After last week’s expensive brandy (spilt over my Mac keyboard) and subsequent slow recovery (mentioned the following day, I am pleased to announce that things are back to normal and the Mac keyboard is working again.

This is good from an economic point of view (no extra costs), an ergonomic point of view (the Mac keyboard is smaller, making it more flexible on the desktop) and also an environmental point of view. Not only does it mean that I don’t have a broken keyboard for the bin but also it lets me start using the USB hub feature of the Mac keyboard again.

One of the shortfalls of the Mac Mini is that, although it relies on USB as its major connectivity, it only has four USB ports on the back. Take up two of those for computer and mouse, plug a graphics tablet into the third and keeping the fourth free for the printer or memory sticks means they are all committed. I was going to use an old USB hub to give me more flexibility but one of its weaknesses was that it was yet another device that requires plugging in. Therefore, getting the Mac keyboard, with built in 2-port USB hub, saves a little bit of energy as well.

That brandy wasn’t expensive at all. It came with a free lesson; the next glass will be drunk well away from the computer desk!

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