One of the problems with Bluetooth mice and the Mac is that virtually none of them supply drivers. So, your mouse might have a gazillion handy-dandy buttons, but you’ll only get the wheel + right/left click.
For USB mice, USB Overdrive was the way to go for a long time, to the point where it was pretty clear that Microsoft’s own mouse and keyboard drivers were being done by the USB Overdrive guy. But, unfortunately, he’s been unable to get the Bluetooth support out the door.
Apple’s recent Bluetooth version of Mighty Mouse is out the door, but it, too, has minimal capability—you just can’t do much with the extra buttons, at least, not much beyond what has been pre-programmed. (And don’t get me started on that idiotic side-button-and-way-to-move-the-mouse-while-clicking implementation… ugh. Sometimes, Apple gets it wrong.)
For all this, there is a solution: Steer Mouse.
Steer Mouse is a replacement driver, like USB Overdrive, that enables all the various buttons for all your 3rd party mice, Bluetooth or USB, and even allows your Mighty Mouse to work more flexibly. (Alas, like USB Overdrive, it’s a preference pane that’s not really a preference pane.)
Works a treat with every mouse I’ve thrown at it. Just make sure to turn off the default “Move cursor to OK” action—the system should never, ever move the mouse on the user like that.
05 Aug 2006 at 11:58 am | #
Dave, I’ve been using a Kensington Mini-Pilot BT mouse with my 12” PB 1.5, along with its MouseWorks 2.9 preference pane. This is a good solution which allows plenty of config choices for buttons, scrolling, click speed and acceleration. It also pairs up nicely with Tiger.
05 Aug 2006 at 05:13 pm | #
Hey, Brian—I’ve been avoiding Kensington stuff since I tried the Studio Mouse and found it to be quite bad: it overcharged its batteries, fell apart and had various driver problems. I’ll have to take a look at their more recent stuff…