

With the single button mouse design established for almost 25 years, the history of the Apple Mouse is basically a museum of design and ergonomics. With the design complete, the operating system was adapted to interface with the single button design using keystrokes in combination with button clicks to recreate some of the features desired from the original Xerox three-button design. Hundreds of prototypes later, Apple settled on a single button mouse, roughly the size of a deck of cards. Apple commissioned Hovey-Kelley Design (which later became IDEO) to assist them with the mouse design, which not only had to be redesigned to cost US$25 instead of US$400, but also needed to be tested with real consumers outside a laboratory setting to learn how people were willing to use it. One of the biggest problems was that the three button Xerox mouse cost over US$400 to build, which was not practical for a consumer-based personal computer. Some years later it was learned that they had licensed it to Apple for something like $40,000." Apple was so inspired by the mouse they scrapped their current plans and redesigned everything around the mouse and GUI. During an interview, Engelbart said "SRI patented the mouse, but they really had no idea of its value.

It was there they discovered the mouse, invented by Douglas Engelbart while he was working at SRI International (SRI) the mouse had subsequently been incorporated into the graphical user interface (GUI) used on the Xerox Alto.

#Use apple mouse and keyboard on pc mac os x#

To read more about Mouse Keys for OS X, click on the following links: If the options to enable or disable Mouse Keys via the option key was checked, pressing the option key five times will also turn off Mouse Keys. To turn off Mouse Keys, check the Off radio button in the Mouse Keys section of the Universal Access system preferences. If the option to Show Universal Access status in the menu bar is enabled in the Universal Access system preferences, a marquee will appear next to the Universal Access icon in the menu bar stating that Mouse keys is on (Figure 2).įigure 2.
#Use apple mouse and keyboard on pc how to#
How To Know That Mouse Keys is Workingīy default, OS X will play a sound when enabling or disabling Mouse Keys and when a modifier key is pressed. Check the On radio button (circled above) to enable Mouse Keys. This will allow you to enable or disable Mouse Keys using the option key rather than via system preferences.įigure 1. If desired, check the box labeled Press the Option key five times to turn Mouse Keys on or off. (Alternatively, click on the System Preferences icon in the dock.)Ĭheck the radio button labeled On in the Mouse Keys section (Figure 1). Turning On Mouse Keysīy default, Mouse Keys may be turned on in the Universal Access panel of System Preferences:Ĭhose Apple menu > System Preferences, and click Universal Access. This will benefit users who are unable to manipulate or have difficulty manipulating the mouse. Mac OS X Snow Leopard Mouse Keys enables the user to move the pointer by pressing keys on the numeric keypad rather than via the mouse.
