The Orbita is a fully HID compliant device and so no additional drivers are required to get it working making it compatible with multiple operating systems. However the Software Configuration Application does increase the functionality, especially under Windows.
Much like the mouse itself, there is quite a lot of Mac in the software's appearance. It's very simple to use and well laid out. The First tab is the basic tab. It allows for altering functions such as which buttons do what, the scroll direction and scroll speed, as well as the middle mouse button (silver dimple button) function.
The advanced tab lets you dictate the use you are putting the mouse to. Are you using it as a Mouse? A Multimedia Keyboard? A 3D Multi-Axis controller? You can enable/bind different controls to the buttons on the mouse such as transport controls or audio controls for using it as a Media Centre controller. You could set it up to use GUI controls such as Undo, Paste, Back etc. Media Search functions such as Mark, Return to Mark can be enabled. Buttons 1,2 and 3, as well as X, Y and Rx, Ry, Rz for Multi-axis control. Play, Pause, FFWD, Rewind, Stop and Eject. Zoom, Balance, Treble or Bass. Bind your own keyboard functions, and not just to the buttons but also to the scroll direction. The options are pretty extensive and even when you do hit a wall, assuming you can use a keyboard to control a particular program, then you can bind that to the Orbita's controls.
The Orbita has programmable memory and the software can save varying profiles. You can't however save multiple profiles to the mouse, and you do need the software to activate/upload those differing profiles. This does mean that you could conceivably be doing a lot of loading of different profiles as you need so I would like to see this loading process made easier. Perhaps right clicking the tray Icon could give a list of profiles to choose from. Ideally I'd like to see the ability to load multiple profiles from the mouse alone, as this would make things a lot easier, especially for those going from a fully software supported OS such as Windows to a lesser supported OS such as on a Mac or under Linux. This is probably not likely without hardware changes, so the software being able to give you a list to choose from quickly would hopefully be a more possible route. Still, this is likely to be a mouse bought by someone with a particular purpose in mind and for them it may be that profiles will be kept to a minimum. One thing is for sure; with the amount of combinations of uses to extend it other than as a simple pointing device, the Orbita really does benefit from being able to save different control setups.
In Use – General
The Apple Puck mouse was comfortable to use but quite irritating when you grabbed it blind and found that up was just a little east or west of where you thought it was. No matter how many times you did it, you always found yourself trying to correct your movement for a second or so before eventually doing the right thing and rotating the mouse to the correct position.
One thing that my not be apparent is that the Orbita is designed not to be picked up after scrolling, nor is the triangular orientation button supposed to be in constant use. The mouse has an inbuilt compass, so after calibration and orientation, if you scroll the mouse say 45 degrees, the Orbita still knows which way is up; you don't need to physically align the mouse again to start using it for pointing. Point, scroll and go. It's pretty hard to describe but the video below should give you a better understanding of the orientation process (and the recharge process too).
You go through a calibration routine using the small triangular button opposite the silver dimple button to first provide it with a full 720 degree rotation, and finally (and quite often if you don't get the first part exactly right) telling it which way is up. After this, and assuming you get the 720 rotation correct, you won't hardly ever have to tell the mouse which way is up again. If you do need to, you can push the triangle orientation button once, the Orbita will give a quiet but high pitched beep and away you go again. You really do need to get the rotation calibration part right to minimize the times you'll be telling the mouse which way is up. Get it wrong, and that triangle button will be used a lot; get it right and it will be very rarely used.
Through a combination of the software which allows you to setup the mouse in many different configurations, and the hardware itself of course, there are quite a few possibilities when it comes to practical uses. Naturally we tried a few different applications of the Orbita.
