Which wireless keyboard & trackball ?

What's a good wireless keyboard ?

I need it to work from about 10-12 ft from the HTPC, in the same room only. It would be good if it worked with the BIOS screens before the OS boots, but not a requirement.

Same question about a wireless trackball. A combination wireless keyboard/trackball would be nice, but I haven't seen any models with the trackball on the left, which is what I would need, so I think it's going to have to be separate.

I was thinking maybe I could use a wireless USB hub like the belkin F5U302, and use a wired keyboard/trackball with it, but those look pretty pricey and have had bad reviews on amazon. Has anyone tried them here with HTPC ?

Thanks. I wasn't even considering IR. What exactly is the problem with your Fn key ? Physical damage to the keyboard ?

Oh, I see. Hmm, in theory, since I plan to buy a case with IR power capability and remote, that shouldn't be an issue for me. I think ...

I ended up buying a micro innovations KB985W which is a set of a wireless keyboard and mouse. It supports both PS/2 and USB. I tried it with USB on a laptop since I haven't built my HTPC yet. It was plug & play - I didn't install any drivers on vista (though it came with a disk). The range is pretty good - it works accross floors, I would say about 25-30 ft apart. The only downside is the optical mouse - it didn't work well at all on my glass coffee table. But I'm not going to use that mouse anyway, only the keyboard.

I paid $49.99 at Microcenter. Looks like I could have paid less online, but there would have been shipping, and I really wanted to check the range and not be stuck with having to ship back something big like a keyboard.

Hi,


Yeah, I saw that in the stores. I didn't like it one bit, for two reasons.

1) It's bluetooth.

Bluetooth keyboards are known not to work with the BIOS. The keyboard only works after the OS loads and drivers are installed. If I ever have multiboot ... Then I couldn't choose the OS on boot. And that would make the machine installation or recovery a nightmare. Eg., not being able to get into safe mode. No thanks.

I think Bluetooth would be fine for a mouse/trackball, but not the keyboard as it needs to be available before the OS loads.

I was looking specifically for a keyboard with PS/2 support to make sure that it would work with the BIOS regardless (though it would probably work with USB too, but not guaranteed).

2) I prefer a full size keyboard. Just my way as an engineer typing for 20 years. I can't stand laptops because they don't have full size keyboards. I'm actually quite useless on one unless it's hooked up to my KVM switch. My ikea glass coffee table in the living room has enough space underneath for a full size keyboard.

I must say that the micro innovation keyboard is the only product I found that fit my needs. And I looked at literally dozens.

I'm still looking for a left-handed wireless trackball. Not having any luck so far.

Hi,

I saw those two at Fry's. I rejected them because of the lack of a numeric keypad.

I didn't experience interference from the micro innovations with my 2.4ghz phone/answering machine. But I didn't try using it at the same time as th keyboard.

Hi,


Thanks. Good to know about the pre-OS behavior. But it is probably motherboard/BIOS dependent.

As far as touchpads go - I have tried them on friends' Gateway and Apple laptops. I don't care which side they are on - they usually just don't respond to the touch of my fingers. It's not something I could ever get used to. I really need a trackball.

Hi,


I am actually right-handed, not left-handed. I started programming computers at the age of 12. I'm going to be 32 so that'll be 20 years coming up soon. When I was 19, I was diagnosed with tendinitis in my right hand. This tendinitis only gets triggered when I use a pointer in the right hand. It is way worse with a mouse on the right than a trackball, but it is the case nevertheless. I don't get this tendinitis at all when I play the piano.
So, you could say that I'm ambidextrous. But I am not a masochist, and I'm set on avoiding the pain of using a pointer with my right hand.

I won't insist on a keyboard that's got the trackball on the left. I know I'm not going to find that. I just want a separate wireless trackball that I can put on either side - left or right. So far, the only wireless trackballs (Logitech) I have found are made for the shape of the right hand and can't be used with the left, even though they can be placed on the left side :-( I'm rather upset.