[hui]

Did you ever know that if you plug the pro keyboard into an xp machine, xp automatically installs the keyboard drivers into xp. The funny thing is that it says installing apple pro keyboard. Why would Microsoft ever do such a thing? I thought the last thing they would do is implement drivers on xp for an apple keyboard.
p.s. the command buttons works as the windows button
Just thought you would be interested to know

[todrain]

My Apple Pro Keyboard is the backup for my PC wireless one. When I need to reinstall Windows (ugh!) I use the Apple to get it going.

[WJMoore]

I doubt Microsoft have specifically implemented a driver for the Apple keyboard. They have implemented a driver for the Human Interface Device (HID) USB Class. This is a standard USB class defined by usb.org for input devices. The Apple keyboard and I imagine the Apple mouse comply with this class. This is the same reason Microsoft mouses work straight out of the box on OS X without the MS drivers installed, obviously you have to install the drivers to unleash the full functionality of the mouse.

As for XP saying it is installing an Apple Pro Keyboard this is also due to the USB standard. All USB devices have a number of text strings associated with them. One is the name of the device, in this case "Apple Pro Keyboard". These are all accessible by a host during the initialization stage. This is how Windows can say that it is searching for drivers for new device x even when it has no idea what the device is.

[JB72]

Originally posted by WJMoore:
As for XP saying it is installing an Apple Pro Keyboard this is also due to the USB standard. All USB devices have a number of text strings associated with them. One is the name of the device, in this case "Apple Pro Keyboard". These are all accessible by a host during the initialization stage. This is how Windows can say that it is searching for drivers for new device x even when it has no idea what the device is.

Exactly. I KVM between a Mac and an a PC using my Apple keyboard w/o any problem. Cross-platform standards are a good thing.

[engaged]

Originally posted by hui:
Did you ever know that if you plug the pro keyboard into an xp machine, xp automatically installs the keyboard drivers into xp. The funny thing is that it says installing apple pro keyboard. Why would Microsoft ever do such a thing? I thought the last thing they would do is implement drivers on xp for an apple keyboard.
p.s. the command buttons works as the windows button
Just thought you would be interested to know

Strange; I use my Apple Pro keyboard with XP Home and it calls it a 'HID Keyboard Device'... It would be nice if it recognised it as an Apple Pro, then I wouldn't have to keep finding characters like @, #, €, and £.

I wonder if XP Home is any different to XP Pro in this area...

[Mac Zealot]

That's because the apple pro keyboard is a USB HID compliant device..

It's supposed to work on ANY OS

[CRASH HARDDRIVE]

By the same token, a PC specific USB keyboard works fine on a Mac. The Windows key becomes the Apple key, etc.

Basically it's yet another thing that makes one realize there's virtually no such thing as Mac specific hardware.

[Peter]

Originally posted by CRASH HARDDRIVE:
By the same token, a PC specific USB keyboard works fine on a Mac. The Windows key becomes the Apple key, etc.

Basically it's yet another thing that makes one realize there's virtually no such thing as Mac specific hardware.

Wow, I thought you had to buy a mac keyboard, good to know

[engaged]

Originally posted by Mac Zealot:
That's because the apple pro keyboard is a USB HID compliant device..

It's supposed to work on ANY OS

I know.

I was curious why when hui (who started this topic) plugs in his Apple Pro keyboard, XP actually states that it is installing an Apple Pro keyboard rather than just an 'HID Keyboard Device'.

[Mac Zealot]

Most devices automatically tell the computer what exactly they are.

This is why unsupported devices might sometimes show things.