Computer mouse

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The mouse or computer mouse is an input device primarily used with personal computers (PCs).

The typical mouse connects to a PC via either a PS/2 or USB cable, though some are wireless often using IR or bluetooth to connect to the PC. Most PC mice have 2 buttons, however, many hardware manufacturers sell specialty mice with several. A noteable exception to this is the Apple Macintosh mouse, which has only one button, using a keyboard key in combination with a click to simulate multiple buttons.

Use of the mouse is almost universal in PC games, and even when a joystick or control pad is preferable, the mouse is still an option.

The mouse functions by moving over a smooth, flat surface (usually a mousepad) and reporting the movement back to the PC. Mice generally use one of two modes to detect movement. The first is a ball located in the bottom of the mouse. The ball moves across the surface, rolling a series of small mechanisms inside the mouse, which tells the computer the speed and direction in which the mouse is travelling. This form of mouse is slowly giving way to the second. The second is called optical, and typically uses a red light for a image recognition unit to record movement. Recently, Logitech created a third type of movement tracking with laser. Similar to optical input, the laser mouse uses the laser for image recognition to detect movement over the surface.

A similar input device is the trackball, which may appear similar to a mouse flipped on its back, with its ball pointed upwards.