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T O P I C R E V I E W
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littlefish
Member # 966
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 posted February 25, 2005 12:13
So I've seen the pics people have posted of their new mac minis and I'm wondering what people think about keyboards, mice and displays.
Personally I went for a new apple keyboard as I don't think I could function without volume on the keyboard. The monitor was the cheapest I could find when I originally got my cube, and the pointing device is a microsoft explorer trackball, same vintage as the monitor, so both were kept when I upgraded. What is everyone else running with? Interesting keyboard and mouse stories from poor mini-less souls also welcome! ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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angryjungman
Member # 2434
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posted February 25, 2005 12:55
I, too, went out and bought a new Apple keyboard. The monitor I'm using is my Samsung 192N [19" flat panel] and the mouse is a Logitech trackball.
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magefile
Member # 2918
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posted February 25, 2005 12:57
For my BYOPC, I'm using a keyboard and mouse that I pulled out of the trash behind my local Microcenter. Has multimedia keys & works fine, so I'm not sure why they threw it out. Actually, it is easier to type on (and quieter) than the keyboard that I paid Dell $30 for.
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Serenak
Member # 2950
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posted February 25, 2005 13:54
Personally I have many Macs of various vintages scattered all around the damn place...
All have Apple ADB or USB KBs of one flavour or another... and all have Apple ONE BUTTON mice (apart from one that has a Kensington ONE BUTTON mouse... that it came with 2nd hand)
I even have a USB only Mac running an ADB KB and mouse via a Belkin adapter (Apple USB KB and mouse would've cost more than I gave for the Mac at that time, now they're priced rather more reasonably... (like 50% of their previous price)
I love the ONE BUTTON mouse... and if you don't then "YOUR ALL GAY!!!!"
Only Apple mouse that SUK is the stupid "hockey puck" original iMac job (universally loathed as even admitted by S. Jobs esq.)
THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH ONE BUTTON MICE... They rock!!!
But I guess YMMV
Can you tell that I think Steve is right WRT the ONE BUTTON MOUSE???
BTW is it beacuse as a lefthander I find it easier to mouse with my right hand and use the KB mods with my left?
Also 15+ years of continual Apple KB and mousing have never given me any problems - 15 mins on a multi button job and my hand/wrist starts to hurt... Coincidence, or just my ONE BUTTON MOUSE user's bias???
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HalfVast
Member # 3187
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posted February 25, 2005 15:55
I had to start from nothing since all I had at home was a laptop. Plenty of used keyboards and mice around work but they were all, you know, crap... I went with a Macally Icekey keyboard and mouse. I've been using two button mice with scroll wheels since I started using Panther and I'll never go back I say, NEVAH! (Why would a manufactuer design an OS that uses two button mice and then produce only a single button flavor? ![[Confused]](confused.gif) ) I also got a Viewsonic vg910s 19" flat panel. This weekend I picked up some JBL creature speakers and now I'm officially out of room on the desk.
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Serenak
Member # 2950
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posted February 25, 2005 17:20
Because all you saddos just won't admit that ONE BUTTON MICE are the only One True Way(TM)
YOUR JUST ALL GAY!!!! Alright....
No more needs to be said
(Mod parent down -5 gay) Please don't feed the Trolls
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
No, seriously. Joshing aside, I *really* do like the one/no button Apple mouse... If you feel different - go do it your way: why should I care (cos YOUR ALL GAY )
![[Eek!]](eek.gif) ![[evil]](graemlins/evil.gif) ![[devil wand]](graemlins/devilwand.gif)
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Allan
Member # 1717
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posted February 25, 2005 20:50
I'm using an white Mac keyboard (wired) and a lovely mac mice 2 button & scroll The Mouse
Don't get me started about screens. Hopefully I'll have some good news by the end of the week ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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MacManKrisK
Member # 955
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posted February 25, 2005 21:03
quote:
Originally posted by littlefish:
Personally I went for a new apple keyboard as I don't think I could function without volume on the keyboard.
Actually, I bought a $10 Belkin "multimedia" USB keyboard (the "multimedia" means it has volume keys and quick launch buttons for crap and stuff). The volume keys on the keyboard actually worked on Mom's eMac, to my suprise, and F12 works as an eject key.
So, for you mini buyers out there, save money on buying an Apple branded keybord, just get a USB keyboard with volume buttons on it.
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littlefish
Member # 966
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posted February 26, 2005 01:57
For what it is worth, apple did cut prices quite significantly on peripherals around the time of the mini. You can now get an apple keyboard for 30$. And it is worth it IMHO.
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Mac D
Member # 2926
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posted February 26, 2005 20:17
We went with the Apple keyboard/mouse with our Mini. We are using the old CRT monitor 17". But I don't like desktops my wife wanted it because she thought it was cute. I'm sticking to the track pad and keyboard built into my iBook.
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dragon34
Member # 997
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posted February 27, 2005 13:54
Rather coincidental that I came across this thread today. I have just finished setting up the sketchy computer setup (of doom!) (which includes 2 daisy chained kvm switches)
I had to daisy chain them because our PC ( a dual boot RedHat/Win2k machine which exists only to view webpages in Windows IE and mess with Linux) absolutely refuses to recognize the keyboard on boot with the 4 port (thrown out into my backpack) kvm switch, so it does the keyboard not found press f11 to continue thing *bangs head into desk* It works fine with the macs. Plans are to hook up my beige g3 (which has been sitting unused in the closet for a year, poor neglected thing) in addition to our 9600 running netbsd and the 400 MHz G4 which was hooked up to the 2 port with the PC. All of our macs will share our 17 inch CRT yay!
The keyboard hooked up to the KVM switch is the apple keyboard that came with the G4 with an apple pro mouse replacing the hockey puck that came with it.
Yay for one button mice! (that aren't hockey pucks)
/crawls under the desk with a roll of velcro wire ties to control the horrible cord monster
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Tech Angel
Member # 908
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posted February 27, 2005 23:21
Well, you asked for interesting keyboard and mouse stories, so...
I work with folks who have disability-related computer access problems, so I regularly get to use a wide variety of input and output alternatives with my Mac. In addition to split "ergonomic" keyboards (personal beef: "ergonomic" is often a marketing term akin to "all natural" wrt foods), I use or have used one-handed keyboards, chorded keyboards, onscreen keyboards, handwriting recognition, and speech recognition. For navigation, I switch between all sorts of mouse variations-on-a-theme, trackballs, trackpads, gesture recognition pads, head-operated mice (tracks via IR), foot-operated mice, graphics tablets, and touch screens. (With PCs, I have a few other mousing options such as motion tracking, eye gaze systems, and even one controlled by brain waves!) Monitor surrogates include text-to-speech screen readers and a refreshable Braille display that provides a dynamic Braille output of text, line by line.
All in all, I get to play with some pretty cool toys!
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magefile
Member # 2918
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posted February 28, 2005 06:03
I have a friend with severe CP, so I've played with some of those toys. His reaction to my reaction to them reminded me of my reaction to others' reactions to the electric wheelchair I sometimes use: "Wait 'till you *need* it before you call it cool, 'cuz there's a hidden dark side that sucks. A lot".
On another note, does Dvorak really help with RSI? I'm thinking about trying to make the switch this summer, my one concern being all my key-mappings in vi and whatnot. ![[Cool]](cool.gif)
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Groggle
Member # 2360
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posted February 28, 2005 18:52
I'm not a big Mac user (although that may change - I just ordered an iBook).
For the past few years my Keyboard of Choice has been a Microsoft Natural keyboard, and a Logitech Trackman Marble trackball for a rodent. (I hate chasing rodents around my desk)
Right now, there's a lot of really low quality kbds on the market, and only a handful with decent key movements - the Microsoft is one of those. (Premium price though - they're not cheap)
The Natural _has_ helped with the tendonitis in my arms. (But that doesn't imply that it's perfect, either...)
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jordanv
Member # 3189
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posted February 28, 2005 19:12
Im using the logitech wireless keyboard and mouse set (the black one to suit my black custom-assembled pc).
The mouse is excellent except for one thing - occasionally it loses recognition of the base station and refuses to respond even while in the docking station.
The keyboard on the other hand is a big step down from the microsoft natural keyboard. The ergonomic design was great and I typed twice as fast as I do now.
Plus, logitech sucks in general. At a LAN party a friend held, all our wireless mice interfered with each other. Also the mouse causes interference with the sound which is really annoying, since I have great speakers and headphones.
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Groggle
Member # 2360
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posted February 28, 2005 19:24
I'm still in the land of the corded for both kbd and rodent - but then, trackballs don't need to wander about the desk...
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