From cube-lovers-errors@oolong.camellia.org Thu Jun 26 16:35:00 1997 Return-Path: cube-lovers-errors@oolong.camellia.org Received: from oolong.camellia.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by oolong.camellia.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id QAA06927; Thu, 26 Jun 1997 16:35:00 -0400 Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@oolong.camellia.org Message-ID: <33B2D235.3A77@ibm.net> Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 13:33:57 -0700 From: Jin "Time Traveler" Kim Organization: The Fourth Dimension X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01Gold (Win95; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Nicholas Bodley CC: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu Subject: Re: Hidden cubies; Spaceball References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Nicholas Bodley wrote: > > On another topic, it seems to me that an ideal device for controlling a > computer-simulated Cube (or other similar puzzle) would be the Spaceball, > a ball that you can grip. It senses torque around all three mutually- > orthogonal axes, as well as "translational" force along those axes. It's > not a consumer item; not sure it's still being made. I'm reasonably sure > of the tradename. It was/is used with workstations. "Spaceball" sounds > much like the name of a puzzle. > > (I expect some astute reader to tell me that the MIT Media Lab did just > this thing 5 years ago!) > > My best to all, > Actually, the Spaceball that you talk about is still in existence of sorts. I have three Spaceballs. Actually, they were known as the Spacetec Spaceball Avengers. Those are no longer produced. They've been replaced by the newer model, the SpaceOrb 360. Not to get too far off subject, but the SpaceOrb is used by some people to play Quake. You can't beat a good Mouse and Keyboard for Quake, but the SpaceOrb's multiple axes of movement does allow for some interesting possibilities. Due to its 3D nature, I think the SpaceOrb would be a natural extension for the solving of 3d puzzles in graphical environments. -- Jin "Time Traveler" Kim chrono@ibm.net VGL Costa Mesa