UNIA: a mouse with a lid
A complete numeric keypad hides beneath the mouse's lid.
UNIA stands for Unity New Input Accessory.
Earlier I wrote about mice for small hands. Time to show one for large hands =)
Meet the mouse with a lid. Underneath is a full seventeen-key numeric keypad. The target device was a Windows 3.x/95 laptop without a built-in number pad. The mouse itself isn't particularly mobile: twice the weight of an average mouse and thick enough to be awkward in an ordinary laptop bag.
Despite having a keyboard inside, it plugs into a normal COM port and appears as both mouse and keyboard. An 80C51 microcontroller alternates mouse and keyboard signals, letting both operate through one port without extra drivers or a second laptop port.
The original patent describes a slightly different mechanism: a lid signal controlled switching, disabling the mouse while the lid was open.
The device is so elaborate that in 1996 it entered Bill Buxton's collection. Recommended, by the way: there aren't that many mice, but the engineering creativity across its devices won't leave you indifferent.
Production ended in 1997 as laptops with built-in touchpads and lightweight optical mice requiring no pad began to appear.
