iMacs in a suite, blue tooth keyboards and mice all interfering...

[Tony_Mc]

hey guys and girls

 

I have an issue with a suite of 27 iMacs and the fact that they only come with wireless keyboards and mice.

 

the simple solution here is to get wired keyboards and mice and this won't be too much of an issue but...

 

Has anyone else here got a suite of macs that run on the wireless keyboards and mice and experience interference?

 

some of the macs are not picking up their keyboards, some are not picking up their mice etc..

 

This seems as though it might be a big issue but not sure if there is something I can do about it?!

 

Thank

 

tony

[richardp]

Hi I have 30 iMacs however I decided not to go with the wireless option for that exact reason. I was concerned that they may interact with each other and cause problems so went with the wired ones instead. However I have no proof that this is a widespread problem and so long as you are syncing in some way the keyboard and mouse to a specific iMac then it should work. Have you had this problem from day one or has it only just happened? Could it be failing batteries or a system update of some kind?

 

Richard

[dhicks]

some of the macs are not picking up their keyboards, some are not picking up their mice etc..

 

If I understand correctly, Bluetooth uses the same chunk of bandwidth (and, indeed, the same hardware) as the 802.11 wireless networking protocols. Trying to use more than about half a dozen Bluetooth devices in close proximity to each other is going to give you lots of inteference. Is there maybe some way to reduce the power used by the keyboards and mice?

 

--

David Hicks

[K.C.Leblanc]

There's another reason, within a week the kids will realise that keyboard swopsies are highly ammusing. Hey look I'm sat at my iMac typing and it's coming out on a computer the other side of the room.

[Nikthomas]

There's another reason, within a week the kids will realise that keyboard swopsies are highly ammusing. Hey look I'm sat at my iMac typing and it's coming out on a computer the other side of the room.

 

And... look how nicely this magic mouse sits in my pocket

[Tunster]

And... look how nicely this magic mouse sits in my pocket

Wireless mice + schools = FAIL... I remember in my school days when we had rubber balls in mice. Why would any human being nick one of those?

[Squelch]

Kids are not human beings..

[Tony_Mc]

this is a very highly achieving all girls school and the school know the risks, this room is only used by the media department.

 

 

anyways, the issue is not whether or not stuff will get nicked, it is how the ruddy hell do I get a room full of iMacs working

 

seems to be a known issue, trying all the normal stuff first like updating all the drivers etc.

 

will update when I get somewhere, though I fear I will have to present the school with a bill for 1200 for wired apple mice and keyboards.

 

Tony

[Robbocop]

You were not advised properly when you bought them, by the sounds of it. Although the standard configuration of iMac comes with a short wireless keyboard and a wireless Magic Mouse, you can ask for wired usb mice and either the short wired keyboard or the full "numeric" one for no extra charge. In fact, we tend to stock more of that latter spec these days than the standard (any Jigsaw product code ending in NK (Numeric Keyboard). Now that you are in the situation though, you might want to approach your vendor and see if they'll do a deal to swap the wireless ones out for you. I'm sure they'll charge you a bit, but hopefully they can do that. Just to add, the serial number of each Mac also identifies what peripherals it shipped with, so it isn't a straight forward case of swapping them out. There's a lot of background work for the reseller, and then a heap of second hand stock they might not be able to clear quickly. I'm not making excuses for a reseller who should have advised you better, but it isn't always easy to solve these things. I hope that helps a bit, and sorry to hear you're in this predicament.

 

Rob

[Dos_Box]

Wireless keyboards and mice in any shared space = grief.