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Bluetooth mice: need HID profile support

post #1 of 11
8/13/03 at 6:43pm
Thread Starter 
I just ordered my 8890 today and was researching bluetooth mice. I love wireless mice and I despise dongles, so this seemed like the perfect solution. As of right now, it seems that only Microsoft sells a bluetooth mouse. I hear Logitech might have one soon, but aparrently they have been saying that for almost 3 years now.

Many people have been complaining that the MS bluetooth mouse won't work with 3rd party bluetooth transcievers. TomsHardware also mentioned this in their review of the product.

After doing a little more research online, it looks like it might be a problem with most bluetooth adapters and not necesarily MS trying to tie you to their basestation (even though you can't buy the mouse without the basestation).

It looks like very few bluetooth adapters at the moment have the HID profile support either in their hardware or in their drivers. The HID profile support is required for Human Interface Devices such as mice and keyboards. The Bluetooth specification has something like 12 common profiles, and 20 or so total profiles.

Since before now there weren't any HID devices on the market, most bluetooth adapter manufacturers aparrently left HID profile support out of their devices. Hopefull this is rectified with just a driver update and does not require new hardware.

So, after all of that background, here is my question:

Does the new mini-USB bluetooth transciever in the 8890 have HID profile support so I can use a Microsoft's bluetooth mouse? Or the yet unreleased bluetooth mouse from another manufacturer?

-Mike
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post #2 of 11
8/13/03 at 7:18pm
I used to have an X1000 that had bluetooth. Unfortunately, I had to return if because of problems. However, I had the MS Bluetooth mouse, and it worked without using Microsoft's receiver. I installed MS's drivers through the CD that came with it. I then went to the Bluetooth device menu and searched available devices. It came up. I hope this helps.
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post #3 of 11
8/13/03 at 7:29pm
Thread Starter 
A Compaq/HP X1000?

Does anybody have any experience with a Sager notebook? I guess its all kinda moot until someone gets an 8890 with the miniUSB and actually tries it. Unless someone knows the specifications for the mini-USB bluetooth transciever?

-Mike

P.S., what did you think of the X1000? I almost went with that, but I shied away because:

A) I have NEVER liked Compaq or HP computers
B) I decided to go with a full-blown desktop replacement
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post #4 of 11
8/13/03 at 7:56pm
The X1000 was a nicely built machine. There was a keyboard defect in all of the X1000's that shipped around the time I got mine. Compaq either already posted the fix or is in the process of finalizing it. I also had a whining noise coming from the harddrive. There is a forum x1000forums.com that I was a part of. Many people experienced problems so I decided to send mine back and not bother with a replacement. It's a shame because Compaq could have had a real big winner there. Once they fix the bugs I'm sure it will be a great machine. The screen was really awesome. For a Pentium M, it was pretty quick.

I'm waiting for the 5680 to come out now.
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post #5 of 11
8/13/03 at 8:30pm
Bluetooth was a great idea but turned out really bad. Basically, it is slow, weak, VERY limited range, and too darn expensive. It is a ridiculous ripoff.
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post #6 of 11
8/13/03 at 8:42pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Doggonit
Bluetooth was a great idea but turned out really bad. Basically, it is slow, weak, VERY limited range, and too darn expensive. It is a ridiculous ripoff.
I would generally agree with this, from my experiences with BT.

I use BT to connect my Palm Tungsten-T to my Nokia 6310i (unlocked) and it's nice... but the handshaking and establishing a connection every time I do something with the phone really adds to the "speed" or overall efficiency of it.

Not sure how it would be with a BT mouse/keyboard, but I imagine everytime the computer was turned on, there would need to be a new negotiation, etc.

Not to mention if you walked out of range with the mouse or keyboard, a new negotiation would take place to re-establish the pairing.

It's a good idea, but is not terribly efficient.

-myrkat
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post #7 of 11
9/7/03 at 12:51am
Quote:
Originally posted by myrkat
I use BT to connect my Palm Tungsten-T to my Nokia 6310i (unlocked) and it's nice... but the handshaking and establishing a connection every time I do something with the phone really adds to the "speed" or overall efficiency of it.
Hi myrkat, I recently posted a question (in a different bluetooth tread) about Bluetooth connection to the Sagers via a Nokia 6310 for use as an internet connection.

Have you tried this with your 8887 (did it have bluetooth?)? If so how well did it work and/or how hard was it to get it to work?
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post #8 of 11
9/7/03 at 8:34pm
Quote:
Originally posted by MikeInMass
A Compaq/HP X1000?

Does anybody have any experience with a Sager notebook? I guess its all kinda moot until someone gets an 8890 with the miniUSB and actually tries it. Unless someone knows the specifications for the mini-USB bluetooth transciever?

-Mike

P.S., what did you think of the X1000? I almost went with that, but I shied away because:

A) I have NEVER liked Compaq or HP computers
B) I decided to go with a full-blown desktop replacement
I wanted to go w/ the x1000, but changed my mind b/c compaq BLOWS. They gave me so much ****, and I didn't even get to buy the damn thing. (And I'm glad about it now.)
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post #9 of 11
9/7/03 at 11:12pm
worse thing I ever bought was this comcrap laptop
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post #10 of 11
9/8/03 at 6:24pm
So what purpose does the Bluetooth serve? I got it just because it seemed stupid not to. (Just like I thought 802.11b was stupid not to get a year or so ago when I bought my last laptop, look how much it has caught on!)

But... if mouses and keyboards don't work with it, what does?
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post #11 of 11
9/8/03 at 7:11pm
My take, with some limited bluetooth experience -

If you have a bluetooth phone AND the right cell phone company/plan you can use the phone to connect to the internet. However, the current business model for most data plans are pretty terrible, and not conducive to significant internet access via GPRS (they charge per MB, and it's not cheap). You CAN use your phone as a regular modem over the cellular band by calling up an existing ISP, but:

1. Not all cell phone companies allow this (I forget the technical terms atm)

2. It is SLOW - I believe that the maximum transfer rate is around 9600 kbps. As a result, you can't really browse using this technique.


Another thing to do with bluetooth is connect to a PDA. Yes, you can also do this with Wi-Fi, but BT is much less power-hungry. There are also some other devices you could use if so inclined (e.g. GPS).


Conclusion - Unless you're are a special case, BT on the laptop isn't worth it right now. However, while I'm quite disappointed in the lack of keyboard/mouse support, I'm hoping that the future will allow many more possibilities. I'm not so quick to dismiss it as a useless technology, and any others of you out there with bluetooth cell phones/wireless headsets probably agree with me.

edit: I did order it on my 5680, so I'm obviously optimistic that it will be worth it at some point.
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