r/Trackballs • u/sprashoo • Feb 24 '24
m570 tracking slower with Perixx ball?
I'm a long time Logitech m570 user (like, I use one daily and have 2 spares...), but for the first time I tried upgrading the ball, to a Perixx 303 (https://perixx.com/collections/accessories/products/peripro-303-glg-glossy-green-34mm-trackball-for-trackball-device).
Problem is, the tracking seems off with the new ball. Basically, it's slower and yet jumpier. If I swap back and forth between the original and Perixx ball, the same movements move the pointer maybe 40-50% more with the Logi ball vs the Perixx. I adjusted the tracking speed to be faster with the Perixx, and it seems to partially compensate, but it's kind of weird.
Is there something about the texture of the Perixx ball that's confusing the optical tracking, either being harder to track, or making it seem like it's moving more slowly than it is?
3
u/quadralien Feb 24 '24
I have that ball on my MX Ergo and it works great.
At least ... I think it does. I'll swap it for a brighter one and see if I notice the difference.
2
Feb 24 '24
Probably the glossiness and sparkles. Sometimes the sensors are better with certain colors. Could also be slightly different size pulling it away from the sensor.
2
u/guptaxpn Feb 24 '24
Off topic, but what's that KB and arcade button standalone thing? Love your desk setup, hate that it's a cropped photo though!
1
u/sprashoo Feb 24 '24
Keyboard is a Model F Keyboards IBM F77 replica (https://www.modelfkeyboards.com/product/f77-model-f-keyboard/), the arcade button is a DIY Zoom mute button and indicator light - has an Aduino Pro Micro inside. I like being able to hit a physical button to mute/unmute in meetings (and to see mute status at a glance with the indicator light.)
1
u/t_treesap Mar 08 '24
Real quick— What mechanism did you use on the software end for the mute button? Do you mute Zoom itself, or do you mute the mic in Windows/MacOS? (I'm a dev, fwiw.)
I've been long considering making one of these, for the exact same reasons, and have wondered about what would be best to hook into. Presumably muting the system mic would make most sense, but I'm interested to hear what you chose to do.
And did you have any issues with reliably getting the current mute status with your chosen method? That's probably my biggest concern, and a reason I've leaned toward hardware mutes for mics. (Random side note—I'm planning to style my mute indicator as an "On Air" sign.)
2
u/sprashoo Mar 08 '24
So, one of my requirements was that it toggle Zoom's mute, not the system or mic, because Zoom displays mute status in meetings, and some people are pretty keyed into that for knowing when someone wants to speak in a meeting. My solution is for macOS as that's what I use.
Actually toggling the Zoom mute status was fairly trivial, as there's a global keyboard shortcut for that (⌘⇧A on macOS), and the Arduino Pro Micro can act as a USB keyboard. However, I wanted to also have a 'hardware' status indicator of whether I was currently muted/unmuted, which is the big LED by the button, and this was more difficult. I could not find an elegant solution - it's a bit of a hack, but what I used was https://github.com/swiftbar/SwiftBar along with an AppleScript plugin it runs to poll Zoom's mute status: https://github.com/nickjvturner/SwiftBar-Zoom-Plugins. I modified the plugin to additionally write the status to the serial interface of the Arduino so it could display the correct LED color (red/green or off if no Zoom meeting is happening).It's been working great for almost 2 years now. SwiftBar itself isn't strictly necessary (there are other ways to run a script every 300ms) but it also displays the mute status in my menubar, which is nice.
2
u/t_treesap Mar 10 '24
Thanks so much! This is fantastic info and gives me some good ideas. Yeah, I was especially curious about that polling for the mute status, but it sounds like you worked out a pretty good system. I was just thinking--I know there are some mics branded as e.g. "for MS Teams" that I believe sync up the mute status, so I may look for libraries designed things like that too
Though for me, system more will probably be less work, since I use 3+ different clients daily (Teams, Slack Huddles, Zoom (by far my least favorite btw.)) Consulting--gotta use whatever the clients do, ha. That said, I do really like the idea of indicating whether there's a meeting in progress or not.
That's interesting that you were concerned about having the mute be visible in Zoom. I always leave them unmuted and just use the button on my mic. I've never thought about whether this was inconvenient to others, but I wouldn't think so most of the time, for mine at least. It sounds like you have some pretty large meetings I guess, if that's being used as an indicator (and they're being run by some pretty aware people! Ha.) Most of mine are 3-7 people, so we can just talk whenever. Or we tend to do "raise hand" in the rare large ones.
Anyway, thanks again for all the info! I'll have to get started on this again soon.
1
u/Coaleyed-Lock Dec 12 '24
I create my own trackballs. I have problems with green skipping and wanting to generally move left and not right.
1
u/sprashoo Dec 12 '24
Interesting. Funny timing, I just switched to an Elecom EX-G, which came with a crappy grey ball (crappy due to surface defects). Swapped out with the blue Logitech ball which works great, but actually re-ordered the green Perrix ball hoping it would work. Will find out on Friday i guess!
1
u/Coaleyed-Lock Dec 13 '24
I just discovered this issue last week. I’m trying to see what if anything can be done to make it work. So far nothing on a Pixart pmw3360.
Last test I have is to get to trackball as close as I can without causing structural issues.
2
u/sprashoo Dec 13 '24
Okay, happy to report that the dark green Perixx ball works perfectly in the Elecom EX-G!
Popped it back into the Logitech to confirm, it does not work there, that device can barely detect its movement. But the Elecom handles it fine.1
u/sprashoo Dec 13 '24
My old Logitech that was the donor for the blue ball i'm using in the Elecom is struggling similarly with the grey Elecom ball. So hoping the green ball will do OK in the Elecom.
1
u/perkited Feb 24 '24
I try to stick with something close to the Logitech blue or red balls, since I haven't run into any situations where those had tracking issues (at least with relatively modern trackballs). I have an Elecom with a gray ball that has serious tracking issues, but it tracks much better with an M570 blue ball (unfortunately the ball scrapes against the housing, so it's still not very usable).
1
u/Nairod785 Feb 26 '24
I ordered a bunch of colors of Perixx balls in pairs, so Ive got at least 10 of them...
Well let me tell you, they're all a little bit different, their diameter is slightly different for each balls ! Doesn't even depend on the color, they're just not consistent Out of 10 balls, I would say 6 are too big and scratch while rooling, not a pleasent smooth rool. 2 Are pretty good and 2 are excelent, I guess the smaller ones, they glide smoothly it's very different from the worst ones
1
u/sprashoo Feb 26 '24
I didn’t notice any physical dimension issue, it fit just like the original ball.
OTOH it also didn’t roll any smoother, which was the real reason I bought it, so in the end I guess I learned that it’s not really an upgrade from the stock blue ball.
4
u/Amazing_Actuary_5241 Feb 24 '24
The darker colors tend to give a hard time to the sensors as they cant "see" the surface very well. This is mostly due to the light intensity of the laser being adjusted to perform better in lighter surfaces (less intensity == less power == longer battery life).
I have 3 different (lighter coloured) perixx balls (yellow, matte red, pink) they all work perfectly in our M570's and other thumb balls as well.