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Tell HN: How an elderly couple I know had their computer 'stop working'

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Re: Tell HN: How an elderly couple I know had their computer 'stop working'

#81

Post by toast0 »

r0ckarong wrote: post #14
cassianoleal wrote: post #11

Surely they charge the keyboard and mouse. Wouldn't at least one of them be charged via a USB cable? Plugging that to the computer would turn the peripheral into a wired USB one.

Plenty of cheap peripherals still run on disposable batteries.

Externally rechargable AAs are great. I don't have to have specific charging stations for everything, and when a battery does wear out, it's easy to replace.

I haven't been super happy with the rechargable AAAs I've used, so I might prefer specific batteries for smaller items. But most video game controllers or presentation remotes or wireless keyboard and mouse have plenty of room for one or two AAs

Re: Tell HN: How an elderly couple I know had their computer 'stop working'

#82

Post by morsch »

tzs wrote: post #60
cassianoleal wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ever tried using an Apple mouse while charging? ;) Lol yeah that design is really baffling! That said, it's still possible. The charging port is near the back edge of the mouse (the side closer to the user) whereas the sensor is on the other end. It won't be comfortable but letting the cable hang off the edge of the desk should allow you to use it to turn bluetooth back on. :)

It's not that baffling. It let them keep the exact same form factor as the previous non-rechargeable Magic Mouse, and the mouse can go long enough between charges and charges so fast that they knew in practice 99.99% of Mac users would not have a problem with it. It charges to full in a couple hours and lasts at least a month on a full charge so almost everyone has plenty of opportunities to charge it at times when t…

> and lasts at least a month on a full charge

Which is very short compared to other mice: Logitech's (and mostly everybody else's, I assume) Bluetooth mice last for several months, some last for years on a single charge. I suppose it's not a fair comparison in that the Apple mouse does more? But they still suck in terms of runtime.

Re: Tell HN: How an elderly couple I know had their computer 'stop working'

#83

Post by InfamousRece »

beAbU wrote: post #75
Xaiph_Rahci wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A physical OEM USB dongle on PC side, whether Bluetooth or not, and an On/Off switch on the peripheral side would have certainly prevented the issue in discussion.

Surely if you disable bluetooth in the OS it'll disable any bluetooth dongles as well?

Usually from computer’s point of view these devices look like regular USB mice or keyboards so disabling Bluetooth will not disable them.

Re: Tell HN: How an elderly couple I know had their computer 'stop working'

#84

Post by Am4TIfIsER0ppos »

woodrowbarlow wrote: post #51
r0ckarong wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of cheap peripherals still run on disposable batteries.

"cheap" peripherals like the $180 xbox elite controller... grumble grumble...

User replaceable batteries could be sold as a feature these days. Would people be pissed to see them just being double or triple-A?

Re: Tell HN: How an elderly couple I know had their computer 'stop working'

#85

Post by slowwriter »

tzs wrote: post #74

> So why doesn't macOS warn the user before you disconnect all your peripherals? What version of MacOS and what specific Mac and what Bluetooth mouse and keyboard? On my 2017 iMac running 13 (Ventura) which has a Bluetooth keyboard but a USB mouse trying to turn of Bluetooth brings up a dialog that asks if I'm sure and warns me that if I turn it off I won't be able to control the Mac with a Bluetooth mouse, keyboard,…

I will have to ask them for specifics, but I believe they are on an older iMac (pre 2017) that cannot run Ventura or newer. If they are running Ventura, they may have simply overlooked the dialog completely, but I'm leaning more towards a version of macOS that didn't have the dialog.

Re: Tell HN: How an elderly couple I know had their computer 'stop working'

#86

Post by thebruce87m »

_nalply wrote: post #77
nightowl_games wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That error message is very poor. Check your keyboard and mouse? I don't even know what you mean by that. This computer has no input devices? Well that is simply false. The user is currently using an input device when they see this message. Here's a better message: "Warning! Disabling Bluetooth will disconnect your wireless keyboard and wireless mouse. You will need to use a wired keyboard and wired mouse to re-enable…

Never use the word "Cancel" in a warning dialog. It is easy to get confused. Cancel what? Cancel Bluetooth? Cancel the turning off of Bluetooth? Better are two buttons like this: [Keep Bluetooth running] [Disable Bluetooth]. Mac OS does this often right. I say this somewhat grudgingly.

You also need a “I don’t know what to do” button. Clicking this will do the most sensible thing which in this case is keeping Bluetooth running. Because my elderly mother is 100% disabling bluetooth under that situation using logic I can’t even comprehend.

Re: Tell HN: How an elderly couple I know had their computer 'stop working'

#87

Post by plz-remove-card »

tzs wrote: post #60
cassianoleal wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ever tried using an Apple mouse while charging? ;) Lol yeah that design is really baffling! That said, it's still possible. The charging port is near the back edge of the mouse (the side closer to the user) whereas the sensor is on the other end. It won't be comfortable but letting the cable hang off the edge of the desk should allow you to use it to turn bluetooth back on. :)

It's not that baffling. It let them keep the exact same form factor as the previous non-rechargeable Magic Mouse, and the mouse can go long enough between charges and charges so fast that they knew in practice 99.99% of Mac users would not have a problem with it. It charges to full in a couple hours and lasts at least a month on a full charge so almost everyone has plenty of opportunities to charge it at times when t…

lol, this is such a victim-blaming answer, the design is bananas there's no excuse for it. Changing the form-factor slightly is worth it so you can plug the damn thing in while charging.

Re: Tell HN: How an elderly couple I know had their computer 'stop working'

#88

Post by jackhack »

beAbU wrote: post #50

This is the 2020s equivalent of setting the display resolution beyond what your monitor could handle back in the Win2k days. Back then it did not revert the settings back after 20 seconds!

Yet, things could be worse. Back in the 80s & 90s it was possible to select a resolution/refresh frequency that would permanently damage (e.g. destroy) a CRT (cathode ray tube) monitor.

Re: Tell HN: How an elderly couple I know had their computer 'stop working'

#89

Post by nightowl_games »

_nalply wrote: post #77
nightowl_games wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That error message is very poor. Check your keyboard and mouse? I don't even know what you mean by that. This computer has no input devices? Well that is simply false. The user is currently using an input device when they see this message. Here's a better message: "Warning! Disabling Bluetooth will disconnect your wireless keyboard and wireless mouse. You will need to use a wired keyboard and wired mouse to re-enable…

Never use the word "Cancel" in a warning dialog. It is easy to get confused. Cancel what? Cancel Bluetooth? Cancel the turning off of Bluetooth? Better are two buttons like this: [Keep Bluetooth running] [Disable Bluetooth]. Mac OS does this often right. I say this somewhat grudgingly.

Cancel maybe better than that because the confused user doesn't know what the current state of the system is. Cancel means "don't do anything". "Keep" implies the same thing, but I think cancel would confuse less grandparents.

Re: Tell HN: How an elderly couple I know had their computer 'stop working'

#90

Post by sircastor »

If the keyboard is an Apple Keyboard (likely because it's an iMac) connecting it to the computer via the included charging cable will associate it with the computer. I'm not certain, but I'm willing to guess plugging in either the keyboard or the mouse will reenable bluetooth so the peripherals can be used (the mouse cannot be used while plugged in as I recall the design doesn't allow it.)
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