Is There an Alternative to Bluetooth for Keyboard and Mouse?

Question

I can't get my Bluetooth keyboard or mouse to work with RaspPi. I want a wireless solution. Are there alternatives?

Answer 1

I've seen several questions concerning connecting Bluetooth devices to the RaspPi, particularly mice and keyboards.

There is an alternative: nano-receiver devices. These are tiny dongles that plug in to USB ports and pair with companion devices such as mice and keyboards. You don't even have to install additional drivers. They usually are referred to as "wireless" as opposed to "Bluetooth".

I have a mini keyboard with integrated thumb trackball made by SIIG (SIIG JK-WR0412-S1 81 Key Wireless Mini Multimedia Keyboard) which uses a single dongle and therefore a single USB port (which powers it). It required no configuration other than pairing which occurred automatically when I powered up everything. The keyboard is battery powered. And since RaspPi sees it as a (two?) USB device(s?), it required no configuration either. Range is about 5 meters.

Such devices are available from several manufacturers. You can get separate mouse and keyboard but that would require both USB ports.

For me, it is a good alternative to a Bluetooth device.