Electronic Rodent Woes

For the past week I have somewhat of a mouse problem. Basically, the fidelity between the motion of the mouse and the cursor on the screen is rather poor. Moving the mouse in a constant motion, the cursor may slide in the right direction, but sometimes faster and sometimes slower. Moving the mouse in circles, the cursor runs along a path of a dented ellipse whose centre moves randomly all over the screen.

It's not so bad as to be easily apparent. I was only aware of the exact symptoms when I did some simple "calibration" experiments. But there was some difficulty in getting the cursor to the right spot - and for a while it left me wondering why it has suddenly become so frustrating to play games that require precision of the mouse, like Diablo 2. Basically, the problem is a borderline case: there was a vague feeling that something's wrong, but it's not "wrong" enough to be immediately apparent that there is a problem.

In fact, this cranky mouse is still alright for general purposes. It was even okay when I played Mass Effect yesterday (because ME only requires me to point roughly in the right direction). It's just irritating when you need precision.

What's worse is that this mouse was no longer than a month old. (The previous mouse, on the other hand, had good movement fidelity but the left-click works only like 30% of the time.) I admit this mouse is one of those inexpensive kind (< $20), but it's by Prolink, which is known for their modems and wireless routers and stuff along those lines, and not one of those seldom heard, made-in-China brands. I suppose they don't make good mice.

Well, I'll have to get a new mouse, and it shall be from a reliable brand. A quick search reveals that mice by Logitech and Microsoft are pretty reliable and durable. But I'd better avoid Microsoft mouse in case it triggers a blue screen of death on my Ubuntu... okay, I exaggerate, but I'm just worried that incompatibilities may arise from using a Microsoft product on a non-Windows platform.

So it's gonna be good old Logitech, whom I recall has been around since the earlier days of PCs. But the neighbourhood computer shop does not sell Logitech mice (well, they have $70+ wireless mouse with special mojo for gaming, but I'm not looking for those). Thus until I find a shop that sells a mouse I want, I think D2 will be taking a backseat. On the other hand, I can always steal the steady IBM mouse from my laptop (which is currently in the lab in school).

Ah bummers... electronics nowadays...