When I Bought an External Keyboard and Mouse for My MacBook Pro
This is the first time I bought an external keyboard and mouse for my MacBook pro-2017. Because the butterfly keyboard is getting worse, sometimes the keycaps pop out when I typed something.
You know that when you are using an external keyboard, you definitely need an external mouse.
I bought Noir N1 and Rexus Daxa AIR PRO Wireless because I love their design and suitable for my needs.
When I connected to the laptop, there are things that I need to fix and settings so it can be working as I expected.
- Problem with wifi connection when plug in USB HUB / CONNECTOR / USB-C Dongle.
I bought Rexus USB HUB with a USB-C connector for around $7 or IDR 100K for HUB. I personally don’t want to spend much money on something that doesn’t really necessary for me. I only need 2 port USB 3 for my mouse and keyboard dongle.
It’s insane to buy a HUB only for around $150 or, in my currency, IDR 1800k-2000k.
But with the cheapest one, I got issues with the wireless connection. I can’t access the internet. It only happened when I plugged in the HUB.
I found on youtube about wrap Aluminum foil on the cable, It’s because of the radio frequency interference, but Unfortunately, I don’t find aluminum foil around me. So I tried to find another solution mentioned here that set the service order with the following steps:
Launchpad > System Preferences > Network > Settings (gear icon) > Set Service Order > Move “WIFI” to second or third place instead of first > Apply
I put the wifi in the last order, and then It worked perfectly!
2. Settings Side button of the mouse
I really like the spaces feature from OSX. It’s boosting my productivity with Move left a space and Move right space by using my keyboard control + left/right arrow or using three-finger gestures to swipe between full-screen apps.
However, I can’t do it with my mouse. I tried to check on default mac settings but couldn’t find anything about it. And Then I found this great app called MouseFix. I just installed it, and boom! Now I can use the spaces feature from the side button of the mouse.
3. Keyboard settings for Fn shortcut
The only thing I need to do for my keyboard is to access the fn shortcut like set volume, brightness, etc. So I click and enable Press the Fn key to show F1, F2, etc.
Launchpad > System Preferences > Keyboard
4. Enable Move left a space and Move right space for an external keyboard
If you can’t perform a swipe between full-screen apps through your external keyboard, then you need to settings on
Launchpad > System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Mission Control
Then click enable on Mission control: ✅ Move left a space and ✅ Move right a space.
5. Keyboard text replacement feature from OSX
These things might be useful if you don’t remember your phone number, bank account, etc. You can type short text, and it will automatically replace it with text that you already set before.
6. Learn the shortcut
With an external keyboard, especially the mechanical keyboard. I like to type a lot because it's so satisfying. I was not really interested in learning about the keyboard shortcut, but I got the spirit to learn more about it with the mechanical keyboard. You can go to this link for more information https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236
I hope this simple trick might be useful for you. Enjoy!
