Wireless keyboard and mouse recommendation

Can someone recommend a wireless keyboard and mouse set that works happily with RISC OS on the Raspberry Pi?

In other threads I’ve read about dropped mouse clicks on a couple of Logitech models, that would drive me insane.

I use this one http://www.cherry.de/cid/funktastaturen_eVolution_SIRIUS_XT_Wireless_MultiMedia_Desktop.htm? without problems on my Beagle, Panda, RPi.

A google search on EVOLUTION SIRIUS XT WIRELESS MULTIMEDIA DESKTOP failed to turn up a supplier that has it in stock: (gave up after 4 pages of search results)… :-(
(Was going to mention the recommendation on RISCOScode)
Martin
http://www.RISCOScode.com

I’m tempted to try this http://www.maplin.co.uk/cerulian-mini-deskset-528055 – partly because it’s cheap and partly because it’s very small.

I have several of those, and even use one with the TV. The mouse is great, the keyboard just a little bit clunky even though it works fine. As long as you buy it on offer¹ at £14.99 it is very good value.

¹ It is just at the moment, but like supermarket wine the offer comes and goes at about a 3 month cycle.

I had a couple of the Maplin things. The first one was duff – the spacebar needed a right thunk to make it register, so I took it back. The second one was duff – the spacebar needed a right thunk to make it register! I got my money back and bought an Acer wireless keyboard and mouse (as supplied with the Revo Nettops) from eBay. Unfortunately, there don’t seem to be many of them about these days and if, like I do, you keep unplugging them and plugging them into different “live” computers, the receivers seem to fail after a while.

I’ve recently bought a cheap Lenovo UltraSlim Plus desk set, which works flawlessly with Panda, Beagle and Pi. About £20 on eBay, but much dearer in “proper” shops.

I’m tempted to try this http//www.maplin.co.uk/cerulian-mini-deskset-528055

Just succumbed to temptation, nice piece of kit.

P.S. No Break key – easily solved

P.P.S No Caps Lock indicator – easily solved, !Lights or KeyLEDs module from !HID

Steve/Dave – are you getting any dropped mouse clicks?

Andy – that looks good but I prefer the smaller size, not sure I have much use for a number pad.

I am still running 5.19, so I expect some keypressed problems, but I do not seem to have mouseclick problems. The keypressed problems start after some time, presumably something cumulative within USB, and USB can be reset by removing and replacing the dongle.

I have a simple ‘Trust Wireless deskset’ got that many years ago and was pleasantly surprised that RISC OS 5 would simply work with it.
Now at 5.21 (no idea which version I was running 4 years ago..) it still works well. I do have to say that the signal is rather weak. having stuff in the line of sight between the USB dongle and the keyboard or mouse will often cause unresponsiveness of keys or mouse.
This is with the Beagle Board. I would be surprised if the Pi would act differently.

– are you getting any dropped mouse clicks?

Re: Maplin Cerulian mini deskset. It was OK to start with but did start to drop a lot of mouse clicks. The dongle was plugged into a powered USB hub, it was moved to the back of the Pi and there has been no further trouble. The mouse does send itself off to sleep and can need an extra click to wake it up, other wireless mice do the same.

I have had key pressed problems with several previous keyboards, shift would appear to be stuck, pressing shift unstuck it, this has not happened (yet?) with the Maplin job.

Hello

Personnaly, I tried three sets wireless keyboard+mouse (one trust and 2 logitech) and finally gave up and came back to a wired keyboard and mouse. The problem of dropped mouse clicks and “repeating” keys just drove me nuts!

Re: dropped and repeating keys.

I too had the dropped/repeating keys thing, even with a wired keyboard. The keyboard and a Logitech wireless mouse were running to the Pi through a cheap KVM. So I tried cutting out the KVM and connecting them to the board through a USB hub, but the problem remained. Finally, I tried connecting them direct and the problem disappeared.

I normally keep a memory stick permanently fitted to one USB socket as it also doesn’t like unpowered hubs, so I was still short of a permanent solution. Then I remembered that my monitor (a Dell 1707FP) has a built-in powered 4-port hub, which I have never got around to trying. I wish I’d tried it earlier as everything now runs very smoothly (including the memory stick) with no click or key problems.

And then things got even better: as the monitor hub is self-powered, I thought I’d see if I could power my Rev-2 Pi from it. Sure enough, the Pi fired up quite happily without its usual PSU once I’d sourced a 0.5m USB mini to full-size plug lead (£2 on eBay).

The Dell monitor has two USB sockets at the rear, which are ideal for permanently attached items like the USB power lead to the Pi and a USB keyboard. It also has two more convenient sockets on the side – one of which now houses the memory stick, leaving a spare socket for other items like the Maplin USB robot arm I’m currently writing some software for. The two Pi sockets now accommodate the wireless mouse and an uplink cable to the monitor’s hub.

The final bonus is that when the Pi occasionally locks up due to my dodgy coding, a double click of the monitor’s little front-mounted power button has the Pi restarted in seconds.

Things have never run so smoothly or required so few cables – I wish I’d thought of this right from the start.

The only proviso is that the monitor can’t power a memory card in the Pi’s on-board socket as well as the Pi – USB memory cards are surprisingly power hungry – but they run fine in the monitor’s side sockets.

The only proviso is that the monitor can’t power a memory card in the Pi’s on-board socket as well as the Pi – USB memory cards are surprisingly power hungry – but they run fine in the monitor’s side sockets.

Can you run a harddisc off the TV? Chances are that it is not providing the standard 500mA (like most embedded stuff) so you are probably lucky to be able to run the Pi from the TV. Expecting the Pi plus peripherals plus storage…it’s a little too much.

My way of example – two USB ports of my eeePC 901 run my Pi. One USB port is for the Pi, keyboard, mouse, and from time to time a flash media stick. The other USB port is for the HDMI→VGA adaptor, which consumes almost as much as the Pi itself!

In comparison, the bare Pi (no keyboard or mouse, only an SD card for storage, and using composite video) will just about start up if I try to run it off my DVD player. It either crashes or resets itself before it gets to the Desktop.

Re: dropped and repeating keys on the Pi
This is recognised bug in USB at a low level and uses the same code as the Debian builds. The Raspberry Pi Foundation commissioned someone to fix it, primarily AIUI by moving to use FIRQ rather than IRQ, as far as I can see from monitoring the USB REDUX thread on the Pi forum, they have now fixed it in Debian. What now remains to be done is to port the changes to the RISC OS USB driver. Unfortunately the best person to do this is working flat out on other things at present.

If anyone’s still interested in keyboards etc., there are some Acer ones on ebay that work brilliantly with RISC OS (I have four!) and are of really good quality.

You can also Buy this ini Bluetooth Keyboard :

http://www.ankaka.com/mini-bluetooth-keyboard-for-ipadsmartphonesps3-computerslaptops_p46367.html

it works for iPad,Smartphones,PS3, computers/laptops…..
it’s very chap and workable .

Highlights…

• Mini Bluetooth Keyboard – The perfect companion to your mobile phone
• Ideal for writing emails, texting, or gaming
• Compatible with: Nokia Symbian, Windows Mobile OS
• Also works with iPad, PS3, computers/laptops
• 49 responsive, accurate keys
• Pocket sized, sleek, slim design

Good Luck

I have just noticed that the Maplin wireless keyboard and mouse is back on offer at £14.99:

That is good value for use with a Pi, I think.