17 replies to this topic

[jthom203]

does anybody know if it is possible to have two mice with two separate poiners in windows xp, if its possible could you please tell me how

[crp]

jthom203, on Mar 10 2006, 09:53 AM, said:

does anybody know if it is possible to have two mice with two separate poiners in windows xp, if its possible could you please tell me how

I don't see how this would be possible without MAJOR modifications to the operating system or to the mouse driver so that the non-primary mouse would not create focus points.

[Peachy]

Actually, it is quite easy to do, especially with USB devices. The focus only goes to the device that is being used. Touchpads on notebooks count as an input device and you can plug in a USB mouse and both will continue to work. If you have a drawing tablet, it behaves as a mouse, too and works fine even with your regular mouse still attached.

[Temmu]

i've used pc's with two input devices, but only one on-screen pointer shows up.  as already said, the device being used controlled the pointer.i've seen a hardware solution that allows two keyboards and two mice for 1 pc/monitor.  i couldn't imagine it in use!

[lewmur]

Temmu, on Mar 10 2006, 03:19 PM, said:

i've used pc's with two input devices, but only one on-screen pointer shows up.  as already said, the device being used controlled the pointer.i've seen a hardware solution that allows two keyboards and two mice for 1 pc/monitor.  i couldn't imagine it in use!

Yeah.  Most people with notebook computers do this all the time.  But, as you said, with only one cursor.  Why someone would *want* two cursors, is beyond me.

[Temmu]

Click pix to go to site...

[jthom203]

ok this is actually for some one in my computer science class. he is using virtual pc and wants to have two pointers so that he can basically have 2 seperate computers running off one.

[Peachy]

If this person installs the Virtual PC Additions then s/he doesn't have to constantly keep uncapturing and capturing the mouse when working with the vm.

[jthom203]

he wants to use the Vm and the physical machine at the same time

[Peachy]

That should not be a problem; just put the VM in a window rather than full screen. The VM uses the same mouse as the physical host.

[Temmu]

more ram = better128mb or less, er, well....

[jthom203]

ya i know you can use the same mouse but he needs two mice with 2 seperate cursors.

[Temmu]

sorry, i've work many years around cad/cam stuff with multiple inputs, but haven't seen two simultaneous cursors onscreen.someone could write a driver for such, having it listen to the port that the device was attached; but that's beyond me...

[jthom203]

well thanks for your input

[Marsden11]

To write a driver would simply be impossible. How would the system know which mouse pointer has "focus?" How would you pass focus off between two competing mouse pointers? You will never see it on a single screen setup.

[jthom203]

Marsden11, on Mar 17 2006, 08:03 PM, said:

To write a driver would simply be impossible. How would the system know which mouse pointer has "focus?" How would you pass focus off between two competing mouse pointers? You will never see it on a single screen setup.

it will be a 2 screen set up

[b2cm]

Google for Jetway Magic Twin.Two users can use one PC/XP SP1 at the same time using two sets ofkeyboards, mouse and monitor. The users can access the same programs and files at the same time, and can even play games against each other. You won't need VirtualPC. You just need the twinPC motherboard from Jetway. On versions that don't have onboard video, you will also need a VGA card with dual heads.

[Temmu]

Marsden11, on Mar 17 2006, 09:03 PM, said:

To write a driver would simply be impossible. How would the system know which mouse pointer has "focus?" How would you pass focus off between two competing mouse pointers? You will never see it on a single screen setup.

umm... each pointing device would controll its pointer, and each pointer would grab the focus, as it was "clicked" on a window, icon, link, etc.would be confusing as heck.