Without further ado, today I got a first edition Microsoft EasyBall in the mail (first edition came with a serial connection, later editions have those fancy new PS/2 type of connectors).
This was a trackball aimed at kids, it's very easy to use and only has one button. The ball itself is a bit squeaky but I'll open it up and have a look if we can grease it up a bit.
Seller just wanted to get rid of it, only cost me €2. Which is a steal in my book!
In my last post I wrote about getting my Win95 desktop back up and running to test this trackball on, while I did get it up and running, I ran into a problem with the PCI VGA card (S3 Trio64v+) where lines would appear on-screen when attempting to use resolutions above 640x480 (all I wanted was 800x600).
So that one has been moved to the 'fix-it' pile.
Luckily I got my trusty IBM Thinkpad, running Windows 98 on a Pentium II, to save the day!
=> IBM Thinkpad with a Microsoft EasyBall
Then all we need is some period correct software to run on it.
First stop: Freddi Fish!
=> Archive.org version of 1994's Freddi Fish
For other software, I'm having a look through the old "Microsoft Home" catalog.
=> Microsoft Home on Wikipedia
Interesting Microsoft Home software for kids:
=> Microsoft 3D Movie Maker | Microsoft Creative Writer | Microsoft BOB | Microsoft Dinosaurs
You can get in touch through Mastodon:
90's Kids Trackball (Microsoft EasyBall) was published on 2023-08-30
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