[BTM] Do Apple Keyboards and Mice work on start-up question

[garrett]

Sometime 'round 9/26/03 3:03 PM, so and so (Jason Davies) at such n such
(jason at ophiochos.org.uk) graced my inbox with this brilliant thought:

>> Since some of these are vital troubleshooting/configuration options,
>> Apple can't ship a computer without a wired keyboard.
> 
> 
> and we have to have both around. Damn. Surely they could produce a little
> USB 'pad' with a few keys on it that could be discreetly put somewhere,
> rather than the full keyboard?

well its more than that - if you ever boot into single user mode and need to
do some disk housekeeping, then you need a keyboard for the command line -
no way around this.

now that I think of it this is completely useless as a peripheral. I use a
wireless keyboard but it will work since the receiver for the keyboard plugs
into USB so that's how the system sees it. BT KB's almost seem as a novelty
or for someone who has their machine hooked up to say an AV system and needs
another KB for the couch.

This is almost deceptive. Most people on this list are pretty damn savvy and
would at least think of this issue (as this post proves) but I pity the poor
SOB's who don't know much about tech and click and buy away!

Even if Apple (or any other MANU) posted a clear and explicit disclaimer I
wonder how many people would understand that if they DID need to use the
command line at boot or any special keys (and lets not forget about OS 9)
then they would b outa luck.

-------
garrett