this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2026
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Btw, why was there a ball, not just a horizontal and vertical wheely on the base?
The first computer mouse did have two wheels
~~Wait, is that wheel for scrolling?~~
That's the bottom of the mouse
Oh.
Wait, are those bite marks on the other wheel?
Mostly the fact that it can only move in 2 directions.
But 2D space has only 2 directions. ↔, ↕ and everything inbetween. I mean, use 2 wheels, 90° angled.
Set up two wheels and try to drag them diagonally, see what happens.
And that way? \↑/
But ok, i guess it is either too scratchy on fabric or too less grip on smooth surfaces.
Imagine trying to move that mouse in a circular motion
Yeah, that's the way I mean. If the wheels in your figure there were at 90° angles, it wouldn't work at all. The very best case scenario would be that it would input up then right over and over the whole time you're dragging.
It's the everything in between where you get problems
Because the ball rolls smoothly in any direction. The wheels do not roll at all parallel to their axles, they just slide which is not as smooth.
Just wheelies wouldn't be able to handle diagonal movement. The mouse would kind of scrape as it tried to move in non-aligned directions.
you would drag one of the wheels regardless of direction. This also happens with ball mice, but you don't notice becase the wheel dragging is tiny and made to be a little bit slippery.. which is also part of why they need to be cleaned every so often