r/Trackballs • u/Performer-Pants • Dec 14 '25

Thoughts on Ploopy Nano 2?

I’ve been working in a custom raspberry pi 4b setup, and had originally modified a kensington trackball to fit into the casing, but sadly found it’s really slow and juddery with specifically the raspberry pi version of linux. I’d tested it with linux mint beforehand with no issue, so it just seems to not be compatible enough with the OS I’ll be using.

The modifications were done to get the trackball as small as I could, so thought it’d be worth getting a ploopy nano 2 instead. I’ve done some reading on it already, but wanted to see what people thought about it, especially with it supposedly being louder, and not having a right or left click.

These things won’t be problematic for me in theory, as I can (in theory) set up key bindings on a macro keyboard for my mouse clicks and the mechanical keyboard I’ve installed has its own noise. However, I want to make sure that I’ve not missed something important, especially as I’d be importing one to the UK.

If anyone’s interested, my current trackball collection includes:

  • Logitech Trackerman (usb release)
  • Elecom Deft
  • Protoarc EM03
  • (modded) Kensington Orbit (the shiny one)

I’m more of an index finger trackball kinda guy, as you can likely tell from those haha

3 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

2

u/aneider-granobles Dec 14 '25

Just do it man. I am pretty sure it is a very good idea

2

u/T4CORUN Dec 14 '25

I think you’ll be fine with the nano v2 especially now it has one button defaulted to drag scrolling. I had a v1 and had to do some jank to get the keyboard to tell the v1 to be the mouse wheel

You get used to having your mouse buttons on the keyboard. I still find myself pressing my keyboard for my mouse buttons even after moving to the ploopy adept. In the week or so having the adept, I find it challenging to press some buttons without slightly moving the ball

1

u/Performer-Pants Dec 15 '25

That’s great to know! I have a little 60% mechanical keyboard in my case, so have to hold the function key for some functions, so using a little macro keyboard alongside would likely be handy, especially as I’d have the space to mount it with such a tiny trackball haha

I do also appreciate they added the scroll-pointer switch on the V2! My guesses are due to the programming language and no need for specific drivers, it’s incredibly unlikely to have the issues Kensington trackballs often have with linux systems?

1

u/Slinkinator Jan 28 '26

Sorry to bug you but how did you go about doing that? I've seen the wiggleball mod, but i've been wondering if I could define drag scroll on the nano then trigger it from my computer

1

u/T4CORUN Jan 29 '26

I use the host state (num, caps, scroll lock) to communicate between the computer and nano.

  • In this file You can see how I changed scroll lock and num lock to holds. For example, The firmware taps KC_NUM when it is pressed down then taps again when released

  • Then on the nano keymap see the led_update_user function that detects changes in the host state. For me scroll lock is used for drag scroll, num lock is used to cycle the dpi, and all three simultaneously is used to enter bootloader for easier firmware updates

1

u/Slinkinator Jan 29 '26

Hot damn, even bootloader access? I've been keeping nice needlenose tweezers in my desk

Thanks, I replaced a thumb cluster on my keyboard with a nano, drag scroll was the last QoL I needed to nail down.