Ploopy's A+ Trackball: Eight Buttons, Two Knobs, and On-Device Config
The Ploopy A+ Trackball Is Here
Ploopy has unveiled the A+, the successor to its popular Adept trackball. It adds two extra buttons (for a total of eight), two programmable knobs for scrolling, a detachable wrist rest, and introduces gestures, layers, and on-device configuration via QMK. The A+ retains the PMW-3360 sensor, Omron switches, and open-source design. Preorders start August 19, 2026, at $99 CAD.
The A+ finally lives up to the ambition that we set for ourselves back in 2023.
- waterproof
It always seems like a missed opportunity that trackballs don't detect when you twist the ball. It would be so natural for spinning a model in CAD or zooming.
The easiest approach would probably be to add a second optical sensor and do some math to calculate the twist rate.
- imglorp
Hugged.
https://web.archive.org/web/20260814114201/https://blog.ploo...
- littlecranky67
Around the 2000s I remember playing a match of Unreal Tournament Classic on a LAN party again a player of a major german UT clan of the time - he was using a trackball to play and slaughtered us so hard. To this day I can't imagine precise inputs with a trackball, but I saw it is possible.
- decimalenough
Looks similar to my trusty Kensington Expert, only with more buttons:
https://www.kensington.com/p/products/electronic-control-sol...
Even the wrist rest, which I've never seen on another trackball, seems to have been copied from here. Anybody tested out both?
They really need to find a better name than "Ploopy" though.
- branon
I bought the regular mouse and had a fun time assembling it. It works fine.
However the "ergonomic" design is extremely uncomfortable for me and caused hand pain. I let it ride for a few weeks hoping I'd get accustomed, the pain got better but didn't go away. Also the far-left and far-right mouse buttons are superfluous and detract from the core experience.
Please do a symmetrical version and maybe throw in a scroll wheel with steps/clicks, I'd happily buy another.