SurferX
nixCraft 🐧I was there Gandalf, I was there 3000 years ago
iplaw67@nixCraft
Omg remember doing this.
Tiesa Meskis@nixCraft OMG! The IBM mouse ball memo was EPIC!
Officially-JoanneC
Lev Petrovitch@nixCraft
It's 3000 years already? It seems just like yesterday
It's 3000 years already? It seems just like yesterday
Sterling@nixCraft
I can still smell the ammonia from paper fresh off the mimeograph machine. "Blueprints" were blue and smelled of ammonia. There was no color TV. I walked 1.3 miles each way to school. I used a slide rule for AC circuits. The first computer I saw was in college. They used paper tapes and punch cards. "Mini computers" were DEC Vax machines with switch inputs to enter machine language commands. A "4 banger" calculator (+-*/) was $100.
Later there were 8" floppies and 30MB hard drives as big as wedding cakes. But by then the dinosaurs had disappeared and men became our biggest threat.
I can still smell the ammonia from paper fresh off the mimeograph machine. "Blueprints" were blue and smelled of ammonia. There was no color TV. I walked 1.3 miles each way to school. I used a slide rule for AC circuits. The first computer I saw was in college. They used paper tapes and punch cards. "Mini computers" were DEC Vax machines with switch inputs to enter machine language commands. A "4 banger" calculator (+-*/) was $100.
Later there were 8" floppies and 30MB hard drives as big as wedding cakes. But by then the dinosaurs had disappeared and men became our biggest threat.
@nixCraft
Although they were behind the times, my first employer had a Data General Nova and a PDP 8 which booted up by paper tape.
Replaced by PDP 11/35
Although they were behind the times, my first employer had a Data General Nova and a PDP 8 which booted up by paper tape.
Replaced by PDP 11/35
Supervisor:~$ 
@nixCraft (Now) hold up ima just clean the lazer in my mouse
Luigi Rosa 
@nixCraft I used to clean the wheels with my nails.
Often users confessed that they noticed the layer of black grime but they thought that was "rubber" to protect the wheels.
Often users confessed that they noticed the layer of black grime but they thought that was "rubber" to protect the wheels.
EaterOfSnacks@nixCraft I just scraped the gooey skincakes away with a Bic lid. Simpler times.
Duncan Blues
Humbird0 Fandom@duncan_blues @nixCraft
... until they inevitably pinch their palm on the side while rolling the ball. That hurts!
... until they inevitably pinch their palm on the side while rolling the ball. That hurts!
Matt@nixCraft Eliminating the need to clean mice and untangle telephone cords = most of the productivity improvements of the 90s.
Helena Rigby@infinimatt @nixCraft especially where I used to work. They used to be non functioning before anyone else thought to clean them. They were gross!
🏳️⚧️ Siobhán SarelleHowever, we didn't eliminate MRSA and Norovirus of course.
@siobhansarelle @nixCraft Sure, but the problem with mechanical mice was dust accumulation among the x and y wheels and the roller ball. When the mouse would begin to “skip” on one or more axes, it was time to clean it. Although I never saw anyone immerse a roller ball, lol.
Bluedotmo@nixCraft as a general rule, it's good to keep your balls clean.
Éric Freyssinet
Rich Lafferty 🐀@ericfreyss @nixCraft I have one of those mousepads somewhere, but I found that it ironically did not work well with modern optical mice!
Itoshi no FoxyDonuts@nixCraft I'm going to tell children this is how babies are made
Ben Gillam 
@nixCraft I earnt internet credit/time doing this in the IT room in secondary school/high school
Paul Buetow@nixCraft still have to do this with my Logitech MX Ergo (modern ergonomic mouse) mouse ball :D
Aho@nixCraft my solution was getting a new mouse every second year when it was so dirty that you couldn't use it.
Sherri W (SyntaxSeed)@nixCraft I used to find this relaxing. 😆
MugsysRapSheet Blog ☑️@nixCraft About 25 years ago, I wrote an Op/Ed entitled, "Are Those Mouse Balls in Your Pocket or Are You Just Happy to See Me?"
It was about sales clerks in a computer store that carried around dozens of replacement mouse balls b/c kids kept stealing them.
Spaldingpie@nixCraft Am I the only person who used to put the ball in my mouth to clean whilst sorting out the rollers?
@spaldingpie @nixCraft Yes, definitely yes
Marie Tessier@nixCraft
Scene: a middle-school computer lab, mid-1990s.
One computer stands quiet, inert. It is entirely unusable, and has been so for months.
This is because some ninny stole the ball from its mouse, you can't just replace a mouse ball (and even replacing the whole mouse is an iffy proposition because Dell), and nobody in the building knows how to use Windows 95 without it.
Freyalyn 🌻🌨️ 🌲 🎄 🌲 🌨️@nixCraft Me too. I can just remember this, when I was young and innocent in the ways of IT equipment...
Quills@nixCraft
I'm not even old, but my first mouse was one of these
I'm not even old, but my first mouse was one of these
Nathan Proctor@nixCraft now they would intentionally "end support" for the mouse before this could happen to "protect" you as a consumer.
Stephen@nixCraft the struggle was real.
Aviva Gary@nixCraft Dude... I knew about the ball but not the cleaning part... 🤔
ZoRrO@nixCraft
Jejejejeje
Jejejejeje
The Almighty Tallest 🇺🇦@nixCraft let they who have never had such a dirty work space they had to clean crud off the X and Y rollers on a daily basis cast the first stone
Buffalo Rude@nixCraft @ygalanter I had a desk drawer at work full of those stupid balls. Lmao.
@nixCraft
I was there too!
"Clean the mouse, when it starts squeaking."
... actually it never did, but I always liked to say that back then.
pocket full of hawthornes 💦
Joshua Doll 🤷♂️@nixCraft not gonna lie I kind of miss it
ArtilectZed@nixCraft Hey, I still have to do that with my trackball D:
Elsa Star Trewyn@nixCraft The mouse ball is a toy, it is perfectly legit to pluck it out of there and play with it outside and lose it.
Or castrate someone else's mouse and replace the ball with a large gobstopper.
🇺🇦 haxadecimal 🚫👑@nixCraft It's important to keep one's balls clean. Just basic hygiene.
MPiperLCPC@nixCraft
That's how we cleaned our balls.
That's how we cleaned our balls.
Kevin Karhan 
@nixCraft same - minus removing the ball - also applies to optical mice today...
You may need to clean the sensor at some point.
FreddyB Aviation Photography@nixCraft OMG This is the holy grail PROOF!!!! that the dawn of the GUI was not milk and honey. Cleaning the trackball was not the worst but at best an unfavored task lol
Kally@nixCraft Oh God, the memories…
Gavin Lux Enjoyer
Giftspatz@nixCraft now i feel old ;)
Shadow D. Wolf 
🏳️🌈@nixCraft Fun Fact: With the SNES mouse, Nintendo actually included a special tool for scraping gunk off the tracking rollers. (the white tool pictured here) https://i.imgur.com/hcG2DeF.jpg
Sean G@nixCraft this prick cleaning his mouse with a French cuffed shirt on
tschlander@nixCraft Holy Shit 🤪 I remember doing that a long time ago.
Stuart Longland (VK4MSL)@nixCraft Geez, yes, giving the rollers a wipe-down with a cotton swab, done that… but washing the ball? That seems like overkill.
@nixCraft Can't say I ever washed the ball though.
Shady Jade@nixCraft And if you were bored, you could pop them out and hit them around the office with your umbrellas.
(To be fair, compilation got up to 90 minutes and we didn't always have things to do back then)
Love the "cook a hardboiled egg to replace it" memes 😅
It's funny that before that, the Apple ][ had this crosshairs mouse with no ball but a special mat.
ringo2k@nixCraft They see me rollin..