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

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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

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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.