[Rene87]

I just bought an iBook G4 12 inch combo. And the cheap mouse (scroll one without stating that it is Mac Compatible) I bought hardly work on my Mac. When I plug it in to the USB port, the mouse just doesn't work, meaning the cursor on the screen doesn't respond to it as I'm moving the mouse. And when I plug it out and plug it into the other USB port, it still doesn't work until I plug it out and plug it into the first USB port that I plugged in, it works, but only for a few lucky times.
When the mouse is connected through USB port on my iBook and not responding, I can still use the trackpad normally.

Does it mean that I have to buy a "Mac Compatible" mouse so that this problem wouldn't occur?

But the guy working at the Mac shop told me that any kind of mouse will work fine on my iBook. Obviously, it doesn't seem to be so though.

I've tried the cheap mouse I bought on both my iBook and the other PowerBook, it only works a little bit better on PowerBook, (without having to plug it in and out and in) it sometimes works on PowerBook and sometimes just simply doesn't (respond).
Still, this is frustrating, and also, strange.

I've tried checking in the System Preference>Keyboard and Mouse>Trackpad>Trackpad options. It just doesn't work even I've ticked or unticked the "Ignore trackpad when mouse is present".
Also, I've checked in the System Profiler>Hardware>USB>USB Bus. It doesn't detect the mouse that I've plugged in to the USB port.

I wonder if this would be the same when buying other peripherals like external hard disk, external DVD burner, etc. Would this kind of compatibilty occur?

I've tried opening a DVD using my external CD & DVD burner that was connected to my iBook via USB port. My iBook only detected the burner when the disc was inside the burner. But when I connect the burner to my iBook without the disc in it, the machine just won't detect anything.
That was when I started getting to know about the iBook.

[cleanup]

Really, any to most sorts of USB mice and keyboards should work with your iBook. It might be something wrong with the motherboard.

Does the trackpad work when you don't have a mouse connected?

Have you tried a USB Flash drive?

[mhuie]

The mouse is probably bad. I've plugged all kinds of USB mice and never had a problem. Try a different mouse.

As for your external drive, OS X doesn't notify you that you plug a device in. It DOES show when the CD/DVD is inserted (as a icon on your desktop), which is what you are seeing. When theres no disc in the drive, theres nothing to show you.