Customizing a non-mighty mouse

[ero87]

Hi,

On this shiny new macbook pro, i'm using a Radioshack usb mini-mouse. For some reason (I just discovered this), clicking the scroll wheel on a link opens that link up in a new tab. I can't find where this is under preferences, but i'd like to configure this button to do Expose, dashboard, or something like that. Is this possible?

 

[killmoms]

Hi,

On this shiny new macbook pro, i'm using a Radioshack usb mini-mouse. For some reason (I just discovered this), clicking the scroll wheel on a link opens that link up in a new tab. I can't find where this is under preferences, but i'd like to configure this button to do Expose, dashboard, or something like that. Is this possible?

That's a default Safari setting, as most tab-capable broswers behave this way. If you want to bind it to an Exposé function or Dashboard, you can easily do that under the Exposé & Dashboard pane in System Preferences. Just set one of 'em to "Mouse Button 3."

 

[mfacey]

I'm quite amused by the fact that you made a screen capture of the isight window

 

[devilot]

That's a default Safari setting, as most tab-capable broswers behave this way. If you want to bind it to an Exposé function or Dashboard, you can easily do that under the Exposé & Dashboard pane in System Preferences. Just set one of 'em to "Mouse Button 3."

:Hangs head in shame:

You have just changed my entire computing experience. I've had a really nice multi button mouse for months but figured I couldn't configure all those buttons w/ out using the CD and so I never bothered with it.

I <3 Mac OS X. And cool MR members who know loads more than I do.

 

[ero87]

That's a default Safari setting, as most tab-capable broswers behave this way. If you want to bind it to an Exposé function or Dashboard, you can easily do that under the Exposé & Dashboard pane in System Preferences. Just set one of 'em to "Mouse Button 3."

Perfect! Thanks a lot, works beautifully.

 

[ero87]

I'm quite amused by the fact that you made a screen capture of the isight window

I'm a secretly HUGE fan of taking screenshots, a feature that i always wished windows had (maybe it did? I dunno, windows sucks anyway.)

 

[Cloudgazer]

Is there any way to switch the left and right mouse buttons?

I'm running 10.3.9, and my mouse is a MS Phillip Stark mouse.

 

[ero87]

Is there any way to switch the left and right mouse buttons?

I'm running 10.3.9, and my mouse is a MS Phillip Stark mouse.

I'm pretty sure there is, under the Keyboard and Mouse system preference pane. Button 1, button 2...

 

[Cloudgazer]

I'm pretty sure there is, under the Keyboard and Mouse system preference pane. Button 1, button 2...

No such luck. There might be the option in Tiger, but not Panther.

Is there some sort of driver i can download?

 

[mkrishnan]

I'm a secretly HUGE fan of taking screenshots, a feature that i always wished windows had (maybe it did? I dunno, windows sucks anyway.)

It does, FWIW... I think there's ctrl-printscreen to copy the screen into the clipboard, and then you can paste it anywhere you want, for instance to Paint. There are other shortcuts too, for capturing specific windows, etc, I think.

You (back to the mouse control topic) might try USB Overdrive to see if it gives you any useful additional control:

http://www.usboverdrive.com/USBOverdrive/News.html

 

[killmoms]

No such luck. There might be the option in Tiger, but not Panther.

Is there some sort of driver i can download?

Under Keyboard & Mouse, in the Mouse tab, there's a section labeled "Primary Mouse Button." You can choose Left or Right. I believe this is the same in Panther too—that's a pretty basic freaking adjustment.

 

[7on]

I'm a secretly HUGE fan of taking screenshots, a feature that i always wished windows had (maybe it did? I dunno, windows sucks anyway.)

Opt+Cmd+S will save a .tiff to the desktop of the iSight window in iChat (so you don't get the app window in there too).

 

[mikes63737]

I'm a secretly HUGE fan of taking screenshots, a feature that i always wished windows had (maybe it did? I dunno, windows sucks anyway.)

I know that this isn't a windows forum, but in Windows you can take a screenshot by pressing Print Screen on your keyboard, and opening a program such as Paint and pasting it into there, and then saving from there.

About the 3rd button thing - Thanks! You saved me from the "mighty mouse"! Now I can customize my other mouse!

 

[MajereXYU]

Windows allows you to take screenshots but it's far less intuituve.

-Press PrintScreen Button on keyboard / CTRL+PrintScreen if you want only active app window
-open up Paint or other imaging program
-paste
-save as format you wish

OSX :
-Press Ctrl+Shift+3 and get a nice .tiff (or was it PNG) of thw whole screen on the desktop.
or
-Press Ctrl+Shift+4 and use the provided cursor to select which area of the screen you want.

All of this is built-in. If this is not easy enough for you, open up a Finder window and go to Applications/Utilities and open Grab.app

It's a nifty little program that allows you to take screenshots and even take timed (T minus x sec) screenshots.

Hope that helps and don't quote me on the Ctrl+Shift+3 and Ctrl+Shift+4 shortcuts; I'm away from my iMac atm and can't verify.

 

[Cloudgazer]

Under Keyboard & Mouse, in the Mouse tab, there's a section labeled "Primary Mouse Button." You can choose Left or Right. I believe this is the same in Panther too—that's a pretty basic freaking adjustment.

You believe its the same in panther? Or you know its the same in Panther?

Unfortunately there is no option switching mouse buttons in Panther without some sort of specific mouse driver.

Don't worry though - I found the drivers I needed and am now a happy camper.