Home Forums Discussions General Discussion ONE MOUSE MULTIPLE ROOMS

I have several exam rooms, each with a laptop in the room.

I am wondering if I bought a several of the same type of wireless mice and carried one around in my pocket if it would work in each room.

Has anyone every seen a wireless mouse with multiple usbs

Neat question, I'm not sure. Why don't you get a few phone numbers of a few different companies and see what they say... Sure sounds worth investagating though... Let us know what you find out....

Vicki:

That is an interesting question. I had a couple of little Sakar cheapie wireless mice and tried the experiment. It did not work with them.

This could vary with manufacturer, I suppose.

Question: If you leave the laptop in the room, why do you need a wireless mouse?

Thanks for the responses HR and BCMD
I want the mouse to be wireless because it is one less cord to worry about. I am also concerned about an unattended mouse walking off.
Will keep you posted.

If your laptop has a sensitive touchscreen, then of course you can carry a stylus from room to room... it takes a little getting used to, but it is definitely portable, and replacement styli are cheap.

Vicki,

Good question. My experience would say no, if I am understanding your question correctly. It seems that if I purchase a keyboard and mouse, it will only work for that USB. I think Logitech and all want you to have to purchase an additional mouse, etc. Now, I also had an experience where one mouse would affect the other computers in other rooms. That was weird watchng the cursor randomyly move across the screen.

I will say also, that in over eight years of using wireless mouse, not one has been stolen. Wish I could say the same of our extremely popular Find It game.

We're trying something similar with our project. Where we are mice walking off by themselves is expected to be a problem. So, we are taking the bluetooth hubs with the mice and keyboards. The mice are bound to the bluetooth hub so whereever it's plugged in will be where it works.

Bluetooth has a range of up to 33 ft, so each device has to be paired with another device. That's why you can't just take one mouse from one comp to another. There would be overlap if it was designed that way and you would end up controlling all of your comps at once.

There may be some software somewhere, but I don't know about it yet.

This might be the perfect solution:

http://www.amazon.com/Adesso-Wirele...lectronics&qid=1214853492&sr=1-3

Four stars on Amazon, free shipping with Amazon Prime: $64.24.

The "mouse" (actually a trackball) is built-in to the keyboard.

It would be a lot easier for you to carry out of the room, or a lot harder for somebody to steal if you left it in the room.

I'm not sure that there is a solution. The mouse/dongle combination are a radio/receiver combination.

A laptop in each room I think is an expensive proposition. Why not a small form factor PC? look at the boxes from www.shuttle.com.

Vicki,

I am still not sure what you are trying to accomplish.

Now, my Fujitsu IR keyboards are interchangeable with each Fujitsu tablet.

We considered mounting a keyboard in each room and mounting a stand for a tablet. The stylus was attached to the tablet/slate.

When you enter the room, you place the tablet on the stand (in slate mode, if you follow me).

You can type on the keyboard, and then use the stylus as your "mouse."

Benjamin
The bluetooth idea sounds neat. This weekend when I have time, I"m going to look into that.

Bert
I am trying to keep my "mice" from being pocketed when I'm not paying attention.

Brian
I will ceck out the keyboard you told me about this weekend. We have a laptop in each room, so I think I really just need "mice"
I'm not a stylus person. I find it more awkward that typing or just writing by hand. I can type way faster than I can write so I like to finish the note before I leave the room.


Thanks to everyone-sure is encouraging. I really appreciate the suggestions.

Great thread, Vicki.

I understand your mouse stealing issue. And, it certainly may be an issue for you. I am just trying to give some statistics. Six years without one stolen mouse.

I don't want to speak for Brian, but I do quite a bit, lol. I don't think he was suggesting writing with a stylus. I think he just meant navigating through things with a stylus on the screen. You would still use your keyboard. Funny story. Well, not that funny.

When I was a resident, we started using PCIS (Physician Computerized Information Systems) which we all called Patient Care Is Secondary because everyone had their head stuck in the computer instead of looking at patients. But, the first year and a half, it was touch screen, probably a better term. We loved it. We could navigate through the orders and labs in lightning speed. Then they changed to mice. Of course, at first we hates it. Why? It was change. After a month or so, it was easy.

I have to second Bert.

Kids are known to "pocket" things, and after almost 6 years as well, I have never had one disappear. We are both in Pediatrics.

Another concern would be dropping off the desk and other trauma. I have gone through mice from "natural causes." I found an inexpensive site and bought a number of optical (LED) mice inexpensively as replacements, but have never lost one to theft.

Thanks, Bert, that's exactly what I meant.

If you have a touch-sensitive screen, you just tap what you want to select, or double-tap if you want to double-click.

If you want to right-click, there is a button on the pen you can press while you click, or else you hold the tip of the pen to the screen until the right-click menu appears.

I believe mice are sending specific radio signals to the receivers. We have wireless mice on all of our clients, and they are not interchangeable. Otherwise, one staff member sitting next to another's client could control their screen.

There is no good solution to this problem that I can think of. You may be able to place bluetooth adapter at each workstation, assign each workstation to that mouse and then when the mouse is in range it should link up. The limited range of the bluetooth should prevent crosstalk with other rooms. You would have to sync the mouse(by pressing a button on it) every time you moved it to a different computer. I have not tested this nor would I know if that would work for sure but it is a thought.

The wireless mouse would have to be bluetooth to make this work. Most wireless mouses are not bluetooth but a proprietary standard. Perhaps you could search user forums for the mouse you have to see if someone has developed a solution.

Geoffrey Thomas, DO

OK, I am opening a business called RICK. Rodent Insurance Company of Kansas. For jsut $10.00, I will replace all mice stolen with a valid police report. We insure over 200 mice just in the grater Maine area alone. Our father company is out of Topeka.

We are thinking of opening a keybaord insurance company of Kansas. KICK. It will be slightly more: $15.00 per keyboard.

The "limited range" of Bluetooth 2.0 is 300 feet!

Personally, if you don't use RICK or KICK insurance, I would go with the cordless mice in each room. If you lose one to a petty theft, then change your system. It may be helpful to either post a sign stating that these mice will only work with this computer or make a screensaver which says that.

I should clarify that bluetooth devices can have different ranges, a vast majority of which operate in a limited range 10ft. The version refers to the protocol being used to transmit the data which has nothing to do with range. The class of the device refers to the range that it has. I am pretty sure that cellphones do not transmit 200 ft.

Hopefully you can purchase a device adapter that allows for selection of the signal strength like with 802.11 wireless.

refer to this link : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth

I had not read BenjaminSerrato's post earlier in the thread, I do not mean to repeat ideas. I do not have any specific experience with this. I will defer to others.

Here I come to save the day!!!!