The Asus Eee G4 comes with a corded mouse.
I wondered if it would work with wireless mice. Not because there is any problem with the corded mouse, but because a wireless mouse can be used to control computers remotely -- specifically when showing pictures in a slideshow.
In my case, I have a projector to which I connect my notebook computer to show the family photos. I wondered if the Eee would could take over the job. Being much smaller than the notebook computer, the Eee would be more convenient. But it had to pass two tests:
Test 1. Could it connect to the projector? (Yes.)
Test 2. Could it use a wireless mouse? (Yes.)
Data Projector
The Eee has a VGA port to connect to external displays, including monitors and data projectors. I connected the cable between the Eee and the data projector. Then I set up the Eee to display externally:
1. On the desktop, I choose the Settings tab, and then clicked the badly-named Desktop Mode icon.
2. In the External Display dialog box, I choose the View external display only option. (I found a problem when I choose the "View both external and internal displays" option: the same resolution is applied to the Eee's display and the external display.)
3. Under resolution, I choose Manual.
4. In the resolution droplist, I choose 1024x768, the resolution of my data projector, and then clicked Apply. A dialog box appeared, checking if the settings were OK -- if not, it would revert in 15 seconds.
The data projector locked onto the VGA signal, and I saw Eee's screen in 1024x768 resolution.
SlideShow Tips
To run the slideshow I used the Photo Manager application found in the Play tab. The drawback to this program is that there is no manual mode for the slideshow, so I used the Preferences dialog box to set it to the maximum of 10 seconds.
There is two ways to access your digital camera photos on the Eee:
-- plug in an SD card. It can be direct from the camera, or have photos copied onto it from another computer.
-- use the Photo Manager to access photos over the network.
Wireless Mouse
Since the Eee sits on a table behind me (next to the data projector), I find it convenient to use a wireless mouse to control the slideshow and move between folders. I wondered if my Logitech wireless mouse would work.
I plugged the receiver module into one of the Eee's USB ports. I move the mouse, and the cursor reacted. That was easy!
I tried another wireless mouse, one from Creative. It, however, did not work. Not to worry; Creative's mouse never worked properly with Windows, either. Probably explains why it cost just $19.
Then I tried a wireless presenter. This handheld device mimics the left and right cursor keys and contains a laser pointer -- ideal for controlling slide shows. I plugged its wireless receiver into another of the Eee's USB ports. After a moment I was able to control the slide show.
(Both wireless devices were plugged in at the same time.)
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