Slashdot Mirror
The Mighty Mouse Has Lost Its Tail
An anonymous reader writes "It's all over the place - Apple has just released a Bluetooth version of the Mighty Mouse for $69. It features a new laser based tracking system and gets it power from either one or two (you decide) replaceable AA batteries, but does not work with Windows yet (no words on Linux)."
I would really like to get hold of a small bluetooth mouse as my laptop has an internal bluetooth setup. Rather than carrying around a USB dongle (which I would have to find in the bottom of a laptop bag and plug in) it would be all integrated.
Other than the Apple one, has anyone seen one that works with Linux? I did see a Microsoft made one *once* but never again.
Think of the Children; Sleep with your Sister
I've always wondered if the Mighty Mouse doesn't violate a lot of Apple's user design principles.
I think their design principals are well represented in this mouse. By default it is a simple one-button mouse anyone can use with no training and which encourages app designers to behave properly. With a small bit of knowledge (for more advanced users) it can be a five button mouse. Simple by default, more complex and powerful for those who want it. The best part about this design is on a multi user system a grandmother and the kids can have a single button mouse, while the more advanced users can have multi button mice, without swapping out any hardware. Of course I don't have kids and am addicted to trackballs, so I'm not going to use this anyway, but it sounds great for other people.
I'm a big Apple fan and tend to buy most of their stuff. I bought the Mighty Mouse against my better judgement (simply because it was the cool thing to buy and my Mac friends kept saying it was great) and.. I forced myself to use it for a few months. I kinda got used to it, but eventually I caved in and switched back to my Microsoft Mouse.. Why?
* Too small and painful. I have pretty small hands, but the MM is still too short. My hand was falling off the back and causing me to adopt an awkward position.
* You can't press left and right buttons at the same time! Absolutely useless for gaming, although admittedly you don't need to do this anywhere else (that I'm aware of).
* Squeeze click is too sensitive. I'm a light touch but I kept triggering it. I ended up removing the functionality of that 'button' to stop it annoying me.
* Cable is ridiculously short. Fine with a Mac keyboard, but no good without an extension cable in most other configurations.
On the plus side?
* Mouse wheel. The middle wheel is very cool. It's great to be able to scroll in full 2D. And, um.. that's it.
Oh, it's also expensive, but that's not a reason why I'd avoid it. I'll pay for something good, but it's simply not.
My Linux box has an ATI TVWonder Pro card in it - I leave the desktop resolution at 800x600 and do all my computing from my couch. Granted, it took me a while to get used to the lack of screen real estate, but once I did it was great! Instead of having to shell out for a remote control for my TV card, I just use a wireless KB/Mouse combo (Microsoft's bottom-end -1000 series desktop - works great in Linux, okay in Windows).
The engineeer within me wishes to digress. There is an electronic component inside the Mighty Mouse that takes +1.5V and a -1.5V-- it is called an Operational Amplifier (Op Amp) and they are extermely efficient for signal processing especially at the 2.4Ghz range bluetooth works on. But the real question is: how you get that + 1.5V and - 1.5V from two batteries?
Take 2 AA batteries put a wire between them. The center will measure 1.5V, the top 3V, and the bottom 0V. In this case, 1.5V is actually your "ground."
There are several advantageous reasons for making a mouse this way, but the foremost is that, having a pseudo "split" supply, you make wireless communication and amplification much easier on the device.