A trackpoint for every computer

Jan Johannsen

10/5/2026

Translation: machine translated

Trackpoints are traditionally found in notebook keyboards. With "Bean", you can now place the mini joystick next to your keyboard like a mouse.

The Canadian company behind Bean is «Ploopy», which has already launched several peripheral devices on the market. The people at «Ploopy» believe in open source, which is why you can 3D print and assemble the trackpoint, which they also refer to as «Nub Mouse», yourself.

Open source gadget with mini joystick

The 52 grammes Ploopy Bean is designed to work with Linux, Windows and macOS. At eleven millimetres, its mini joystick is said to have a larger movement radius than other trackpoints. The TMAG5273 magnetic sensor from Texas Instruments has a polling rate of 1000 Hertz and polls data 20,000 times per second. It detects movements of the red button from as little as 3 micrometres and converts them into actions. The Raspberry Pi RP2040 with the Cortex-M0 is used as the microcontroller.

Four buttons are arranged around the joystick. They function as the right, left and centre mouse buttons. The fourth button scrolls. Press two buttons simultaneously to move forwards or backwards. You can change the button assignment via the VIA web app.

Ploopy offers Bean as a kit for 69 Canadian dollars in its webshop. That's the equivalent of around 40 francs or 43 euros. Shipping and import costs are added. The first two batches have already been sold and the third should be dispatched around the end of September. Alternatively, you can find the list of required components, the 3D print templates and the firmware for Bean at Github.

Jan Johannsen

Senior Editor

Jan.Johannsen@galaxus.de

As a primary school pupil, I used to sit in a friend's living room with many of my classmates to play the Super NES. Now I get my hands on the latest technology and test it for you. In recent years at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, now at Digitec and Galaxus. more

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