- Ploopy turned the classic ThinkPad pointing device into a standalone desktop controller
- Ploopy Bean uses magnetic sensing hardware, capturing 20,000 samples per second
- Open source firmware allows complete customization of every button and function
The computer mouse has split into countless variations over the decades, but the pressure-sensitive pointing stick has remained stubbornly obscure outside a circle of dedicated users.
Canadian company Ploopy has now introduced an autonomous device built entirely around this fingertip-controlled node.
The Ploopy Bean houses a red pointing stick – the same type associated with IBM and later Lenovo ThinkPad keyboards – inside a compact chassis alongside four programmable buttons.
How the pointing mechanism works
For anyone who has spent years pushing that little red message to navigate spreadsheets or code, the design triggers instant recognition.
A pointing stick relies on pressure rather than movement, translating tiny fingertip nudges into cursor movements on a screen — and the Bean takes that principle and upgrades the sensing hardware beneath the button.
Ploopy has equipped a high-precision Texas Instruments TMAG5273 magnetic sensor that captures 20,000 samples per second and can detect displacement as fine as three microns.
The stick itself allows for up to eleven millimeters of movement in each axis, which exceeds the typical range of laptop implementations.
This extended travel distance is intended to reduce finger fatigue sometimes reported by users who spend long hours with traditional pointing sticks.
The four buttons around the stick use Omron D2LS-21 switches and come with default assignments for left click, right click, middle click, and click to drag or scroll.
Since the Bean runs on a Raspberry Pi RP2040 microcontroller with open source QMK firmware, these button functions are never locked.
Users can reconfigure each button through the VIA web app, a free browser-based tool that requires no coding knowledge.
Anyone inclined to more in-depth modifications can install completely custom firmware, and Ploopy publishes hardware and software design files on GitHub.
This openness means that a broken component does not necessarily condemn the device to obsolescence, since replacement parts can be manufactured with a 3D printer.
Availability and early demand
Early access orders for the Bean started at $70 CAD, but the entire initial batch sold out almost instantly.
Anyone who missed this first wave now faces an 8-week delay at Level A or a 20-week wait at Level B.
The lingering question about this device is whether a standalone pointing device makes sense when placed on the side of a keyboard rather than integrated into it.
Pointing sticks gained their original popularity precisely because they eliminated the need to move hands away from the home row.
A separate case placed next to the keyboard may solve a different problem than the one that made the TrackPoint necessary in the first place.
Via Liliputing
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