I miss the modifications forum... MX11800

[justcallmecrash]

So the trackball isn't working on my MX11800 (I may be able to fix it with a bit of solder, but I need to open it up and take a look)... I need ideas. I like having a mouse built in, and I still need the tenkey section, so I don't want to cut that end off. Has anyone had any success jamming a different trackball in there? Is there one out there small enough to fit in that part? I could accept a mod that needed some cutting to make it fit.

Any ideas?

[EDIT: Moved to Workshop by the Demongolator]

[kbdfr]

I would suggest you try the "Workshop" section of deskthority.
After all, your question is not a specifical geekhack issue

[justcallmecrash]

Fair enough! I seem to remember someone having a great mod for this, but I don't suppose they'd be looking here to see it. I'll move it there.

Edit: Oh, you already did! Thanks mods.

[IvanIvanovich]

I thought the trackball on those was just awful anyway. What I did, I took one of the 11900 I had around and swapped the 11800 pcb into it, and switched the stems for ghetto reds so I ended up with nicer layout with 1.5 modifiers and touchpad. Didn't keep it for long though, sold it on to a friend to use at their job.

[justcallmecrash]

Ooooo.... good suggestion! I happen to have an 11900, too. That has merit! Thanks.

[Icarium]

So the 11900 are built differently?

[Soarer]

I thought the trackball on those was just awful anyway.

I've got a couple of used and a NIB, and the difference is like night and day! They clearly do not age well

[RC-1140]

I don't think the trackballs are that bad. I'm actually using my G80-11800 currently, and the trackball is pretty good imho. You just have to clean it regularly.

@Icarium: 11900 have a touchpad instead of a trackball.

[justcallmecrash]

Also, the 11900 have Win and Menu keys, but the 11800 do not. I think that's more what lysol was getting at.

In the end, I decided to put that 11800 on my CLI-only Linux server and use my 11900 at work. I'm doing a sit and stand setup at work where I move my sitting keyboard under the desk to stand, and put my Filco on a box (with my Logitech Trackman Wheel next to it... too tight) for standing (I move the monitors up and back as well). Since my Filco is tkl, I have a number pad off to my left, but I'm lousy with my left hand, so this will be a handy replacement. Now I can bring my Filco back home and put it on one of my other systems. AND I won't have to keep moving my trackball, since I can just use the pad on the 11900.

Also, I just converted the 11900 to MX Blues (from mixed Blacks/Ghetto Reds). I've not typed on non-plate-mounted blues before (I converted my Das from Blues to Reds)... I quite like it. The thin, low profile Cherry Corp PBT caps sound unique.

[IvanIvanovich]

Yes, that was what I meant. I prefer the winkeyless arrangement on the 11800 to the 1x bottom row keys on the 11900. Otherwise they are quite similar after the obvious ball/pad difference. It's defiantly easier if you have one on hand to swap around since wedging some other pointing device requires quite a lot more work if you want the end result to have a nice fit and finish. I tend to take the path of least work with nicest end result always.

Trackball should be the size of a pool ball, or it is just wrong. Some tiny marble sized thing just sucks, but that is my opinion.

[justcallmecrash]

So, odd behavior from my trackpad on my 11900... it works FINE, but for some reason, if I have the cursor in the right-hand monitor (of 2), I can't go back to the left-hand monitor. I can easily travel from left to right, but as soon as I hit the left side of my right monitor to go back, it gets stuck on the border between monitors... it still works perfectly well on the right-hand monitor, but it just will not go past that threshold. I have a trackball as my primary pointer, and it doesn't have any problem going back and forth. I know it's software, but what an odd thing for it to do. Using 64-bit Linux, if anyone has any suggestions.

[kint]

I thought the trackball on those was just awful anyway. What I did, I took one of the 11900 I had around and swapped the 11800 pcb into it, ....

This implies the 11800 and the 11900 PCBs are drop in swappable, which at least for my Compaq 11800 and my Cherry 11900 ain't the case.

So the 11900 are built differently?

The above mentioned boards differ in some ways, the compaq 11800 has the Trackball which features a seperate PCB with a seperate connector directly from the cable. So everything related to the Trackball is seperate from the MX PCB and of course has a higher depth.
My 11900 on the other hand has a flat cable connecting the touchpad directly to the MX PCB, this also prevents the case to be opened in one go, you have to pull the flat cable first. The touchpad buttons are located on the MX PCB, it's connector is up beneath the Pause button as well and it uses a different connector with more leads.

Not saying my boards weren't swappable but it definitely wasn't a drop in solution. Here's a pic for reference, Compaq 11800 on top cherry 11900 below.

[Findecanor]

... if I have the cursor in the right-hand monitor (of 2), I can't go back to the left-hand monitor.

If you run KDE or Gnome (or NVidia's driver) then there should be a Monitors setting where you can set the relative position of the monitors. Have you checked that they are aligned right next to each other?

[justcallmecrash]

... if I have the cursor in the right-hand monitor (of 2), I can't go back to the left-hand monitor.

If you run KDE or Gnome (or NVidia's driver) then there should be a Monitors setting where you can set the relative position of the monitors. Have you checked that they are aligned right next to each other?

Yep. As a matter of fact, I'm using Nvidia's closed source drivers and have the whole thing spanned, which makes it even weirder. As I said before, my trackball doesn't have any problem going back and forth. Very strange. I'll have to take some time to really get after it tomorrow... I've just dealt with it up to this point.