keyboard woes

[Lynn David Newton]

Esteemed Gentlemen (and Ladies),

This is not strictly a Linux problem, though a computer
running Linux is involved. Bear with me as I explain it:

o Computer A is an iMac 1GHz PPC G4 running Mac OS X 10.4.8.

o Computer B is a home built AMD64 based PC running SuSE
  Linux 9.2. I use this machine 95% of the time.

Years ago I purchased two identical Logitech wireless
mouse/keyboard duos, one for each computer. They worked
flawlessly until about a month ago.

o The keyboard on computer B (the PC) suddenly went dead
  after a couple of hours of intermittent flakiness, and was
  not able to be revived by replacing batteries,
  reconnecting with the receiver, rebooting, testing it on
  computer A, etc.

o I took the keyboard off computer A and put it on computer
  B. It works fine. I'm using it now.

o The next day I bought a new Logitech wireless duo, one of
  the ergonomic models.

o When I attached it to computer A, at first the keyboard
  seemed to work, but the mouse would not connect. I tried
  following the instructions a dozen times. Connecting a
  keyboard is not rocket science.

o When I took the new keyboard off computer A and attached
  it to computer B, the mouse would connect to the receiver,
  but not the keyboard.

o As a stopgap measure I dug the original iMac USB keyboard
  and mouse out of a drawer. These worked, except that
  several keys on the lower right - keypad and arrow keys -
  do not work due to a coffee spill long ago, part of the
  reason I replaced it. At least the system is functional.

o I took the recalcitrant new device back to Fry's today and
  bought a different Logitech model duo combination, one
  that is $20 cheaper (without ergonomic features).

o With this USB-only new device (i.e., no PC-type adapter),
  the keyboard connects, but the mouse does not. I can't try
  to use it on my PC because there my USB bus is currently
  broken. (Sigh. Another problem.)

o I found to my surprise that I could plug the Logitech
  receiver into one USB port and my original iPod one-button
  stupidest-device-ever mouse into another - by plugging it
  into the port on the keyboard unit because of the
  connector size, and putting that through to a second USB
  port. So I now have a bizarre new wireless keyboard and
  old one-button corded mouse combination, technically with
  a second keyboard on the bus (and *yes* I can type from
  either one), but the system is functional.

o To complicate matters, it seems to be throwing signals at
  the completely different model receiver on computer B,
  because with the receiver plugged in on computer A, typing
  is erratic on the keyboard on which I'm now working. A lot
  of keypresses don't respond, then suddenly I'll get a half
  dozen of a single letter. This went on for twenty minutes,
  and when I unplugged the receiver on computer A, it
  stopped.

To summarize: I had two identical wireless keyboard/mouse
duos that worked perfectly for years until one wore out. 

I've since replaced it with two different model
keyboard/mouse combinations, the first of which works on
neither machine, then the second of which does not work on
computer A and cannot even be tried on computer B.

I think that covers it. Anybody got any ideas on this? I
don't have time to make a career out of changing keyboards.

-- 
Lynn David Newton
Phoenix, AZ
www.lynndavidnewton.com
run4days.blogspot.com