In another episode of "let's put a Raspberry Pi in strange places," we leave behind keyboards and old computers. This time, the creator behind the Electronic Grenade channel on YouTube decided to make a variant based on a 3D-printed mouse. The Computer Mouse has its own mini screen, no external cables, and a small lithium battery ensures portability. Its creator even went so far as to integrate a keyboard, but its angle doesn't look very comfortable, to say the least...
Sometimes there's no point in asking why a project exists. The only way to resolve your doubts is to build it, no matter how strange it seems. That often leads to not entirely practical prototypes, which could reach a broader potential with enough development and funding. One of the most recent cases is the dual-screen laptop. These days, the only way to give up the keyboard/mouse combo is to abandon the PC format altogether, but that hasn't happened (quite the opposite). So why not go the other way and put the computer 'inside' the peripherals? The idea of a keyboard-PC isn't exactly new, but a mouse-PC? I doubt you were expecting that, though I recall a GIF floating around the internet...
Inside the Build
What they did on the Electronic Grenade channel on YouTube was to design a basic mouse in Fusion 360, with the difference that it's large enough to house the project's wildcard, the Raspberry Pi Zero W. Add to that the guts of two USB mice (one generic and one Microsoft, which 'donated' buttons and scroll wheel), a 1.5-inch color LCD screen, a 500 mAh battery, its corresponding charging circuit, and a mini Bluetooth keyboard from the Rii series that slides out from the bottom.
As expected, using the Computer Mouse is a nightmare. I've seen postage stamps bigger than that screen, its refresh rate is horrible, and the keyboard angle confirms the need for painkillers in the short term.
A Revised Concept
Even so, the creator managed to run Minecraft Pi Edition for a while. Let's imagine a revised version. What would you change? Personally, I think we could eliminate the entire "movement factor" by adopting a trackball instead of a mouse. That trackball would be connected to a compact keyboard (something inspired by the Epson HX-20), always trying to avoid the traditional 'laptop' format. And about the screen, well... wireless HDMI still needs work, and it costs a fortune. Maybe stream the entire Raspbian desktop to a TV using Chromecast? Some code rider might explore that route...
Check out Electronic Grenade on YouTube — Click here.
https://old.neoteo.com/modulos-para-raspberry-pi/
