common on portable computers (such as the BlackBerry To ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mouse (computing)
A computer mouse (plural mice, sometimes mouses) is a hand-held pointing device that detects two-dimensional space, two-dimensional motion relative to a surface. This motion is typically translated into the motion of a pointer (user interface), pointer on a computer monitor, display, which allows a smooth control of the graphical user interface of a computer. The first public demonstration of a mouse controlling a computer system was in 1968. Mice originally used two separate wheels to track movement across a surface: one in the X-dimension and one in the Y. Later, the standard design shifted to utilize a ball rolling on a surface to detect motion. Most modern mice use optical sensors that have no moving parts. Though originally all mice were connected to a computer by a cable, many modern mice are cordless, relying on short-range radio communication with the connected system. In addition to moving a cursor (user interface), cursor, computer mice have one or more mouse button ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DATAR
DATAR, short for ''Digital Automated Tracking and Resolving'', was a pioneering computerized Command and control#Derivative terms, battlefield information system. DATAR combined the data from all of the sensors in a naval task force into a single "overall view" that was then transmitted back to all of the ships and displayed on plan-position indicators similar to radar displays. Commanders could then see information from everywhere, not just their own ship's sensors. Development of the DATAR system was spurred by the Royal Navy's work on the Comprehensive Display System (CDS), which Canadian engineers were familiar with. The project was started by the Royal Canadian Navy in partnership with Ferranti-Packard, Ferranti Canada (later known as Ferranti-Packard) in 1949. They were aware of CDS and a US Navy project along similar lines but believed their solution was so superior that they would eventually be able to develop the system on behalf of all three forces. They also believed sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Touchpad
A touchpad or trackpad is a pointing device featuring a tactile sensor, a specialized surface that can translate the motion and position of a user's fingers to a relative position on the operating system that is made output to the screen. Touchpads are a common feature of laptop computers as opposed to using a mouse on a desktop, and are also used as a substitute for a mouse where desk space is scarce. Because they vary in size, they can also be found on personal digital assistants (PDAs) and some portable media players. Wireless touchpads are also available as detached accessories. Operation and function Touchpads operate in one of several ways, including capacitive sensing or resistive touchscreen. The most common technology used in the 2010s senses the change of capacitance where a finger touches the pad. Capacitance-based touchpads will not sense the tip of a pencil or other similar ungrounded or non-conducting implements. Fingers insulated by a glove may also be prob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comprehensive Display System
The Comprehensive Display System (CDS) was a command, control, and coordination system of the British Royal Navy (RN) that worked with the detection/search Type 984 radar. The system was installed on a total of six ships starting in 1957. The US Navy purchased a prototype CDS and produced twenty of their own version, the Electronic Data System (EDS). These were used on a number of ships until 1968. A modified version, the Data Handling System, was used with the AMES Type 82 radar by the Royal Air Force, and US Air Force very nearly used it as well. The CDS allowed operators to assign objects on the radar display different IDs and combined them together onto a single display which allowed intercept officers to have a unified display of location, raid size, and altitude. The CDS made it easy for operators to vector friendly fighters onto intercept courses with unknown targets and later versions could automatically calculate the interception points. The basic idea of the CDS was ext ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Computer Keyboard
A computer keyboard is a peripheral input device modeled after the typewriter keyboard which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches. Replacing early punched cards and paper tape technology, interaction via teleprinter-style keyboards have been the main input method for computers since the 1970s, supplemented by the computer mouse since the 1980s. Keyboard keys (buttons) typically have a set of characters engraved or printed on them, and each press of a key typically corresponds to a single written symbol. However, producing some symbols may require pressing and holding several keys simultaneously or in sequence. While most keys produce characters ( letters, numbers or symbols), other keys (such as the escape key) can prompt the computer to execute system commands. In a modern computer, the interpretation of key presses is generally left to the software: the information sent to the computer, the scan code, tells it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pointing Device
A pointing device is a human interface device that allows a user to input spatial (i.e., continuous and multi-dimensional) data to a computer. CAD systems and graphical user interfaces (GUI) allow the user to control and provide data to the computer using physical gestures by moving a hand-held mouse or similar device across the surface of the physical desktop and activating switches on the mouse. Movements of the pointing device are echoed on the screen by movements of the pointer (or cursor) and other visual changes. Common gestures are point and click and drag and drop. While the most common pointing device by far is the mouse, many more devices have been developed. However, the term ''mouse'' is commonly used as a metaphor for devices that move a computer cursor. Fitts's law can be used to predict the speed with which users can use a pointing device. Classification To classify several pointing devices, a certain number of features can be considered. For examp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pointer (computing WIMP)
In human–computer interaction, a cursor is an indicator used to show the current position on a computer monitor or other display device that will respond to input from a text input or pointing device. The mouse cursor is also called a pointer, owing to its resemblance in usage to a pointing stick. Etymology ''Cursor'' is Latin for 'runner'. A cursor is a name given to the transparent slide engraved with a hairline used to mark a point on a slide rule. The term was then transferred to computers through analogy. On 14 November 1963, while attending a conference on computer graphics in Reno, Nevada, Douglas Engelbart of Augmentation Research Center (ARC) first expressed his thoughts to pursue his objective of developing both hardware and software computer technology to "augment" human intelligence by pondering how to adapt the underlying principles of the planimeter to inputting X- and Y-coordinate data, and envisioned something like the cursor of a mouse he initially called a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Benjamin
Ralph Benjamin (17 November 1922 – 7 May 2019) was a British scientist and electrical engineer. Biography Benjamin was born in Darmstadt, Germany. He attended boarding school in Switzerland from 1937, and was sent to England in 1939 as a refugee. He studied at Ellesmere College and at Imperial College London where he graduated with a 1st class honours in Electronic Engineering. He joined the Royal Naval Scientific Service in 1944, beginning his career at the Admiralty Surface Weapons Establishment (ASWE). Benjamin invented the first trackball called '' roller ball'' in 1946, patented in 1947. Between 1947 and 1957 he developed the first force-wide integrated Command and Control System. This included patenting the use of an interlaced cursor controlled by a tracker ball to link displays to stored digital information, the first ever digital compression of video data, and the creation of the navy's first digital data link and network which is still in use NATO-wide as " L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Digital Computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These programs enable computers to perform a wide range of tasks. A computer system is a nominally complete computer that includes the hardware, operating system (main software), and peripheral equipment needed and used for full operation. This term may also refer to a group of computers that are linked and function together, such as a computer network or computer cluster. A broad range of industrial and consumer products use computers as control systems. Simple special-purpose devices like microwave ovens and remote controls are included, as are factory devices like industrial robots and computer-aided design, as well as general-purpose devices like personal computers and mobile devices like smartphones. Computers power the Internet, whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Five-pin Bowling
Five-pin bowling is a bowling variant which is played in Canada, where many bowling alleys offer it, either alone or in combination with ten-pin bowling. It was devised around 1909 by Thomas F. Ryan in Toronto, Ontario, at his Toronto Bowling Club, in response to customers who complained that the ten-pin game was too strenuous. He cut five tenpins down to about 75% of their size, and used hand-sized hard rubber balls, thus inventing the original version of five-pin bowling. Gameplay The balls in five pin bowling are small enough to fit in the hand and therefore typically have no fingerholes, although the Canadian 5 Pin Bowlers Association (C5PBA) have approved balls with thumb holes made by one manufacturer (the E. Parrella Co., known as EPCO). At the end of the lane there are five pins arranged in a V. They are midway in size between duckpins and ten pins, and they have a heavy rubber band around their middles to make them move farther when struck. Unlike any other form o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenyon Taylor
Maurice Kenyon Taylor (26 June 1908 – 29 June 1986) was an English electrical engineer and inventor, responsible for many diverse technological developments and inventions, producing over 70 patents during his career. He spent most of his career at Ferranti, first in Manchester, then Edinburgh and finally moving to Canada where he led development at their Toronto-area operations, Ferranti-Packard. Early life Taylor was born near Balloch, Scotland to English parents; the son of Maurice Grove Taylor. He was educated at Oundle Public school and passed the entrance exam to King's College, Cambridge, where he studied for a year before moving to Manchester University. Ferranti Manchester Kenyon Taylor came to the attention of Albert Hall who was the personal assistant of Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti of the Ferranti company Manchester and joined them as a lab boy in March 1931. For some time, Ferranti had been contracted by J P Coats of Paisley to develop a very high speed cotton d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pulse-code Modulation
Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the amplitude of the analog signal is sampled regularly at uniform intervals, and each sample is quantized to the nearest value within a range of digital steps. Linear pulse-code modulation (LPCM) is a specific type of PCM in which the quantization levels are linearly uniform. This is in contrast to PCM encodings in which quantization levels vary as a function of amplitude (as with the A-law algorithm or the μ-law algorithm). Though ''PCM'' is a more general term, it is often used to describe data encoded as LPCM. A PCM stream has two basic properties that determine the stream's fidelity to the original analog signal: the sampling rate, which is the number of times per second that samples are taken; and the bit depth, which determines t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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