One example is the Logitech Trackman Marble FX. Logitech discontinued them after 2-3 years of production, and has yet to introduce a replacement that feels or works as well in my opinion. My wife and I buy them whenever we find them available, but a shrinking supply has driven the prices up into the stratosphere – we paid $75 for one from a friend a year ago, and used prices on Amazon are almost $300 the last time I checked. I can occasionally find one for less than $10 in the bin at Goodwill Computerworks, but they’re few and far between.
I would love to see Logitech introduce a modern version of the Trackman Marble FX. December 2008 Update: Logitech has done it again, only this time they’ve discontinued the. February 2010 Update: My wife passed away suddenly in June of 2009.
I’ve sold her three Marble FXes, but will leave this post open for comments. I just received a new replacement notebook, this time a fujitsu with only that little eraser or a pointing device.what torture.
So I am digging madly for my ol Merble FX that was beginning to get finicky to see if I can revive it. Just went through the info on the current models and am not buying b/c of the funky wireles receivers required. Any chance that a Marble FX might become available soon that talks to that little unifying receiver? I’ve never used any pointing device anywhere near as good.
The thumb and finger contact with the large heavy ball was key. As was the weight that allowed you to spon it across the screen and then catch it. Any sign Erik or anyone else is actually considering this? I’ve been using my Trackman Marble FX since 1999, maybe 1998. I’ve never stopped using it — for the past 5-6 years it’s been my office pointing device, but before that it was what I used primarily at home. I’ve never had a problem with it, and it’s showing no signs of giving up (god, I hope it never does). The most I’ve ever had to do was periodically take the ball out and scrape out the gunk.
I’ve thought about venturing and taking it completely apart for a thorough cleaning, but I can’t bear to think what I’d do if it broke on me. The logo has all but worn off, and the part where my thumb has sat is turning a bit yellow — but it’s still awesome. I would buy 5 of these things if I found them for sale at a reasonable price. If Logitech brought back a product that was the same (NONE of the existing trackballs are), with wireless/bluetooth, I would buy it instantly. I’ll send an email to Logitech, also. I’ve been using the Logitech TrackMan Marble FX for several years and must agree there has not been another product that compares. I’ve used a variety of ‘marble’ mice, tablets, and the traditional mouse.
I’ve suffered from severe tennis elbow and only the TrackMan works on a long term basis for me. The reason: the TrackMan allows you to place your hand in a neutral position putting much less stress on the tendons attached to your elbow. There are other ergonomic features of the TrackMan, but for me that is the most important. Of course it may be I’ve not had other problems, such as carpal tunnel, because of my use of the TrackMan mouse. Oh how I wish they would introduce the Marble FX again, but this time with USB and no silly “wireless on a trackball” shenanigans. When I recently got a new computer I didn’t bother to check wether it had PS/2 ports or not.
I just forgot about it. Turns out it has a PS/2 connector for the keyboard, but NOT for a mouse. I’ve gone through three USB-to-PS2 adapters, all with the same result, ie. The red button didn’t work.
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When I finally found a Chesen PS/2 Keyboard+Mouse PCI card, how could I resist buying it? Unfortunately it turned out to be a USB-to-PS2 adapter on that card as well, so, still no luck. A few years ago I almost gave up and bought the little lumpy cordless trackball from Logitech.
It looks kind of similar, but as it turns out is very uncomfortable to use. The ball is too small, the buttons are misplaced and above all, the resolution is way way too low. While my Marble FX glides elegantly over the screen, the little cordless lump gives a very ugly staircase effect when doing anything but straight horizontal or vertical lines. Also, the real dealbreaker is the misaligned sensor. All moves are about 45 degrees off counter clockwise. This can be helped somewhat with Mouseware but not entirely.
Oh my am I ranting or what? Please, please, if anyone from Logitech reads this; bring back the old design of the Marble FX, but with a USB connector. Don’t change anything else. Don’t move the buttons. Don’t change the size of the ball. I sadly lost my Logitech Trackman Marble FX mouse just recently. I had to have purchased one of the first ones that they ever made and now it finally died.
I knew for a while that they discontinued it and was hoping that they would bring it back. Now a very short time after it has broken I have had to cancel my online gaming account due to RSI while using a older ‘standard’ mouse.
I have tried all other Trackman mice and feel that they are a waste of plastic and circuitry, while the balls make great toys for the cats. Damn you Logitch for canceling the best Trackball you have ever made.
I’ve been using the Trackman Marble FX at work from almost when I began my work as a programmer. That is every day use since around ’97-98. The left button was troubling me for a time, a few years ago, but just blowing hard under the button seems to clear out what ever was there. I’m still using Windows XP at work. I’ve just plugged in a new (used) Trackman Marble FX that I found in an ad, I got it in the mail today. It worked immediately, just plugged it into a simple PS/2-USB adapter I already got for my old “normal” mouse and keyboard.
Here I’m running Windows 7 on an Apple Mac Mini (using Boot Camp). I almost never use the OSX, and if it’s correct that the Trackman does not work in OSX, I guess I never will use OSX again, but I’m not sorry ? (I like the Apple quality hardware.) It feels good to have the best trackball at home too, now. The left button is (of couse) not perfect I did not expect it will try to blow it clean somehow, anyway it works quite ok, and now this will also be a backup unit if my faithful old servant at work would ever fail. I was so surprised when I discovered that Logitech had stopped producing it in favour of other trackballs not as ergonomic. If I could wish something for a new version, I would like it just a slight bit larger. My fingers would be even more comfortable if there were about 5 mm longer between the resting place of the hand and the farther side of the ball (or if the ball was slightly larger).
No need to make it wireless, this is a very stationary item, but a USB version would be good. But even today without any improvements I rank this as the best. Nice to see that there are so many of us! I have a Marble FX that I have been using since that latter 90’s and I ran into the same issue when I upgraded to my new Phenom IIx4 955 motherboard that had only USB ports. After some extensive looking I found the PPA PS/2 To USB adapter for 7.99 at the local Fry’s store. I have connected my marble FX to an IOGear PS/2, 2-port KVM switch with the adapter pluged into the USB motherboard and the KVM attached to the adapter. I have not tried to program the buttons, but on both my X4 and 5600+ all basic mouse functions are there and switching between the two systems has not been a problem, the FX is completely seen by both systems.
But over the years the ball has taken a beating.if anyone has an extra one they are willing to part with please let me know. I just dug mine out of storage when I’ve started hitting the computer heavy again. I bought mine brand new at best buy, IMHO it’s the best and only ergonomically correct trackball ever made.
Now that I’ve read a few posts, I’m almost inclined to start looking for a spare one or two on ebay, but I’ll wait until I see if it helps my wrists after use for a while. I’m hoping it does, at least it feels decent. This trackball always fit my hand like a glove, and that’s originally why I bought it. Hopefully logitech, or some other company that steps in if they don’t get on the ball, releases a new one someday.
I know I would buy one instantly. There is a thread in the Logitech forum about the marble FX, with a comment that apparantly there was a lawsuit with a fellow named Gart who claimed a patent infringement. The lawsuit was dismissed in the lower court, but reinstated on appeal, and remanded back to the lower court for disposition.
I don’t know what the final outcome was, but Gart was willing to issue a license, but perhaps Logitech wasn’t willing to pay the licensing fee – or it wasn’t profitable to do so. So odds are that’s the reason we will never see a revival of the FX.
Here is the link to the appellate court decision: Transplant Solution? One possible solution is to transplant the guts of a four button trackball into an FX body. I note that the Marble Mouse USB is a four button mouse. I bought one when my FX bit the dust. Anyone try transplanting a Marble Mouse USB into an FX body?
I’m also a lover of the Trackman Marble FX. Had mine for over 10 years and still using it.
? Works great except now I have Win7-64bit and the Marble FX is not fully supported. Usually only the left/right buttons. Some apps work with the click and scroll feature. My dream is this exact same mouse with a scroll wheel at the spot of your index finger. Thumb scrolling would also be acceptable.
Damn you Logitech! Listen to the masses! Let’s start a group for voicing the need of mice with big balls. Hello fellow Marble FX lovers! I, too, am of the opinion that this is indeed the best mouse out there. How many other mice (I include trackballs with mice) lasts for over 12 years?
The comfort, oh my. It’s so nice! If they ever came back, I would buy (at least) one in an instant.
I use my Marble FX under windows 7. Without SetPoint (6.20.50) there was little support for it. With it my machine recognize all the buttons on it (be sure to have the PS/2 driver installed for SetPoint). However, I found that I missed to have a scroll function (and being able to go back and forth easy in webpages). So after a quick search I found that there was already AHK scripts out there that took care of it. Personally I use this; script to do this, and it works wonders!
MmScrollTrigger = MButton mmBrowseBackwardsTrigger = XButton1 mmBrowseForwardsTrigger = XButton1 & RButton Just set the //Triggers like that (line 49 to 51) and it will work great. I hope this will help others with getting full support! (You will need AHK or compile the script into an.exe) Cheers! LoL I have to get in on this, too! I bought a Trackman Marble FX when Logitech first made them, too!
The problem with this Mouse is its too good, this is/was the best mouse ever made! After 10 years I beat the crap out of mine, gaming and whatever. So the Right Button finally broke. Welp I took it apart and glued and re-enforced 2 tini & long plastic arms that activate a micro switch deep in side.
It worked great, but the Ball and Bushings finaly had too much friction, so I had to stop using it! ? So I looked and on Ebay was finaly able to buy a Used one for $75, and I’m using it now! I had to wait till the ecconomy went bad, bcuz they were selling upwards of $300 bucks.
One guy had one that was Brand New in the Sealed Factory Box for $320, AWESOME! I wouldv’e bought it, if I had the $! I just wanted to say an important thing to my brothers and sis’s here: Logitech has always made at one time or another, the best Peripherals on the market! And when they do, they will Quickly Stop and replace it with something Usless!!! Here is the proof: 1.
Trackman Marble FX, 2. Momo Force (red) SteeringWheel and ‘NOW’, the simply named; Illuminated Keyboard! O: They will have to ditch this Keyboard cuz its just the BEST EVER!
LoL My Advice: Buy As Many As You Can Afford While You Can!!!;p REXRICH.
Having used the original Logitech Marble FX Trackman on PCs for almost 10 years now (and still loving it), I went out and bought the four-button version of Logitech Marble Mouse (which is actually a trackball despite the misleading name) after reading numerous raving reviews from many users. Installation went smoothly.
When I tried to configure the mouse button settings via System Preferences/Logitech Control Center (LCC), that's when I ran into a problem. It seems the LCC pane was only designed for the older version of OS X as it wouldn't let me run the config from my current version 10.4.6. Because of this, I am able to use only two of the four buttons. I visited Logitech website for LCC update for OS X 10.4.6 but none were found. For those of you who own the Marble Mouse and runs OS X 10.4.x, is there anything we can do to restore full functionality to all four buttons?
I'm a retard. It turns out that Logitech website does have an update for current version of 10.4.x but I didn't see it the first time I visited the site. How do I delete this post? I don't see a delete function anywhere.
I am probably different than most users, but I am a a fan of unusual input devices. I prefer Laptops with - I immediately disabled the on my Lenovo laptops (a T61 and T42) in the BIOS when I received them. My first Laptop (a Toshiba Portege 3440CT) didn't even have a touchpad to begin with. It's a pity that trackpoints seem to a dying breed. And I don't like using regular mice on my desktop, either!
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Actually, my most favourite input device is a - I purchased a Logitech TrackMan Marble FX a long time ago, and used it for years. Then computers stopped having serial or PS/2 connectors, and I replaced the trackball with an USB mouse.
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I never really got the hang of using mice, but Logitech (or other vendors) somehow with a suitable replacement model for the Marble FX with a USB port. I recently looked at the, but was not convinced by the reviews I read, and the fact that it requires batteries (a trackball is a stationary device, so a cable does not really interfere here!).
The might have been an option, but it seems to be impossible to get nowadays. After experimenting with several mouse models (Cherry, Microsoft), I decided to revive the TrackMan Marble again.
It comes with a PS/2-connector by default, so I first tried to connect it to my PC using a PS/2-to-USB converter dongle. This actually worked without any tweaking, but had two limitations: the fourth mouse button was not detected anymore (I could have lived with that) and the Trackball stopped responding after it had been idle for a while, requiring me to restart the X server to get it working again.
So using the PS/2-to-USB dongle was ruled out and I tried an Serial-to-USB dongle instead: lenz@thebe: lsusb grep Serial Bus 002 Device 006: ID 067b:2303 Prolific Technology, Inc. PL2303 Serial Port When plugged in, udev creates a new serial device /dev/ttyUSB0 which I needed to inform the X server about.
Fortunately it's possible to define multiple input devices in the xorg.conf configuration file. Using the serial port actually had another advantage - I was able to add some trackball-specific tweaks that would have collided with the settings of the 'regular' PS/2 mouse section that I needed for the builtin trackpoint of my Thinkpad.
Trackballs and other ball mouses have an optical sensor inside the cup that holds the ball. Dirt, lint and debris that falls into the optical sensor can make the cursor jump around - the sensor detects the debris as if it were a ball movement. Clean the inside of the cup and the jumping should stop. Cleaning the cup - first clean the three points that hold the ball up. They tend to grap whatever dirt or grease gets onto the ball from the user's hand.
Clean the rectangular sensor window with a que-tip or by blowing into it. Get any stuck debris out of the corners. Finally, turn the mouse over, without the bal inside, and tap it on a hard surface.
This can knock loose any remaining debris that can fall into the sensor window. Answered on Dec 29, 2014. If you are trying to convert your Logitech Trackman Marble FX from PS2 to USB so it will work with Windows 7, you can't just convert the port type - you have to get an 'adapter' that converts the PS2 signal to a USB signal. See for ATen - UC 100KMA. WEB SIte: It allows you to convert a PS2 keyboard and PS2 mouse/trackball with the one device. It's what I use and it works just fine.
The regular $2.00 port adapter was useless. They are on EBAY sometimes for $20 or so. GOOD LUCK.:) Answered on Jun 13, 2014. If you are trying to convert your Logitech Trackman Marble FX from PS2 to USB so it will work with Windows 7, you can't just convert the port type - you have to get an 'adapter' that converts the PS2 signal to a USB signal. See for ATen - UC 100KMA.
While it's moderately capable, there are plenty of other apps for the Mac that do more for less. Like many of them, Focused eschews menus and extraneous options to give you a minimal experience while you write. • Bottom Line Minimal writing software Focused is too expensive for what it does. Many of the aim to create an environment with as few distractions as possible so that the words on the page are the focus. I use be focused for mac.
WEB SIte: It allows you to convert a PS2 keyboard and PS2 mouse/trackball with the one device. It's what I use and it works just fine. The regular $2.00 port adapter was useless. They are on EBAY sometimes for $20 or so. GOOD LUCK.:) Answered on Jun 13, 2014. I finally just was able to solve this problem! I saw somewhere that someone had made sure their primary mouse was selected under hardware, which got me thinking.
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I thought I had seen a second mouse option somewhere. So, I went into my Control Panel System Device Manager and click the arrow next to Mice and other pointing devices. Sure enough, there were two listed. A seemingly generic one and my Logitech I've been using. I right clicked on the generic one and chose disable and the drifting IMMEDIATELY stopped. I went so far as to re-enable that generic to see if it was a fluke because it had stopped drifting on its own yesterday, nope as soon as I enabled the generic device, drifting started again.
So Happy!!! Answered on Nov 27, 2012. Give it a cleaning, first before replacing. If there is not a retaining ring, the ball should just pop out. If there is a retaining ring, turn it counter-clockwise to remove it. There may be a hole in the bottom that lets you push the ball out. Inside, there are two things you need to clean.
Look for three little bearings about the size and shape of a BB. They will probably be covered with fuzz, so they may look like little felt pads. Carefully brush away the fuzz. Be careful because if you pop one of those bearings out, it is next to impossible to get it back in. There should also be a little black rectangle. This is the window that the sensor looks at the ball through.
Clean it with a damp cloth or Q-Tip. Don't use any other cleaner since it could fog the window. Hope this helps. Answered on Dec 14, 2009.
It could be a bad Trackman or a bad PS/2 Port. 1st test if it's the port by trying another mouse, or by trying this Trackman in another known working PS/2 port on another computer.
(don't forget to reboot each time you plug in a PS/2 device) 2nd, you can try using a PS/2 to USB adaptor. These two have great reviews. $12 TRIPP LITE USB to PS/2 Adapter Model B015-000 $20 SIIG JU-ACB012-S2 USB to PS/2 adapter cable Best of luck getting that wonderful Trackball working again! Andrew EmpoweringSolutions Answered on May 16, 2009.
Assuming this happens when you roll the trackball and don't click right? Seen this so many times. Could be caused by: IF Software Related: Virus or Spyware taking focus of screen and cursor Keylogger taking control of cursor Other software running in background that is controlling screen refresh and cursor control. Confused Drivers within Windows. IF Hardware Related: Sticky Right Click button Fix: Process of elimination unfortunately. Remove all mouse hardware from Device Manager and setpoint.
Start from scratch. (FYI: mouse won't work right at first reboot. Give it a sec to reinstall windows drivers operation will return to normal) Best wishes Answered on Nov 19, 2008. Hello rebelwarrior, Unfortunately, Logitech do not sell these components separately.The only components that they sell fro mice are replacement mice feet.
They will replace the entire unit if it is still under warranty and is unopened/tampered with. You contact their customer via email.
They usually respond within a day or two max. (I know, because I was on the support desk for a while;)) If you wish to call them, the number is: +1 Monday - Friday: 6am - 6pm PST Saturday - Sunday: 7am - 5pm PST However, I think you may be able to find suitable replacement parts at your local computer store or by doing a Google search online.Hope that helps.
Should you have any further questions, please feel free to post them here. Before you assign a rating, please make sure that the issue is resolved or you are satisfied. If not, please post back as to what you did, and/or any other questions you may have, and I will try to assist you as best I can.
Please do not assign an ‘Inappropriate’ or ‘Thanks for trying’ rating if your issue is not resolved after the first response itself, as sometimes a bit of to and fro dialogue may be necessary before we can find a fix or an answer to your query. If you find that the solution/answer I provided led you to, or resulted in a fix, please close the ticket with a FixYa! Or Helpful rating. I would be very grateful for your show of appreciation.
Thank you for using FIXYA! IrishDruid Answered on May 31, 2008. Hello cathyfry9091, First, make sure you have downloaded and installed the latest version of MouseWare for your trackball.
You can do that from. Just choose your operating system and proceed to download the software. Please see utility as well, It is called MouseWare Advanced Setting Utility and if you scroll toward the bottom of this page, it tells you how to keep right/left button swap assignments. This article also shows you how to install the utility. Should you have any further questions, please feel free to post them here. Before you assign a rating, please make sure that the issue is resolved or you are satisfied.
If not, please post back as to what you did, and/or any other questions you may have, and I will try to assist you as best I can. Please do not assign an ‘Inappropriate’ or ‘Thanks for trying’ rating if your issue is not resolved after the first response itself, as sometimes a bit of to and fro dialogue may be necessary before we can find a fix or an answer to your query. If you find that the solution/answer I provided led you to, or resulted in a fix, please close the ticket with a FixYa! Or Helpful rating. I would be very grateful for your show of appreciation.
Thank you for using FIXYA! IrishDruid Answered on May 31, 2008.