I gave in, ditched the cheap Dynex keyboard and mouse that I used with the previous setup, which I preferred to the basic Dell versions but whose Vista-unfriendly drivers seem to have been causing half my problems with the new desktop, and replaced them with a snazzy wireless set. I had to uninstall the junk Dynex driver before the mouse would work, but after that it works flawlessly, and I can boot up and start typing without fiddling around with connections. I still haven't tried booting with the (cheap Dynex ... anybody spot a pattern here?) USB hub with the rest of the peripherals attached, but I don't need that most of the time and having the machine usable with one button-press makes a huge difference.
I also have yet another timekeeping device. Why a keyboard needs an LCD clock -- apparently with an alarm function, too -- escapes me, but there it is.
I also have yet another timekeeping device. Why a keyboard needs an LCD clock -- apparently with an alarm function, too -- escapes me, but there it is.
