DJKnight99 Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 Hi everyone! Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, I guess this counts as buying advice... Someone mentioned to me that when you build a hackintosh that having a bluetooth or wireless keyboard and mouse isn't a good idea because you can't control the BIOS screen when it initially boots up because the wireless stuff won't work until the OS is booted or something. I'm planning on having two hard drives to dual boot with mac/windoze, so I need something to work the second the power goes on, as well as obviously for the set up process. As I've never built any kind of PC before, let alone a hackintosh I'm a little bit confused as to what I actually or can get away with. Can I just get a wired USB keyboard and still use a bluetooth or wireless mouse? Or do both need to be wired? As far as I'm aware the BIOS screens are all menu driven so don't need a mouse right? Thanks for the help, it's not a huge deal I just wanted to make sure I don't do anything really stupid! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaap Posted August 27, 2009 Share Posted August 27, 2009 The problem really only applies to Bluetooth. You should have no such problem accessing the BIOS or bootloader with any standard wireless keyboard (RF or IR) because these act as standard USB HID devices that function pre-OS and drivers. (Usually there's a BIOS setting to enable legacy USB keyboard support.) You usually won't/can't use a mouse in the BIOS or pre-OS. Bluetooth keyboards on the other hand often don't function until the OS loads the BT drivers, therefore, many are notorious for not allowing access to the BIOS or anything requiring a keypress before the OS loads. Some BT keyboards apparently DO have a HID-compliant mode that allows them to work pre-boot, but I'm not sure which ones. At any rate, you'd do fine to have a cheap wired or wireless USB keyboard (not PS2, as they are just bad for OSX) for the BIOS, and then use the BT keyboard for after it boots. (That is, if you specifically care about using a BT keyboard- otherwise, just stick with wireless USB, preferably RF). Just so you know, you can have several point devices and keyboards attached to the same system with no ill-effects what-so-ever. I currently have a wireless RF/USB Logitech DiNovo keyboard attached (works fine in the BIOS)a wired USB Apple keyboard, plus two wireless USB mice. It doesn't matter to either OSX or Windows that all are hooked up at once, just whichever I reach for to use works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJKnight99 Posted August 27, 2009 Author Share Posted August 27, 2009 Thanks Zaap! I don't really want to clutter my workspace up with 2 keyboards, so I'm probably just going to get a wireless USB keyboard and mouse. Thanks again for the advice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KariNeko Posted August 30, 2009 Share Posted August 30, 2009 I'm using Apple's Wireless Keyboard, and it works fine, well most of the time you can access the BIOS but there are certain times you couldn't. Also using a Bluetooth D-Link USB dongle that is HID-compliant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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