Apple's Mighty Mouse & AC9

[MSotero]

My Apple Mighty Mouse arrived.... plug it in and it goes (my OS 10.3.9 does not allow for "customizing" mouse options.... one needs Tiger for that and one needs to install their mouse software for Tiger).
Apparently it works with Windows 2000 & XP without additional software too, but it is unclear exactly which functions are avaiable as the manual says to see the Mouse control panel for that.

Ergonomics:
Overall it feels very natural in the hand.
I've never been attracted to the multi-button mice due to feeling so clunky.
The Scroll Ball and left/right button/sensors are very smooth and unobtrusive and for me intuitive.

Using it in AC9:
The Scroll ball activates pan & zoom commands in the plan & 3d views in AC9 automatically & simultaneously.
Up/down or left/right ball movements will zoom in/out.
The position of the cursor on screen will be the center of the zoom (does not require one to press down on anything, just move the cursor where you want the center).
If you press & hold down the scroll ball, then it Pans. If you move the ball while holding it down, then you can Pan & Zoom simultaneously.

The "default" right click does what the Control/Click does with a basic apple mouse.
I don't necessary see this as an advantage over Control/Click as it all seems to be personal preference. But accommodating personal preference is a good thing.
Further you can override exactly what right clicking does if desired (see below).

Expose:
Expose is a nice way for viewing or changing which plan/section/3d window you are using.
In 10.3.9 one can control the Expose activation for Mighty Mouse choosing System Preferences... and clicking Expose.

The Mouse settings at the bottom of the dialog work differently depending on the "exact combination" you use. It seems strange.
You'll need to experiment as I can't find any written explanation why it works as it does.
Also you can use modifier keys such as Command, Control, Option or Shift to change what happens.

For instance the following setting combination does this:
All Windows: Mouse Button 4 (will spread out all open application windows when squeezing the side buttons)
Application Windows: Right Mouse Button (will spread out only current application windows, e.g. AC9) note if you use a modifier key here with the right button, then you can maintain the default right click action too.

I was surprised at how much I like using the mouse to activate Expose and the scroll ball does seem to make it much quicker to move around.

[Greg Kmethy]

fuzzytnth3 wrote:


So all I've got to do (arrgh) is remove the mighty mouse software!!!

You either remove the driver that Apple shipped with the mouse, or install USB Overdrive (there is a new version out with Mighty Mouse support): http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/usboverdrive.html

Here's how you set up USB overdrive to best work with ArchiCAD:

Wheel Up - Accelerate Up
Wheel Down - Accelerate Down
Middle Button - Middle click

[fuzzytnth3]

gkmethy wrote:

You either remove the driver that Apple shipped with the mouse, or install USB Overdrive (there is a new version out with Mighty Mouse support): http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/usboverdrive.html

Here's how you set up USB overdrive to best work with ArchiCAD:

Wheel Up - Accelerate Up
Wheel Down - Accelerate Down
Middle Button - Middle click

I've tried to locate the Apple mouse driver but didn't have any luck, I then tried doing a reinstall of the 10.4.2 combo update, again no luck. Any idea where the Apple Mighty Mouse driver would live, so I can delete the pesky thing?

I tried USB Overdrive and found the zooming kinda weird as it seemed to zoom and pan at the same time or possibly it was trying to "scroll" horizontally. The other downside of USB Overdrive is that I would have to pay for it and I just don't see the boss stumping up the dosh.

I think I will revert back to my good old 2 button and "normal" scroll wheel mouse

[Greg Kmethy]

fuzzytnth3 wrote:
I've tried to locate the Apple mouse driver but didn't have any luck, I then tried doing a reinstall of the 10.4.2 combo update, again no luck. Any idea where the Apple Mighty Mouse driver would live, so I can delete the pesky thing?

Delete HD/System/Library/Extensions/AppleHIDMouse.kext

fuzzytnth3 wrote:
I tried USB Overdrive and found the zooming kinda weird as it seemed to zoom and pan at the same time or possibly it was trying to "scroll" horizontally. The other downside of USB Overdrive is that I would have to pay for it and I just don't see the boss stumping up the dosh.

You might be pressing too hard. Make sure the mouse does not click while you are scrolling

[fuzzytnth3]

gkmethy wrote:

Delete HD/System/Library/Extensions/AppleHIDMouse.kext

Thanks for that the Mighty Mouse is working fine with ArchiCAD now.

Obviously I can't use the side buttons for Expose as the driver isn't there but to be honest I don't think it is that useful as I can hit F12 and get the same thing

Thanks again

[Anonymous]

Joseph,
I just got the mighty mouse and I am demo'ing the steermouse driver. I would like to know how you programmed yours, I have set mine up so it will zoom and pan, but they are not a smooth and seamless as with my traditional scroll mouse, I am hoping you have a better setup what I came up with, especially since I can not scroll in the info, file windows. I love the mighty mouse for everything else (I have tried it with), just not AC

[Anonymous]

after some experimenting, I find the usb overdrive is the way to go,
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/usboverdrive.html

Thanks to whomever found that one. Makes my mighty mouse zoom and pan just like my old mouse in AC, and still has all the scrolling....etc. function outside AC.

[Anonymous]

Scott wrote:
Joseph,
I just got the mighty mouse and I am demo'ing the steermouse driver.

See you found a better alternative to SteerMouse, could you mention some of the advanyages of the USBoverdive?
Thanks,
Joseph

[Anonymous]

So far I have only found one major advantage, with steer mouse I was only able to set up the zoom function by assigning it to the keyboard shortcuts for zoom, which eliminated scrolling in the info palette, or file windows... the usb overdrive lets me use the ball, wheel, whatever it is called the same as on my old mouse, zooming in and out. It is equally customizable in all other respects, although I choose not to use the scrolling left/right since I am a little sloppy in my scrolling.
Panning still needs improvement, I can set the wheel button for the pan keyboard shortcut, but it is not as seamless as with my old mouse, where pressing the wheel activated pan, and releasing it deactivated, I haven't explored all the setting yet, however.

[Anonymous]

Scott wrote:
So far I have only found one major advantage, with steer mouse I was only able to set up the zoom function by assigning it to the keyboard shortcuts for zoom, which eliminated scrolling in the info palette, or file windows... the usb overdrive lets me use the ball, wheel, whatever it is called the same as on my old mouse, zooming in and out. It is equally customizable in all other respects, although I choose not to use the scrolling left/right since I am a little sloppy in my scrolling.
Panning still needs improvement, I can set the wheel button for the pan keyboard shortcut, but it is not as seamless as with my old mouse, where pressing the wheel activated pan, and releasing it deactivated, I haven't explored all the setting yet, however.

Thanks,
Please keep us updated.
Thanks,
Joseph

[Anonymous]

This topic seems to have gone all over the place... but I had the same probs (running 10.4.2). Namely, I couldn't zoom with my MM on AC9. On advice from a link from this forum, I downloaded USB Overdrive X. Now I can zoom, no probs, but can't get the pan to work. Can anyone tell me what to set the middle button to to enable panning?

Cheers