Microsoft keyboard drivers in Leopard

> So if MS can look into it? That would be most appreciated!

Nobody from Mac unit come to this board to tell us whats planned ?
This could really be cool to let us know what to expect, thanks
 >> Stay informed about: Microsoft keyboard drivers in Leopard 

Okay, so, more and mmore it seems to be a Leopard issue, these F-keys.
The Intellitype driver works fine for all other keys and I'm on a MBP
2,33 Ghz 4Gb. I can only hope that the first major Leopard upgrade
resolves this.
 >> Stay informed about: Microsoft keyboard drivers in Leopard 

In article ,
elcharlot.RemoveThis@yahoo.fr wrote:

> > So if MS can look into it? That would be most appreciated!
>
> Nobody from Mac unit come to this board to tell us whats planned ?
> This could really be cool to let us know what to expect, thanks

MacBU employees rarely post here, though it's not unheard of.

However, I strongly suspect that keyboard drivers are developed by the
hardware groups, not MacBU.
 >> Stay informed about: Microsoft keyboard drivers in Leopard 

On Nov 1, 8:45 am, wrote:
> Okay, so, more and mmore it seems to be a Leopard issue, these F-keys.
> The Intellitype driver works fine for all other keys and I'm on a MBP
> 2,33 Ghz 4Gb. I can only hope that the first major Leopard upgrade
> resolves this.

I've found that the Intellitype driver seems to crash when returning
from sleep. I've experienced enough weird behavior that I'm looking
for an alternative to the Intellitype drivers - any suggestions?
 >> Stay informed about: Microsoft keyboard drivers in Leopard 

On 5 nov, 23:55, RizwanK wrote:
> On Nov 1, 8:45 am, wrote:
>
> > Okay, so, more and mmore it seems to be a Leopard issue, these F-keys.
> > The Intellitype driver works fine for all other keys and I'm on a MBP
> > 2,33 Ghz 4Gb. I can only hope that the first major Leopard upgrade
> > resolves this.
>
> I've found that the Intellitype driver seems to crash when returning
> from sleep. I've experienced enough weird behavior that I'm looking
> for an alternative to the Intellitype drivers - any suggestions?

Is there anything like USBOverdrive, but for keyboards ? I cant seem
to find one
 >> Stay informed about: Microsoft keyboard drivers in Leopard 

On Nov 5, 5:55 pm, RizwanK wrote:
> On Nov 1, 8:45 am, wrote:
>
> > Okay, so, more and mmore it seems to be a Leopard issue, these F-keys.
> > The Intellitype driver works fine for all other keys and I'm on a MBP
> > 2,33 Ghz 4Gb. I can only hope that the first major Leopard upgrade
> > resolves this.
>
> I've found that the Intellitype driver seems to crash when returning
> from sleep. I've experienced enough weird behavior that I'm looking
> for an alternative to the Intellitype drivers - any suggestions?

OMG... I am having the same issue. My Mac goes to sleep and when I try
to wake it up, mouse and keyboard have no function. I have to use my
regular mac mouse and keyboard. The only way I seem to get it to work
is reintall the driver. WTF.
 >> Stay informed about: Microsoft keyboard drivers in Leopard 

In article ,
Ralph wrote:

> WTF.

Yup. Being an early adopter does have it's disadvantages. Sucks, and one
can hope that there will be a fix from one manufacturer or the other
(after they agree on whose fault it is).

But I'm surprised by your apparent surprise. When a company develops and
tests an OS-dependent driver on one version of an OS (made by a
different company), why would anyone find it surprising that the driver
doesn't work perfectly when you change the OS?

Perhaps Apple should have been more careful to make sure that Leopard
worked with existing MS drivers, but I don't know what the cost-benefit
ratio for that would be...

AFAICT, MS is still only advertising that its drivers are compatible
with OS X 10.2.x-10.4.x.
 >> Stay informed about: Microsoft keyboard drivers in Leopard 

IntelliType 6.2.1 (the latest release I've been able to find) has a
very nasty bug when used with Excel 2004 under Leopard. I'm running a
MacBook Pro (Core 2 Duo 2.33GHz, 3G RAM). At work, I have an external
monitor, Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 and Microsoft
Compact Optical Mouse. When typing in Excel 2004 on my Microsoft
keyboard, one of four things happens:

1. Works normally (about 90% of the time).
2. After typing the first character in a cell, keyboard goes seemingly
dead -- no keys work, not even escape (built-in keyboard on my MacBook
also does not work when this happens)-- but if you click the mouse in
another cell, keyboard works again.
3. Same as #2, but even clicking the mouse does not restore the
keyboard. Use the mouse to quit Excel (mouse still works fine) and
relaunch; Excel and keyboard are back to normal.
4. In event #2 or #3, there is a slim chance (I'd say 10% chance) that
Excel quits. No, scratch that -- EVERYTHING quits. Screen goes blue for
a second, then desktop picture reappears. All programs you had running
are spontaneously closed. Anything you had set to launch at startup
launches, as if the computer has just started up. It's as if the Finder
has unexpectedly quit and relaunched, but it takes all other running
apps down with it. Very, very bad.

I can almost guarantee this is something to do with the IntelliType
driver because if I just use Excel with the built-in keyboard on my
MacBook Pro (like when I'm on the road), the program never quits like
this. It's only when I'm using Excel *and* the Microsoft keyboard. I
can also say it happens in no program other than Excel (I use the
keyboard constantly in Thunderbird, Safari, iCal -- no problems). FYI,
I have the latest Office 2004 patch (11.3.9) and all the latest Leopard
updates (as of this writing, that's QuickTime 7.3/iTunes 7.5).

I would note that IntelliType 6.2.1's documentation only lists support
up to 10.4, so it's not technically endorsed for Leopard yet anyway.
IntelliPoint 6.2.2 specifically lists 10.5 compatibility, but there is
no matching IntelliType 6.2.2 yet that I know of.


On 2007-11-08 13:13:19 -0500, JE McGimpsey said:

> In article ,
> Ralph wrote:
>
>> WTF.
>
> Yup. Being an early adopter does have it's disadvantages. Sucks, and one
> can hope that there will be a fix from one manufacturer or the other
> (after they agree on whose fault it is).
>
> But I'm surprised by your apparent surprise. When a company develops and
> tests an OS-dependent driver on one version of an OS (made by a
> different company), why would anyone find it surprising that the driver
> doesn't work perfectly when you change the OS?
>
> Perhaps Apple should have been more careful to make sure that Leopard
> worked with existing MS drivers, but I don't know what the cost-benefit
> ratio for that would be...
>
> AFAICT, MS is still only advertising that its drivers are compatible
> with OS X 10.2.x-10.4.x.
 >> Stay informed about: Microsoft keyboard drivers in Leopard 

I'm having this exact same problem, but I'm using a Logitech wireless
keyboard. It's really annoying.

"Chris Bailey" wrote:

> IntelliType 6.2.1 (the latest release I've been able to find) has a
> very nasty bug when used with Excel 2004 under Leopard. I'm running a
> MacBook Pro (Core 2 Duo 2.33GHz, 3G RAM). At work, I have an external
> monitor, Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 and Microsoft
> Compact Optical Mouse. When typing in Excel 2004 on my Microsoft
> keyboard, one of four things happens:
>
> 1. Works normally (about 90% of the time).
> 2. After typing the first character in a cell, keyboard goes seemingly
> dead -- no keys work, not even escape (built-in keyboard on my MacBook
> also does not work when this happens)-- but if you click the mouse in
> another cell, keyboard works again.
> 3. Same as #2, but even clicking the mouse does not restore the
> keyboard. Use the mouse to quit Excel (mouse still works fine) and
> relaunch; Excel and keyboard are back to normal.
> 4. In event #2 or #3, there is a slim chance (I'd say 10% chance) that
> Excel quits. No, scratch that -- EVERYTHING quits. Screen goes blue for
> a second, then desktop picture reappears. All programs you had running
> are spontaneously closed. Anything you had set to launch at startup
> launches, as if the computer has just started up. It's as if the Finder
> has unexpectedly quit and relaunched, but it takes all other running
> apps down with it. Very, very bad.
>
> I can almost guarantee this is something to do with the IntelliType
> driver because if I just use Excel with the built-in keyboard on my
> MacBook Pro (like when I'm on the road), the program never quits like
> this. It's only when I'm using Excel *and* the Microsoft keyboard. I
> can also say it happens in no program other than Excel (I use the
> keyboard constantly in Thunderbird, Safari, iCal -- no problems). FYI,
> I have the latest Office 2004 patch (11.3.9) and all the latest Leopard
> updates (as of this writing, that's QuickTime 7.3/iTunes 7.5).
>
> I would note that IntelliType 6.2.1's documentation only lists support
> up to 10.4, so it's not technically endorsed for Leopard yet anyway.
> IntelliPoint 6.2.2 specifically lists 10.5 compatibility, but there is
> no matching IntelliType 6.2.2 yet that I know of.
>
>
> On 2007-11-08 13:13:19 -0500, JE McGimpsey said:
>
> > In article ,
> > Ralph wrote:
> >
> >> WTF.
> >
> > Yup. Being an early adopter does have it's disadvantages. Sucks, and one
> > can hope that there will be a fix from one manufacturer or the other
> > (after they agree on whose fault it is).
> >
> > But I'm surprised by your apparent surprise. When a company develops and
> > tests an OS-dependent driver on one version of an OS (made by a
> > different company), why would anyone find it surprising that the driver
> > doesn't work perfectly when you change the OS?
> >
> > Perhaps Apple should have been more careful to make sure that Leopard
> > worked with existing MS drivers, but I don't know what the cost-benefit
> > ratio for that would be...
> >
> > AFAICT, MS is still only advertising that its drivers are compatible
> > with OS X 10.2.x-10.4.x.
>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: Microsoft keyboard drivers in Leopard 

So, seems there's absolutly no news for Microsoft keyboards users that
upgraded to Leopard ... and so, no generic drivers ? That starts to be
really painfull in everyday use, thinking about throwing away my MS
keyboard ... that was the only good MS product in my point of view
 >> Stay informed about: Microsoft keyboard drivers in Leopard 

On 2007-12-06 08:25:51 -0500, elcharlot RemoveThis @yahoo.fr said:

> So, seems there's absolutly no news for Microsoft keyboards users that
> upgraded to Leopard ... and so, no generic drivers ? That starts to be
> really painfull in everyday use, thinking about throwing away my MS
> keyboard ... that was the only good MS product in my point of view

I've been able to flesh out this problem a little further:

1. Had one incident where Entourage (running under 10.5.1) had the
problem where the keyboard went dead until the program was quit using
the mouse -- and this was using a MacBook internal keyboard only!

2. Loaned out my MacBook Pro to a co-worker who uses Word almost
exclusively. In a single day, he encountered the same problem where his
keyboard (a USB-based Microsoft Internet Pro Keyboard) went dead until
he used the mouse to quit the program, and then relaunched.

Neither of these incidents caused the spontaneous shutdown of all
running programs. The only time I've seen that is when using Excel, and
so far only with an external USB keyboard. To date, I've not had any
problems using Excel with the built-in keyboard (but it's possible that
I just haven't run into it yet).

Based upon this new information, my feeling is that it's not anything
specifically wrong with Excel or Entourage or Word, but rather Mac OS X
10.5's handling of PowerPC code, somehow in connection with keyboard
input. Office 2004 is the only piece of non-Intel-native software I'm
running, and I use my USB keyboard extensively in all other
applications, yet never have this problem.

Hopefully Apple is already on this, or the problem will "solve itself"
when Office 2008 becomes available in January. Until then, do what I
do: save often.
 >> Stay informed about: Microsoft keyboard drivers in Leopard 

On Nov 1, 5:45 pm, wrote:
> Okay, so, more and mmore it seems to be a Leopard issue, these F-keys.
> The Intellitype driver works fine for all other keys and I'm on a MBP
> 2,33 Ghz 4Gb. I can only hope that the first major Leopard upgrade
> resolves this.

On the other hand....


Tue Dec 11 08:36:17 2007
panic(cpu 1 caller 0x001A7BED): Kernel trap at 0x006dfb8a, type
14=page fault, registers:
CR0: 0x8001003b, CR2: 0x00000000, CR3: 0x0102f000, CR4: 0x00002660
EAX: 0x00000000, EBX: 0x35498000, ECX: 0x06daef00, EDX: 0x06daef00
CR2: 0x00000000, EBP: 0x4900faf8, ESI: 0x35498000, EDI: 0x06fde380
EFL: 0x00010206, EIP: 0x006dfb8a, CS: 0x00000008, DS: 0x00000010
Error code: 0x00000000

Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on
stack)
0x4900f908 : 0x12b0e1 (0x455670 0x4900f93c 0x133238 0x0)
0x4900f958 : 0x1a7bed (0x45ea20 0x6dfb8a 0xe 0x45e1d4)
0x4900fa38 : 0x19e517 (0x4900fa50 0x1 0x4900faf8 0x6dfb8a)
0x4900fa48 : 0x6dfb8a (0xe 0x35490048 0x49000010 0x130010)
0x4900faf8 : 0x6de605 (0x35498000 0x727e000 0x8 0x6fde840)
0x4900fb18 : 0x6e5318 (0x35498000 0x727e000 0x3549c0e4 0x0)
0x4900fb78 : 0x40d650 (0x35498000 0x727e000 0x1 0x3e8070)
0x4900fbd8 : 0x40f4e5 (0x727e000 0x35498000 0x6fde340 0x6fe4bc0)
0x4900fc58 : 0x40ed49 (0x727e000 0x6045800 0x0 0xffffffff)
0x4900fca8 : 0x40ff4a (0x727e000 0x2 0x52f3a04 0x0)
0x4900fce8 : 0x40957c (0x727e000 0x2 0x1 0x727e000)
0x4900fd28 : 0x61badd (0x727e000 0x2 0x4 0x0)
0x4900fda8 : 0x8b1e3c (0x52f3d00 0xc751280 0x1 0x1)
0x4900fdc8 : 0x8b1886 (0xc751280 0x1 0x1 0x0)
0x4900fe18 : 0x8b13f5 (0xc751280 0x633f58 0x4fbae00 0x10001)
0x4900fe48 : 0x40d650 (0xc751280 0x52f3d00 0x1 0x3e8070)
Backtrace continues...
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.microsoft.driver.MicrosoftKeyboardUSB(6.2.1)@0x6e3000-
>0x6e5fff
dependency:
com.microsoft.driver.MicrosoftKeyboard(6.2.1)@0x6db000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily(3.0.3)@0x60d000
com.microsoft.driver.MicrosoftKeyboard(6.2.1)@0x6db000-
>0x6e2fff
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily(1.5)@0x6a3000
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBComposite(3.0.0)@0x8b0000->0x8b3fff
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily(3.0.3)@0x60d000
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily(3.0.3)@0x60d000->0x634fff

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Mac OS version:
9B18

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.1.0: Wed Oct 31 17:46:22 PDT 2007;
root:xnu-1228.0.2~1/RELEASE_I386
System model name: MacBookPro2,2 (Mac-F42187C8)

This is the second time I see this happening.
 >> Stay informed about: Microsoft keyboard drivers in Leopard