Wireless Mouse
The wireless mouse has scurried onto the scene in recent years. It's primarybenefit is not having to drag around the wire that connects it to your PC.Instead it communicates with Infrared light (IR) or radio waves (RF) to a podthat is connected to your PC's PS/2 or USB port.
Infrared Type
The first wireless mouse used Infrared light to communicate with the pod. Thisis the same technology that is used in your TV remote controller, and as youknow the distance between controller and TV can be many feet apart. The mouseand pod have the same long distance range. The major drawback is when somethinggets between the controller and the TV, it doesn't work. The IR mouse has thesame drawback, it must have a direct line-of-sight to the pod or it doesn'twork. Some stores still offer them and they fairly inexpensive.
RF Type
The next type of wireless mouse to show up was the RF mouse. It uses the sametechnology as in your car remote lock controller. As with the car lockcontroller the mouse does not need line-of-sight to work, which means if youput a coffee cup in front of the pod connected to your PC, the RF wirelessmouse keeps communicating with the pod. The transmitter in the mouse can havedifferent power ratings which translate into different working distances fromthe pod. Most are rated at 3 feet, 6 feet or 30 feet. The 30 foot range isspecified for Bluetooth, which is an emerging RF specification for wirelesslyconnecting together many devices in a small area. For most PC users 3 or 6 feetis fine. These devices are about twice the cost of the IR type mouse.
In addition to the wireless communication between mouse and pod, just about allwireless mice use optical means to convert the back and forth, side-to-sidemouse movements you make with your mouse into the pointer movements you see onyour display. The older trackball mouse is heading for that big cheese in thesky! Click Here for more information.
Wireless Keyboard
They use the same IR or RF technology as the wireless mouse tocommunicate with a pod. You can often buy a wireless mouse and wirelesskeyboard set that communicates with a single pod that connects to your PC.