Bluetooth blues unblued
I generally work in low-light conditions—my study here at The Crumbling Manse™ does not receive a great deal of this at the best of times—and have long yearned for a backlit keyboard, such as I enjoy on both my elderly 2009 MBP and my spanking new 2020 jobbie. The other week I found a likely candidate, approximately resembling this one, and ordered it forthwith. It’s a handsome and, to all appearances, a solidly-built piece of kit. It was not apparent on its Orinoco-dot-com listing that the thing functions only as a wireless device (the Apple keyboards work with a hard connection as well), and although it shipped with—for a wonder—fairly clear and concise setup instructions, Big Cheese here could not be prevailed upon to pair with the thing. I took it downstairs and fired up the spousette’s spanking-new iMac and…nichto problemo: bacon and eggs. Peaches and cream. Astaire and Rogers.
I concluded that creaky old BC, running High Sierra, was forever incompatible, and was prepared to shrug and mothball the acquisition against the eventual purchase of some future current machine. The following day, however, I received a followup email from the seller, asking whether I was satisfied with the transaction. I responded that although I’d ascertained that the keyboard was perfectly functional, it appeared that it wasn’t inclined to play with my computer. The seller responded that if my Bluetooth LMP version (I had not been familiar with the protocol hitherto) was older than 4.0, I could never connect, but advised that simple hardware fixes were available. And lo, for an additional twenty simoleons I have acquired a tiny dongle, about the size of my thumbnail, that plugs into one of my many USB hubs and provides me with access to my new toy. I am typing this at night in an unlit room. I am unaccustomed to this level of customer service from an online vendor.
This is gratifying.
cordlessly,
I concluded that creaky old BC, running High Sierra, was forever incompatible, and was prepared to shrug and mothball the acquisition against the eventual purchase of some future current machine. The following day, however, I received a followup email from the seller, asking whether I was satisfied with the transaction. I responded that although I’d ascertained that the keyboard was perfectly functional, it appeared that it wasn’t inclined to play with my computer. The seller responded that if my Bluetooth LMP version (I had not been familiar with the protocol hitherto) was older than 4.0, I could never connect, but advised that simple hardware fixes were available. And lo, for an additional twenty simoleons I have acquired a tiny dongle, about the size of my thumbnail, that plugs into one of my many USB hubs and provides me with access to my new toy. I am typing this at night in an unlit room. I am unaccustomed to this level of customer service from an online vendor.
This is gratifying.
cordlessly,
