I ordered a Bluetooth mouse for my laptop. It comes with a little adapter that plugs into the laptop's USB port. Dumb question: the laptop already has Bluetooth built in, so would I not need that adapter? Then again, which would use drain the laptop battery less -- the internal Bluetooth or the adapter via USB?
Evan, That depends entirely on the Bluetooth version (2.1,3,4,etc.) and if it's LE (low energy) or not. Just for the savings of ports, I'd try the laptop with the built-in Bluetooth, and if it works well, stick with it. Otherwise, you would have to disable the internal BT, before using the dongle, and possibly uninstall/reinstall software, depending on the particular modules. The difference in battery life is unlikely to be noticeable. Range and reliability are likes to be the more obvious differences. - Alex On Sunday, July 3, 2016, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
I ordered a Bluetooth mouse for my laptop. It comes with a little adapter that plugs into the laptop's USB port. Dumb question: the laptop already has Bluetooth built in, so would I not need that adapter? Then again, which would use drain the laptop battery less -- the internal Bluetooth or the adapter via USB?
On Jul 3, 2016, at 7:26 PM, J. Alexander Jacocks via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
Evan,
That depends entirely on the Bluetooth version (2.1,3,4,etc.) and if it's LE (low energy) or not. Just for the savings of ports, I'd try the laptop with the built-in Bluetooth, and if it works well, stick with it. Otherwise, you would have to disable the internal BT, before using the dongle, and possibly uninstall/reinstall software, depending on the particular modules.
The difference in battery life is unlikely to be noticeable. Range and reliability are likes to be the more obvious differences.
- Alex
On Sunday, July 3, 2016, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
I ordered a Bluetooth mouse for my laptop. It comes with a little adapter that plugs into the laptop's USB port. Dumb question: the laptop already has Bluetooth built in, so would I not need that adapter? Then again, which would use drain the laptop battery less -- the internal Bluetooth or the adapter via USB?
I'll ask the question. Did you just order a wireless mouse or does it say Bluetooth. There are many wireless mice that use a USB dongle that are not Bluetooth. Cheers, Corey corey cohen uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ
On 7/3/2016 7:31 PM, Corey Cohen via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I'll ask the question. Did you just order a wireless mouse or does it say Bluetooth. There are many wireless mice that use a USB dongle that are not Bluetooth.
Cheers, Corey
corey cohen uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ
Yes, logitech wireless mice with the tiny dongle which is (on certain models) stored inside the mouse when not in use, do not use bluetooth; they use a much simpler wireless protocol, and are cheaper since they don't need to pay the bluetooth consortium a 'tax' per use on a commercial product. -- Jonathan Gevaryahu jgevaryahu@gmail.com jgevaryahu@hotmail.com
Most non-Bluetooth wireless keyboards/mice/etc are based on the (rather nice) nRF24L01 chip, for future reference. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA On July 3, 2016 7:41:21 PM Jonathan Gevaryahu via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
On 7/3/2016 7:31 PM, Corey Cohen via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I'll ask the question. Did you just order a wireless mouse or does it say Bluetooth. There are many wireless mice that use a USB dongle that are not Bluetooth.
Cheers, Corey
corey cohen uǝɥoɔ ʎǝɹoɔ
Yes, logitech wireless mice with the tiny dongle which is (on certain models) stored inside the mouse when not in use, do not use bluetooth; they use a much simpler wireless protocol, and are cheaper since they don't need to pay the bluetooth consortium a 'tax' per use on a commercial product.
-- Jonathan Gevaryahu jgevaryahu@gmail.com jgevaryahu@hotmail.com
Did you just order a wireless mouse or does it say Bluetooth.
Doh! Looked back at the Amazon listing and, yeah, it only says "cordless" even though I'd typed Bluetooth mouse into the search bar. Now I am worried about the mouse requiring driver software that isn't available for the Chromebook.
Mice should be universal. The only time it would need special software would be to set the function of additional buttons. On Sun, Jul 3, 2016 at 8:00 PM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
Did you just order a wireless mouse or does it say Bluetooth.
Doh! Looked back at the Amazon listing and, yeah, it only says "cordless" even though I'd typed Bluetooth mouse into the search bar.
Now I am worried about the mouse requiring driver software that isn't available for the Chromebook.
You shouldn't need a driver. The transceiver normally reports itself as a USB mouse to the host OS. On Sun, Jul 3, 2016 at 8:00 PM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
Did you just order a wireless mouse or does it say Bluetooth.
Doh! Looked back at the Amazon listing and, yeah, it only says "cordless" even though I'd typed Bluetooth mouse into the search bar.
Now I am worried about the mouse requiring driver software that isn't available for the Chromebook.
Thanks everyone. Doesn't really matter to me how it works, as long as it works! I am spending a lot of time on the couch while recovering. The cord is annoying. For $6.99 a wireless mouse seemed like a good idea.
I personally prefer the non-Bluetooth variety, they're generally much easier on batteries. The current wireless mice I'm using (Microsoft Notebook Mouse 3000, IIRC) will go a month or two on one NiMH AA rechargeable, whereas the Apple Bluetooth mice (and multi-button Bluetooth replacements) we used at a previous job seemed to need a pair of AA batteries every two weeks. Thanks, Jonathan
whereas the Apple Bluetooth mice (and multi-button Bluetooth replacements) we used at a previous job seemed to need a pair of AA batteries every two weeks.
At least with the Apple mice, it's worth noting the poor battery life may have more to do the the "touch" functionality (i.e. two finger scrolling, etc), as opposed to the fact that it's using Bluetooth as the underlying transport. That said, I second your comment - my Dell wireless mouse can go for months on a single set of batteries, whereas for my Apple mouse I went out and bought a set of rechargeables including a spare pair because I had to change the batteries so frequently. Devin -- Devin J. Heitmueller http://www.devinheitmueller.com
Mouse arrived. Works fine. I noticed it's got an on/off switch... as if I'll ever remember to turn it off. I wish it had a top indicator LED as a reminder. But for six bucks and free shipping....
An indicator light would just use the battery faster. :-) On Tue, Jul 5, 2016 at 2:28 PM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
Mouse arrived. Works fine.
I noticed it's got an on/off switch... as if I'll ever remember to turn it off. I wish it had a top indicator LED as a reminder.
But for six bucks and free shipping....
Mouse goes to sleep after a period of inactivity on the ones I've had On Tue, Jul 5, 2016 at 3:21 PM, Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
An indicator light would just use the battery faster. :-)
Not compared to leaving the mouse turned on.
-----Original Message----- From: Evan Koblentz via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2016 2:28 PM To: vcf-midatlantic Cc: Evan Koblentz Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] OT: bluetooth mouse Mouse arrived. Works fine. I noticed it's got an on/off switch... as if I'll ever remember to turn it off. I wish it had a top indicator LED as a reminder. But for six bucks and free shipping....
participants (11)
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Chris Fala -
Corey Cohen -
Dave McGuire -
Dean Notarnicola -
Devin Heitmueller -
Duane -
Evan Koblentz -
J. Alexander Jacocks -
John Ruschmeyer -
Jonathan Gevaryahu -
Systems Glitch