6.1 Keyboards and Mice
Connecting an HDMI monitor to the Organelle is simple enough. But the function of the
HDMI device is to provide the visual output of the Organelle's functioning microcomputer.
(As we will see very shortly, connecting only a monitor will show you, well, not much.) As
with any computer, you need a keyboard and mouse to actually interface with the
Organelle.
Just about any USB mouse should work with the Organelle, and most PC-style USB
keyboards should also be fine. Additionally, mice and keyboards that have their own USB
wireless dongles should also work with the Organelle. So long as the data is coming
across a USB port, your peripherals will probably work.
NOTE:
While we have aimed to support regular USB keyboards, not all
manufacturers implement the general USB standards in the same way.
Accordingly, some keyboards may not work with the Organelle. Please report
any finding of incompatibility on our forum.
Finally, we are talking about more and more USB devices being used with the Organelle.
Before you worry about running out of ports, remember that a USB hub can be connected
to the Organelle.
6.2 Operating the Organelle as a Computer
After you have connected an HDMI monitor and powered it on, you will immediately see a
semi-cryptic terminal window for text entry. To optimize performance, the Organelle runs
in this fashion (with no graphical user interface, or GUI) by default.
This window helpfully suggests that you run the command
startx
to start up the standard
graphical environment. So if we want to go beyond this screen, we will need a keyboard.
(And we can say now that if you want to edit your Pure Data patches on the Organelle, you
will definitely need a mouse as well.)
To start the Organelle's graphical operation mode:
type
startx
, and then press the
[ENTER] / [RETURN] key to execute the function.
NOTE:
Booting the Organelle's graphical operation mode causes the system
itself to be reloaded. This means that any currently loaded patch will be