Powerbook 12" and bluetooth

[gallagb]

hey- is there any way to get a bluetooth antenna for the 12" pb rev c?

i ask b/c i've got a BT500 wireless bluetooth mouse from radtech
and i'm on my 3rd one- b/c i keep having prbms w/ the mouse-
basically- it seems to get 'lost' on the screen-
i'll be using the mouse- and it'll just kinda 'go wander' around-
kinda odd

i change out batteries...etc- same prbm

i'm beginning to doubt that it is the mouse

come to think of it-
when i use my bluetooth keyboard- sometimes it lags...

my laptop is closed book
and is located a whole 47 inches from the keyboard on the same flat surface w/ NOTHING inbetween the two cept for papers and the likes.

ideas?

 

[WCat]

Not sure what you're asking here. Do you have the built-in Bluetooth module from Apple? If so, then the antenna is shared with the Airport, and there is no need to go looking for an antenna. Are you asking about replacing the antenna, suspecting poor signal strength? Again, not much you can do there because it's built in. Signal strength is probably not your problem anyway.

What, exactly, are you using on the PB for Bluetooth? External dongle from DLink or built-in Apple?


Need more info.

WCat

 

[gallagb]

sorry
i've got the built in module

u answered my question
i know that it is built in- w/ the airport antenna
was just courious if it could be further extended/enhanced


was also asking a sub-question related to the BT500 to see if anyone else was having prbms w/ it


thanks for responding though!

 

[WCat]

Sure, no problem! As I said though, I really can't see that your problem is low signal strength. You should be able to get Bluetooth connectivity of at least 50-80 feet between two PB's with the built-in Apple BT modules and antennas, so it is probably not due to low signal strength.

Do you use Airport Express wireless at the same time? Some mice (those that are not Apple) will not work with the built-in adaptive frequency hopping, which avoids walking all over the same frequency that your Airport is using. The result is that they momentarily lose data packet transfers as they hop through the Airport signal frequency, which causes retries that can possibly make the cursor stutter or jump around if it gets bad enough.

I've tried a few different non-Apple BT mice, and some of them do a horrible job of tracking cleanly over a wireless connection if things are less than perfect. Just a thought. You might want to try a different mouse just as a test.

You might want to also do a little keyword searching of older topics here. There have been more than just a few mentions of BT mouse tracking problems--including some Apple mice.

Cheers,

WCat

 

[johnnyjibbs]

All PowerBooks have built-in bluetooth. It should not interfere with your AirPort and it should work up to a distance of 10m (30ft). I have the Apple Bluetooth mouse and AirPort on and I have no problems so check you haven't got a faulty mouse or faulty bluetooth in your Mac.

 

[gallagb]

i think the prbm is the mouse
i've got both the BT500 (radtech) and the apple bluetooth mouse

and the radtech one does screwy things sometimes-
while the apple one is fine

but the apple one is like 1000lbs
whereas the radtech one is light as a feather-
(and has 2 buttons/scroll wheel)

anyhow- i've gotten myself off topic
thanks for the info about bluetooth and airtport etc-