3 ms·

Can you point me to some mice and / or keyboards that can do that? I searched for something like this for ages and gave up.

by domano 5y ago

gogoincar 5y ago
Not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you like/need an ergonomic layout Kinesis Bluetooth keyboards support multiple devices.
handrous 5y ago
My current keyboard: Keychron k8a3. It's not beautiful, but it's cheap (for a mechanical BT keyboard) and it's not given me any trouble [edit: any trouble with connectivity and device-switching being at all fiddly or unreliable, or with basic being-a-keyboard functionality—obviously the "complaints" paragraph below means it's given me some trouble]. fn + 1/2/3 switches devices. Has a built-in battery that charges over USB-C. Lasts days on battery even if I accidentally leave the KB's light on a couple nights, and despite my tuning its power-saving features down to basically nothing. Complaints: it's easy to accidentally hit the light-pattern-cycle button on the top-right, or for a cat to do the same, and I always want it on "steady light, no pattern" (I hate flashing lights on keyboards) but then have to hammer the button twenty times to get back to my preferred setting if it gets pressed. This happens maybe once a week, and is annoying. I also had problems with it dropping into sleep mode a lot when I didn't want it to, but IIRC there was some settings-modifying key-combo in the manual that mostly fixed that (at the cost of worse battery life), and keeping the backlight on its lowest light level (rather than off) during use made the problem 100% go away. https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-k8-tenkeyless-wireless-mechanical-keyboard https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-k8-tenkeyless-wir... $69 My current mouse: Logitech M720 Triathlon. Basically a boring, normal, easy-to-find lowish-mid-range BT mouse. One of the thumb-buttons on the side handles device switching. Tap once, the light under the current device (1, 2, or 3) comes on on the mouse (those lights are off normally). More taps and it starts cycling through them. Four taps and you're back where you started. Simple, quick, and reliable. Works fine. Has a weighted free-spinning scrollwheel (though you can push in a switch to make it feel like a more traditional wheel) that took some getting used to (that is: I hated it at first) but I really like it now. https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/mice/m720-triathlon.910-004790.html https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/mice/m720-triathlon.... $40 on Amazon In the past, I've also used a Logitech K380 BT keyboard, which was (and looks like still is?) TheWireCutter's recommended BT keyboard. It's very much a travel-type keyboard, though, so I don't love using it at my desk. It does support three devices at a time, though, and that functionality worked just fine while I was using it. I keep it around just-in-case, since it's tiny anyway, but don't use it much anymore. Nothing wrong with it, though. https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/keyboards/k380-multi-device.920-007558.html https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/keyboards/k380-multi... $30 on Amazon (no affiliation with, nor particular loyalty to, Keychron or Logitech)

Can you point me to some mice and / or keyboards that can do that? I searched for something like this for ages and gave up.

by domano 5y ago

Can you point me to some mice and / or keyboards that can do that? I searched for something like this for ages and gave up.

gogoincar 5y ago

Not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you like/need an ergonomic layout Kinesis Bluetooth keyboards support multiple devices.

handrous 5y ago

My current keyboard: Keychron k8a3. It's not beautiful, but it's cheap (for a mechanical BT keyboard) and it's not given me any trouble [edit: any trouble with connectivity and device-switching being at all fiddly or unreliable, or with basic being-a-keyboard functionality—obviously the "complaints" paragraph below means it's given me some trouble]. fn + 1/2/3 switches devices. Has a built-in battery that charges over USB-C. Lasts days on battery even if I accidentally leave the KB's light on a couple nights, and despite my tuning its power-saving features down to basically nothing. Complaints: it's easy to accidentally hit the light-pattern-cycle button on the top-right, or for a cat to do the same, and I always want it on "steady light, no pattern" (I hate flashing lights on keyboards) but then have to hammer the button twenty times to get back to my preferred setting if it gets pressed. This happens maybe once a week, and is annoying. I also had problems with it dropping into sleep mode a lot when I didn't want it to, but IIRC there was some settings-modifying key-combo in the manual that mostly fixed that (at the cost of worse battery life), and keeping the backlight on its lowest light level (rather than off) during use made the problem 100% go away. https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-k8-tenkeyless-wireless-mechanical-keyboard https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-k8-tenkeyless-wir... $69 My current mouse: Logitech M720 Triathlon. Basically a boring, normal, easy-to-find lowish-mid-range BT mouse. One of the thumb-buttons on the side handles device switching. Tap once, the light under the current device (1, 2, or 3) comes on on the mouse (those lights are off normally). More taps and it starts cycling through them. Four taps and you're back where you started. Simple, quick, and reliable. Works fine. Has a weighted free-spinning scrollwheel (though you can push in a switch to make it feel like a more traditional wheel) that took some getting used to (that is: I hated it at first) but I really like it now. https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/mice/m720-triathlon.910-004790.html https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/mice/m720-triathlon.... $40 on Amazon In the past, I've also used a Logitech K380 BT keyboard, which was (and looks like still is?) TheWireCutter's recommended BT keyboard. It's very much a travel-type keyboard, though, so I don't love using it at my desk. It does support three devices at a time, though, and that functionality worked just fine while I was using it. I keep it around just-in-case, since it's tiny anyway, but don't use it much anymore. Nothing wrong with it, though. https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/keyboards/k380-multi-device.920-007558.html https://www.logitech.com/en-us/products/keyboards/k380-multi... $30 on Amazon (no affiliation with, nor particular loyalty to, Keychron or Logitech)