Comments on: OS X Leopard and USB keyboards

By: joe

joe — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:18:28 +0000

I can confim that the keyboard model KU-0045 works on my late 2007 alum iMac using the ps2 to usb dongle.

I have 4 of the Natural Keyboard Elite keyboards of which only 1 was this model number and none of the others would be recognized by Leapord.

By: Cody

Cody — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 13:50:10 +0000

Hey Ryan,

I just double-checked, and the “Select keyboard” drop-down only appears when you have a USB (don’t know about Bluetooth) keyboard attached. In your screen shot above, was yours plugged in?

By: Ryan Smith

Ryan Smith — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:25:16 +0000

I have swapped key on a Dell keyboard successfully, but haven’t had much success with my Mac remembering.

Worse, right now, using just my MBP keyboard, with the Dell unplugged, my MBP has option and command flipped, even though SysPref says they’re mapped correctly.

http://img.skitch.com/20090205-dxh1pnp47j1sudwemmd47fg8sh.jpg

Also, I don’t have the select keyboard dropdown. Did they remove this in a Leopard update, perhaps?

By: Alan Hogan

Alan Hogan — Tue, 06 May 2008 01:06:07 +0000

My Microsoft Natural 4000 works perfectly with Mac; under both Tiger and Leopard, Microsoft’s drivers automatically switched the keys for me. Never thought I’d say this, but thanks, Microsoft.

By: Andrew Treloar

Andrew Treloar — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 23:17:09 +0000

After some testing, I can confirm that not all Microsoft Natural Keyboards Elite are the same!

I have one model (with a PS2-USB adapter) which works, but doesn’t register with the Keyboard control panel (so I have to remap it manually)

I have another model (with a PS2 socket only) which doesn’t show up at all when I use the adapter from the other keyboard.

I’ll probably go with the remapping approach using an Applescript triggered by DisplayWatcher.

Thanks for your help anyway!

By: Cody

Cody — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 17:27:04 +0000

Hi Andrew, sorry it’s taken so long for me to respond. Yes, it’s working for me. I’ve got a different product ID, but I think the number you posted is unique per keyboard. The model number on my MS NKE is KU-0045 (above the bar code).

When I upgraded to Leopard, I uninstalled Microsoft’s keyboard preference pane (which was worthless anyway for this model). If you’ve got it installed, you might want to try disabling it.

By: Andrew Treloar

Andrew Treloar — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 02:09:29 +0000

Did you really get this to work with the Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite? I have had *no* success, although the Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro (nowhere near as nice a fell) does work. Perhaps it’s a slight product variation problem? My ID (under the keyboard, RHS) is 71305-584-0432192-39153. What is yours?