The Computer Mouse: The California Invention That Changed Personal Computing
16K views · Aug 26, 2026 · People & Blogs
Comments · 19
@francisgrizzlysmit4715 · 1 month ago
I remember cleaning the cruft and hair from the ball mice at work, I love optic mice
@johnaranita · 1 month ago
The 1st mouse that I touched came with the Apple IIGS that my Dad bought for me. The mouse ball was heavy and gray. I was a student at Honolulu Community College. I walked into a room and I saw an optical mouse for the 1st time. It would travel on a mouse pad that had square grids.
2
@AmericaRevisited-yt · 1 month ago
It's fascinating that changing the interface could have such a massive impact. The mouse didn't make computers more powerful, but it made them more accessible.
1
@paulkoopmans9534 · 1 month ago
My very first computer was an IBM clone and had a mouse with the ball in the bottom. Every few weeks I would have to take the ball out and clean it with alcohol to get it working good again.
6
@davidtillwach5542 · 4 weeks ago
I never knew that the first mouse for a computer was a prototype In a wooden box with three buttons .
@rudetee · 1 month ago
The famous Xerox Pairk….
1
@gregmcdonald7357 · 3 weeks ago
I first used a mouse on an Apple Lisa. I worked for an Apple dealer and we were sent the unit as a demo. I'm too old to remember the year, but, obviously, when Apple started marketing the Lisa.
@ugmyloyalty · 1 month ago
The mouse didn't replace the terminal/ command prompt/ power shell. it extended our grasp of solving more challenges most especially graphical issues. the graphical inteface still has many challenges that is why we resort back to the terminal for help. for example microsoft excel has a limit for rows and columns. forcing users back to the terminal and code. even those graphical softwares like adobe products sometimes require you to move back to code.
2
@deanthomas6613 · 1 month ago
my first mouse was for the bbc micro model b - it was shipped with AMX art studio
@patricklindahl868 · 3 weeks ago (edited)
@<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YaXKSb0SOo&t=655">10:55</a> About the Xerox Alto: "-They never sold a single unit". But it was in full production at Volvo Center for Standards, in Göteborg Sweden. I was there and had a look at it.<br>@<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YaXKSb0SOo&t=858">14:18</a> The Lisa failed because at the moment it was launched, Steve Jobs said that they were working on something better, så everybody waited for that computer.
@georgereasonproductions · 4 weeks ago
Was a joy to see
@philcortens5214 · 3 weeks ago (edited)
So the ctrl key zooms. Who knew?
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