Keyboards and mice

[Direhit]

This section is devoted to keyboards, mice, and other input peripherals.

[Direhit]

From WarmCarl:

Q: I'm getting strange mouse behavior in WinXP, how do I fix it?

A: The mouse changes in XP are hard to get used to, so add "-noforcemparms -noforcemaccel" to your command line to use the standard mouse setup, which is much easier to handle.

[Direhit]

From WarmCarl:

Q: I'm looking into purchasing a new mouse. Which is the best for me?

A: Well most likely you would want to go with an optical mouse. The optical mice track much better because they track the movement on your desc with a light and a sensor. This means there is no ball to clean and less "picking up". You should go with either a Logitech Dual optical or a Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer. Both are very good but the Dual optical tends to track better.

- addition: The latest line in mouse hardware from Logitech is also worth a look. I (Defrag) would recommend the MX500. The MX300 is of a more left hand friendly form, and the MX700 is like the 500, but cordless (it also features a charging station, so no batteries etc). I've got the MX500 myself and it's the best mouse I've ever used.

[Direhit]

Q: My optical mouse is going haywire! I randomly spin around and around while playing TFC. What is going on?

A: Optical mice, as you may have already guessed, use light pulses, instead of a ball and rollers. Optical mice work best with mouse pads that have a uniform color on them. Do not use mouse pads that have multicolored art on them; you will get inconsistent tracking.

[Defrag]

Q: My Logitech MX series mouse seems to function strangely ingame, and the mousewheel doesn't work very well in windows. What is causing this?

A: If you installed the drivers that were supplied with your mouse on the installation disk, this can cause a few problems. For a start, some users experience poor mouse scrolling features, and loss of button functionality (mouse 4 + 5) in games. Uninstall the logitech drivers and use the default microsoft mouse driver to retain functionality.

The latest drivers from the logitech site also seem to be much improved. When I tried these drivers recently, all functions worked correctly in Half-Life, scrolling was unaffected in windows, and I also gained new mouse acceleration options in WinXP (where you normally turn mouseaccel 'on' or 'off', rather than the win2k Style of 'low' 'medium' and 'high' acceleration).

[Direhit]

Q: I want a keyboard that will stand up to the constant rigors of TFC. What should I look for?

A: Today's entry level keyboards made by Mitsumi or Chicony, are made out of inexpensive components, and are not really meant for hard pounding. While this makes them sound like cheap keyboards, keep in mind, you get what you pay for, in that these generally cost about 10 bucks, or so.

If you want a keyboard that can stand a lot of abuse, you may want to think about searching for the old M-class IBM "clicky" keyboards at various surplus shops. These keyboards are made out of very strong polymer and a LOT of metal. Yes, these are the legendary keyboards that you can bash someone over the head, and it will still be working just fine.

Otherwise, two companies that I can recommend are Focus and Keytronic. Both companies make good quality keyboards that can take a lot of abuse, and yet offer a much better feel than the Mitsumi / Chicony cheap keyboards. In fact, Focus has several keyboards that give the tactile "click" that many enjoy using, and their Focus 2001 model starts at around 20 dollars.

Overall, though, I still prefer the old fashioned, 101 key IBM M-class keyboards. I now have three such keyboards, and each of them was manufactured before 1994, and are all still going strong. Those who have seen me type know how much pounding I do on a keyboard (I was taught how to type using a manual typewriter, much like Ted Kaczynski was), and will attest to the durability of these wonders.

[Direhit]

Q: Should I use a cordless mouse for HL / TFC?

A: That all depends on your personal tastes.

The advantage to a cordless mouse, of course, is the lack of a cable, so you have a lot more freedom of movement on your desktop, and don't have to worry about cable clutter.

The disadvantages to a cordless mouse are that being cordless will add a bit of lag to your latency timing, although this amount is very small, and consistent, so adjusting to it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Also many cordless mice enter "sleep" mode when not used for a certain time period (to save the battery), and when you finally move that mouse, it may need a 1/2 second to reactivate. While this is nothing more than a mere annoyance in Windows, in TFC, it can, and will, get you killed or someone could run by you and steal your flag.

[Direhit]

Q: How should I clean my standard mouse? It's one that uses a rolling ball, and isn't an optical mouse.

A: What you need to get are some cotton swaps, paper towels, a plastic knife, and some rubbing alcohol. An old toothbrush that you have no intention on brushing your teeth with, is also handy.

First, start by removing the ball, and wiping it down with a paper towl soaked with some alcohol. This will get rid of grease / oils on the ball, and will also dry quickly. If your ball has other gunk on it that won't come off with the paper towel, soak the toothbrush with alcohol, and start scrubbing in small circles.

Next, look at the contact points where the ball rests upon in the mouse. Chances are, that there are layers of gunk and / or accumulated threads (if you use a cloth top mouse pad). Take the plastic knife, and start scraping the rollers. Follow this with some cleaning with a cotton swab soaked in rubbing alcohol.

To clean the scroll button, just take a paper towel soaked in alcohol, and start scrubbing it across its horizontal axis, and then scroll up the button and keep on scrubbing until the entire button is clean. Most of the time, the scroll button just needs cleaning because someone with too much lotion on his / her fingers was using it previously.

[Direhit]

Q: I plugged my USB keyboard into my computer, and I am using an operating system that does support USB keyboards, but I can't get it working. What's wrong?

A: This is a common occurrence. In the motherboard's BIOS, the "Enable USB Keyboard Support" feature is usually turned off, by default. Make sure that this feature is enabled. You may have to plug in a regular keyboard at first, to activate it.

[Direhit]

Q: Is there any way to disable mouse acceleration for my Logitech mouse just when playing games?

A: Yes. Go to Logitech's website, and download the latest version of Mouseware. This will give you the option of "Disable acceleration for games." I would strongly suggest that you take advantage of this.

[Direhit]

Q: Are those flexible keyboards that are made out of silicone really as durable as they say they are? Should I get one?

A: The only people that should be using those keyboards are those who are constantly spilling solids and liquids into their keyboards on a regular basis. The vast majority of people will be better served with standard keyboards and reasonable cleanliness practices.

The problem with the flexible silicone keyboards, is that you must hit the keys dead center, to get a response. This can certainly be a handicap while gaming. Also, it's easy to overload the buffer in these keyboards. Instead of getting the desired effect on screen, you will probably end up with a "beep" as you are warned that you are pressing too many keys at the same time.

Finally, the companies that make these keyboards, for the most part, are terrible when it comes to customer service.

[Direhit]

Q: Is there any way to disable mouse acceleration for my Microsoft mouse?

A: Download the latest Microsoft Intellipoint software, and under the "Motion" tab, where sensitivity is covered, click on "Advanced" and you should see the option for disabling mouse acceleration.

[Direhit]

Q: I just spilled (insert drink name) into my keyboard. Can it be saved, and what should I do?

A: It all depends on what you have spilled. If it's ordinary water, unplug the keyboard, and let it dry. You can speed this along with "canned air."

If you have spilled diet soft drink in there, unplug the keyboard, pop off all of the keys, and start scrubbing with some isopropyl alcohol and an old toothbrush. There's a fair chance that you will be able to salvage it.

If you have spilled anything with sugar in it, you may as well forget about it.

[Direhit]

Q: I have a USB mouse, and on occasion, it will cease working, as if someone unplugged it. What can I do to correct this?

A: First, try updating the drivers for your motherboard's USB ports. You can get these drivers directly from your motherboard manufacturer's website.

If that doesn't work, check to see if there is a BIOS release that solves this problem.

If neither of the above can fix the problem, you will have to wait until the manufacturer of the motherboard or chipset used by the motherboard, comes out with a solution.

In the meantime, try using a USB to PS/2 adapter, and and plugging the mouse into the PS/2 port. This seems to help many people affected by this bug.

[Direhit]

Q: I bought an OEM Microsoft brand Intellimouse / Keyboard, and it stopped working. The vendor from whom I bought it said that I'm out of luck and won't give me an exchange or refund. Can I ask Microsoft for help?

A: OEM peripherals are commonly sold by Microsoft, to distributors and vendors. The catch here, is that they must be sold with other hardware to make a "system," much in the same way their OEM software works.

Basically, the vendor is correct, that you are pretty much stuck, and they are not obliged to exchange it, unless they had a store-specific policy. If they sold you the OEM merchandise without selling it with enough hardware to make a "system," though, they can be found in violation of their Microsoft agreement.

[Direhit]

Q: What is the maximum range for these devices? How can I extend the range at which I can use my cordless mouse / keyboard?

A: Typically, cordless mice and keyboards have a maximum range of approximately 6 feet, give or take a foot.

In general, cordless mice that work on radio waves (RF) will have a much longer range than their infrared counterparts (IR).

Some mice, such as the Logitech MX700, have longer ranges that even allow you to leave the room (although that does you no good).

[Direhit]

Q: I went to the surplus store, and found a bunch of keyboards that were part of Silicon Graphics systems. Will these work in an ordinary PS/2 connector?

A: The newer ones (made from a grey or dark grey colored polymer) are nothing more than standard PS/2 keyboards, and should work just fine in any PC. If anything, these keyboards are nice, because you don't have to worry about any "Windows" keys getting in the way of your fingers and hands, and are solidly built.

The older ones (made from a lighter putty / beige polymer) do not use standard PS/2 pinouts, and will not work in your PC.

In general, keyboards that came with 175 MHz SGI O2 and Octane workstations and newer, should be 100% compatible with PC's, while anything earlier (such as Indigo / Indigo2 workstation keyboards) will be a crap shoot.

[Direhit]

Q: I have a fairly recent motherboard, and whenever I plug my USB mouse into the USB port, or onto a USB hub attached to the ports, it won't work. I know that the USB ports / hub is perfectly good, since I have other USB devices attached to it.

A: Many newer boards that use the Award BIOS, now have an option that says "USB Mouse Support" that comes set to "disabled" by default. Change this to "enabled" and your mouse should be fine, provided you have the correct USB drivers installed.

[Direhit]

Q: OK, so it appears that most SGI keyboards will work as standard PS/2 keyboards. What about their mice?

A: The same thing applies here. If you can find one that isn't one of the old, putty-colored ones, then you have a good chance of finding one that will work as a standard 3 button mouse.

[Direhit]

Q: Where can I get those IBM M-class keyboards you mentioned?

A: The most readily available source is via E-bay.

Do a search on "IBM click keyboard" and you'll find many sellers with the keyboard. Be aware, though, that because the keyboard is heavy, it will not be unusual to pay 10 or more dollars in shipping costs, but it's worth it.

[Janus]

Q: My mouse has been working off and on lately, what are the possible causes for this?

A: If your mouse is acting strangely, turning off erratically and making the usb device found sound quite a bit, this could be the work of a DSO Exploit. Make sure you have the latest version of Spybot S&D to identify that it is a DSO Exploit, however, Spybot S&D will not remove a DSO Exploit , it will tell you that it fixed the problem, but next time you restart or scan it will come up with the same problem again, to get rid of a DSO exploit, you need a program called "DSO Stopper", which if you can't find somewhere on the internet, I have , you can find me in #ikk under the name |IKK|FaZe-XO, what a DSO exploit is , is a hole or exploit in Internet Explorer which allows a hacker to put unauthorized software on your computer, which can also allow them to control your computer, by turning your mouse off whenever they want, or even opening your CD-ROM drive without you doing anything. Although on a couple different tech websites it says "If you have the latests patches for windows and IE, DSO Exploits will not be a threat, even though Spybot S&D says it is," i'll have to disagree, I had the latest patches for WinXP Home for everything and I had it and it messed up my system quite bad.

However this is not the only thing that can cause a faulty mouse, you must also take into account the age of the mouse, how you handle it (do you throw it around and hit it on the desk quite a bit?), and possibly even other viruses. I just hope sharing my experience with this problem will be helpful to you if you ever encounter it.

thank you to eZaF for the information