Installation & update
About program installation and update, hardware, operating systems, setup, etc.

Apple's Mighty Mouse & AC9

MSotero
Participant
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.
55 REPLIES 55
Anonymous
Not applicable
There is a new problem with the update 10.4.3 for tiger... The file "extensions" doesn't exist anymore in the "library"... How can we uninstall the mighty mouse's driver now ??????
Anonymous
Not applicable
macoupc wrote:
There is a new problem with the update 10.4.3 for tiger... The file "extensions" doesn't exist anymore in the "library"... How can we uninstall the mighty mouse's driver now ??????
I have the 10.4.3 update and the extensions folder is still there. Are you looking in "System > Library > Extensions"?
Anonymous
Not applicable
Matthew wrote:
I have the 10.4.3 update and the extensions folder is still there. Are you looking in "System > Library > Extensions"?
I'm sorry I didn't knew that there are 3 libraries in mac os X... The user's one, for the system, and another one, for the computer...

I found it ! Thanks. But it's not really funny to have a super-mouse with 4 buttons and cannot use all of these because I have to use archicad...
Dwight
Newcomer
That's the lovely thing about Spotlight and the Search function. You ever need loook for something in the folder hierarchy (and get lost). Command+F is a direct-dial to anything....
Dwight Atkinson
Anonymous
Not applicable
macoupc wrote:
But it's not really funny to have a super-mouse with 4 buttons and cannot use all of these because I have to use archicad...
The funny thing is that all the buttons on my Mighty Mouse work fine, even without the new extension. I can't change them from the defaults (and don't really care to), but the side buttons still activate exposé and the scroll ball works in the programs that know what to do with it.
Anonymous
Not applicable
Matthew wrote:
The funny thing is that all the buttons on my Mighty Mouse work fine, even without the new extension. I can't change them from the defaults (and don't really care to), but the side buttons still activate exposé and the scroll ball works in the programs that know what to do with it.
Yes I say a wrong thing. In tiger, after desinstalling the apple's driver, the default buttons are "configurables" in the window "exposé & dashboard" in the system prefs. The fourth button is as default, to change applications.