Ole Begemann
I recently learned that German company Telefunken arguably invented the computer mouse. They offered a “Rollkugelsteuerung” (“rolling ball control”) for one of their mainframes in 1968, months before Douglas Engelbart’s “mother of all demos”. Telefunken’s mouse was also more advanced than Engelbart’s mouse as it used a ball instead of two wheels. (Photo credit:
Marcin Wichary, CC-BY 2.0, https://www.flickr.com/photos/8399025@N07/2322838281 and https://www.flickr.com/photos/mwichary/2322836557/)
Unique mouse from Telefunken, pt. 2

Flickr
Nov 22, 2022 at 4:07pmWeb
Show threadOle BegemannNov 22, 2022
Via the Stay Forever podcast, which recently had a 3-hour episode on the history of the mouse (in German): https://www.stayforever.de/2022/10/die-maus-sft-8/. They also published an interview with Rainer Mallebrein, the engineer who developed the mouse for Telefunken: https://www.stayforever.de/2022/11/die-maus-das-interview/.
Die Maus (SFT 8) | Stayforever

Der beste Spielecontroller

Stayforever
Show threadBernard TyersDec 3, 2022
@ole that looks very interesting. It would be great if it could be translated! (Not that I'm expecting you to. Just that it'd be fascinating to listen and understand.)
Show threadpeter purgathoferDec 3, 2022
@ole »Es erfolgte auch eine Patentanmeldung, das Patentamt sah aber zu geringe Erfindungshöhe« 🥸 https://owl.museum-digital.de/object/?t=listen&persinst_id=71015
Objekte [Raster] (Seite: 1) :: museum-digital:ostwestfalen-lippe

Objekte gefunden: 1. Person/Institution: Rainer Mallebrein (1933-).

Show threadAstroKiste 🏴Feb 17, 2023
@ole #StayForever Forever! one of the best #podcast|s in the known and unknown universe.
Show threadJoachim BondoNov 22, 2022
@ole Speaking of the German language, no doubt Danish is derived from it. “Rollkugelsteuerung” would be “rullekuglestyring” (most likely just “kuglestyring” or “rullestyring”, but still.)
Show threadOle BegemannNov 22, 2022
@bondo Or German is derived from Danish? ;-) But yeah, reading Danish/Swedish/Norwegian/Dutch/German is often quite easy if you speak one of them. Listening/pronunciation not so much, unfortunately. Danish mostly sounds like gibberish to me.
Show threadJoachim BondoNov 22, 2022
@ole Swedes and Norwegians are *much* better at pronouncing words like they’re spelled. Danes are terrible at it! ☹️
Show threadTill O'Rly Dec 3, 2022

@ole @bondo

I mean...
https://youtu.be/s-mOy8VUEBk

Danish language

YouTube
Show threadManuel EberlFeb 17, 2023
@ole @bondo Well I think everyone, including the Danish, agrees that it *is* gibberish.
Show threadグレェ「grey」Dec 2, 2022

@ole bold claim.

Engelbart's NLS demo was in 1968, but the research he and his Augment group worked on prior to a public demonstration goes back much further (Engelbart started at SRI in the 1950s).

Moreover, Engelbart was a personal friend of mine. He did not even like being associated as the "inventor of the mouse" because, he wasn't. Bill English (whom I also knew personally) merits that accolade.
SRI's first mouse prototype was in 1964: https://www.sri.com/hoi/computer-mouse-and-interactive-computing/#:~:text=Development%20of%20the%20mouse%20began,computer%20mouse%20prototype%20in%201964.

The computer mouse and interactive computing - SRI

In 1964, SRI International’s Douglas Engelbart invented the computer mouse as part of a system for organizational learning & global collaboration.

SRI
Show threadグレェ「grey」Dec 2, 2022
@ole in other words, sorry, their claim of beating Engelbart by "months" in 1968, does not stand up to even a little bit of scrutiny.
Show threadMichael EngelDec 2, 2022
@byterhymer @ole Telefunken offered their version of the mouse as a commercial product in October 1968, so the development must have started a significant time before this. Fun fact – the German patent office denied a patent due to missing novelty of the invention...
Show threadMichael EngelDec 2, 2022
@byterhymer @ole This page of the Heinz Nixdorf computer museum (in German, sorry) claims that the development has started "after 1965". The exact date does not seem to be known. https://blog.hnf.de/wenn-die-maus-zweimal-klingelt/
Wenn die Maus zweimal klingelt | HNF Blog

Show threadグレェ「grey」Dec 2, 2022

@me_ That's good to know. My understanding is that SRI actually worked on a variety of pointing devices prior to settling on the mouse in usability studies. One was even moved by a knee if I recall correctly? (I can only imagine they were trying to change a lot of paradigms also see: their chorded keyboard)

My understanding is they also did testing with multiple mouse button permutations (as many as 5?) before settling on 3.

Alas Apple seemed to have missed out on SRI's prior research. @ole

Show threadDan CrossDec 3, 2022
@byterhymer @me_ @ole I suspect Apple was aware. As I understand it, the single-button mouse was a cost saving measure, and someone (Raskin?) convinced Jobs that a single button was workable.
Show threadDevilish DesignDec 3, 2022
@cross Apple was indeed aware but they carried out their own research and concluded that for new users, one button was the simplest and easiest to use. 'New users when asked to click a button always asked, Which button?'
Show threadGregory P. Smith (he/him)  🚲🦝 Dec 12, 2022
@byterhymer @me_ @ole I love controlling my phone with my knees.
Show threadDaniel GibsonDec 3, 2022

@me_ @byterhymer @ole
Maybe rightfully so, considering that it apparently has been invented independently by two teams on different continents at roughly the same time

(I wish patent offices still were this strict)

Show threadMichael EngelDec 3, 2022
@Doomed_Daniel @byterhymer @ole Agreed – in the interview with the CHM the inventor also states that they got the idea by essentially turning a trackball, which already existed for radar applications, upside-down.
Show threadRalf AhlbrinkDec 3, 2022
@Doomed_Daniel @me_ @byterhymer @ole
I guess there are enough trivial patents around. Main reason might be that big companies just count or weigh their patents as IP KPI.
Show threadAndreas GroisFeb 17, 2023

@byterhymer @ole From what I get from Wikipedia it really depends what one considers the point of invention.

If it's about going public, then Telefunken was faster (The Rollkugelsteuerung is mentioned in this brochure from 1966: ftp://computermuseum.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/telefunken/tr440/doku/TR440_Mai1966.pdf ).

If it's about having the idea - well, it's hard to prove who had it first.

Show threadAndréDec 2, 2022
@ole https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Auf-den-Spuren-der-deutschen-Computermaus-216255.html
Auf den Spuren der deutschen Computermaus

Mit ihrer "Rollkugel" bot die Firma AEG-Telefunken schon vor vierzig Jahren ein grafisches Eingabegerät an, das man über den Tisch ziehen konnte - noch bevor Douglas Engelbart in der "Mother of all Demos" die Computermaus der Öffentlichkeit präsentierte.

heise online
Show thread~nDec 3, 2022
@ole Strong Philipp Reis vibes :)
Show threadTrolli Schmittlauch 🦥Feb 16, 2023
@nblr @ole Die Maus frisst keinen Kabelsalat!
Show threadBenjamin SchröterDec 3, 2022
@ole @nblr i just learned Telefunken once builded Mainframes
Show threadmxkDec 3, 2022
@irgendwienet @ole @nblr the Telefunken mainframes are part of the lost legacy of German computer development, since it didn't really leave a legacy. The German Museum in Munich had one on display, but their computer science exhibition is being renovated right now.
And a sad assembly of TR440 parts still exists in the FAU Erlangen
Show threadBenjamin SchröterDec 3, 2022
@mxk @ole @nblr I have to revisit Munich. Last time I was only one day in the museum. Remember other computer but no Telefunken.
Show threadmxkDec 3, 2022
@irgendwienet @ole @nblr as said, this exhibition is closed and will be completely redone. Till then, rather visit the Technik Museum Berlin for German computer history.
Show threadBenjamin SchröterDec 3, 2022
@mxk @ole @nblr I know that very well since I'm living in Berlin 😀
Show threadAlex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKDec 3, 2022

@mxk @irgendwienet @ole @nblr

When I was a boy in the 1970s I had these books "How Things Work: The Universal Encyclopedia of Machines" which I think were a translation of "Wie funktioniert das?: Die Technik im Leben von heute" and they had sections on computers which may have described (in fairly basic terms) the working of these systems (it was certainly a type of mainframe which I have not seen elsewhere and looked very "European")

Show threadMikeTangoortcloudDec 3, 2022

@ole SAP:N/A

of course SAP hadn't been invented then

Show threadmaddie (MOVED!)   Dec 3, 2022
@ole what did they use it for? certainly they didn't have any GUIs to use it with
Show threadm0xEEDec 3, 2022
@mjdxp
I didn't even know that Telefunken had mainframes. I know them for like… headphones and television equipment.
@ole
Show threadOle BegemannDec 4, 2022
@mjdxp According to the podcast, Telefunken had a contract to design new workstations for German air traffic controllers. Apparently at the time the Americans already used trackballs to select blips on a radar screen, and the Germans wanted something similar.
Show threadChris Engelbert / noctariusDec 3, 2022
@ole is that at the Nixdorf museum? Been there just a few weeks ago myself
Show threadOle BegemannDec 4, 2022
@noctarius2k I didn’t take the photos, but according to the links this mouse actually belongs to the Computer History Museum in California.
Show threadChris Engelbert / noctariusDec 4, 2022
@ole ah cool
The Nixdorf museum has one too 😊😁
Show threadMarc VéronDec 3, 2022
@ole
#Rollkugelsteuerung "Maus #Computermaus
https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainer_Mallebrein
https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maus_(Computer)
Rainer Mallebrein – Wikipedia

Show threadMatt EagleDec 3, 2022
@mveron @ole Quelle: Ausstellung Heinz-Nixdorf-Forum, Paderborn
Show threadNetto Hikari 🇩🇪🇯🇵❤️🇺🇦Feb 17, 2023
@Zengen Check this out.
Show threadChris MarquardtFeb 17, 2023
@ole @svenrudloff ROLLKUGELSTEUERUNG 🥰
Show threadajuvo ✔Feb 17, 2023
@ole ☝️ @damalstm