Wiktionary
n. (context computing English) An isometric joystick used as a pointing device.
Wikipedia
A pointing stick is an isometric joystick used as a pointing device, as with a touchpad or trackball, typically mounted in a computer keyboard. Movements of the pointing stick are echoed on the screen by movements of the pointer (or cursor) and other visual changes.
The pointing stick senses applied force by using two pairs of resistive strain gauges. A pointing stick can be used by pushing with the fingers in the general direction the user wants the cursor to move. The velocity of the pointer depends on the applied force so increasing pressure causes faster movement. The relation between pressure and cursor or pointer speed can be adjusted, similar to the way the mouse speed is adjusted.
On a QWERTY keyboard, the stick is typically embedded between the G, H and B keys, and the mouse buttons are placed just below the space bar. The mouse buttons can be operated right-handed or left-handed due to their placement below the keyboard along the centerline. This pointing device has also appeared next to screens on compact-sized laptops such as the Toshiba Libretto and Sony VAIO UX.
Pointing stick may refer to:
- Pointer (rod), a solid rod fit to point with
- Pointing stick, an isometric joystick used as a pointing device
Usage examples of "pointing stick".
He manipulated the built-in pointing stick on the keyboard and began scrolling.
When the plaster had dried sufficiently Granacci held an old studio cartoon against the wall while Michelangelo used the ivory pointing stick to outline several figures, then with Granacci still holding took up the little bag of charcoal to fill the holes, Granacci removed the cartoon, the boy drew a connecting outline with red ochre and, when this had dried, dusted off the charcoal with a feather.
She appeared to be trying to stir the squares and arrows with her pointing stick.
He took a pointing stick and drew a circle through a ring of space stations, an astonishing number of them, surrounding the system outside the orbit of its most distant planet.
Brother Martin had picked a little twig from the ground and was using it as a pointing stick, but the palsy that had plagued him years before had only grown worse, and his hand trembled.