Post #1577697

2022-11-22 16:07 UTC

I recently learned that German company Telefunken arguably invented the computer mouse. They offered a “Rollkugelsteuerung” (“rolling ball control”) for one of their mainframes in 1968, months before Douglas Engelbart’s “mother of all demos”. Telefunken’s mouse was also more advanced than Engelbart’s mouse as it used a ball instead of two wheels. (Photo credit: Marcin Wichary, CC-BY 2.0, https://www.flickr.com/photos/8399025@N07/2322838281 and https://www.flickr.com/photos/mwichary/2322836557/)

Replies (13)

@ole@chaos.social 2022-11-22 16:11

Via the Stay Forever podcast, which recently had a 3-hour episode on the history of the mouse (in German): https://www.stayforever.de/2022/10/die-maus-sft-8/. They also published an interview with Rainer Mallebrein, the engineer who developed the mouse for Telefunken: https://www.stayforever.de/2022/11/die-maus-das-interview/.

Open ##2419248
@bondo@mastodon.social 2022-11-22 16:14

@ole@chaos.social Speaking of the German language, no doubt Danish is derived from it. “Rollkugelsteuerung” would be “rullekuglestyring” (most likely just “kuglestyring” or “rullestyring”, but still.)

Open ##2419254
@byterhymer@mastodon.social 2022-12-02 18:04

@ole@chaos.social bold claim. Engelbart's NLS demo was in 1968, but the research he and his Augment group worked on prior to a public demonstration goes back much further (Engelbart started at SRI in the 1950s). Moreover, Engelbart was a personal friend of mine. He did not even like being associated as the "inventor of the mouse" because, he wasn't. Bill English (whom I also knew personally) merits that accolade. SRI's first mouse prototype was in 1964: https://www.sri.com/hoi/computer-mouse-and-interactive-computing/#:~:text=Development%20of%20the%20mouse%20began,computer%20mouse%20prototype%20in%201964.

Open ##2419259
@andre@sfba.social 2022-12-02 21:25

@ole@chaos.social https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Auf-den-Spuren-der-deutschen-Computermaus-216255.html

Open ##2419270
@nblr@chaos.social 2022-12-03 00:46

@ole@chaos.social Strong Philipp Reis vibes :)

Open ##2419271
@irgendwienet@chaos.social 2022-12-03 07:56

@ole@chaos.social @nblr@chaos.social i just learned Telefunken once builded Mainframes

Open ##2419273
@miketango@chaos.social 2022-12-03 09:48

@ole@chaos.social SAP:N/A of course SAP hadn't been invented then

Open ##2419279
@mjdxp@snowdin.town 2022-12-03 13:32

@ole@chaos.social what did they use it for? certainly they didn't have any GUIs to use it with

Open ##2419281
@noctarius2k@mastodon.online 2022-12-03 13:44

@ole@chaos.social is that at the Nixdorf museum? Been there just a few weeks ago myself

Open ##2419285
@mveron@tooting.ch 2022-12-03 15:44

@ole@chaos.social #Rollkugelsteuerung "Maus #Computermaus https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainer_Mallebrein https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maus_(Computer)

Open ##2419288
@NettoHikari@social.nettohikari.com 2023-02-17 08:13

@Zengen@social.nettohikari.com Check this out.

Open ##2419291
@chrismarquardt@chaos.social 2023-02-17 12:35

@ole@chaos.social @svenrudloff@chaos.social ROLLKUGELSTEUERUNG 🥰

Open ##2419292
@ajuvo@chaos.social 2023-02-17 12:41

@ole@chaos.social ☝️ @damalstm@social.bau-ha.us

Open ##2419293