Aug 03 2008

My Microsoft Natural keyboard does not like Apple’s Java 6 VM

Published by Winni at 5:31 pm under Hardware, Mac OS X

I’ve been wondering for quite a while now why Netbeans 6.1 does not respond to key strokes when I use it with Apple’s Java 6 implementation. Yesterday I found out that the problem is neither with Netbeans nor with Apple’s Java 6 VM, but with Microsoft’s OS X keyboard drivers.

I use a Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 with the latest drivers from the Microsoft support website, and those do not seem to be compatible with Apple’s Java 6 VM.

The most recent version of the IntelliType software is 6.22 and the actual URL for the drivers is:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/a/7/c/a7c998ff-d953-42fc-9824-a370a0214f82/Microsoft-Desktop-X-d203.dmg. (This is intentionally not a hyperlink.)

When I switch to Apple’s original drivers - who do not properly reflect my German Microsoft keyboard layout - I can type in Netbeans and everything works. When I switch back to the “German - Microsoft” layout, Netbeans won’t react to any key that I press.

For kicks, I could now also try and see if the problem also persists when I use an “British - Microsoft” or “US Intl - Microsoft” layout, but honestly, I don’t care. Neither Apple nor Microsoft pay me for testing, and I bought a German keyboard and want the German layout which is printed on the keys to work - but it doesn’t. Interestingly enough, keyboard shortcuts like “Command-Q” or “Command-Shift-N” work, only text edit controls don’t react.

I think that companies with so much cash on their bank accounts like Apple and Microsoft should spend a bit more of that on QA. And it is also about time that both corporations realize that they serve international customers who also use other languages besides English in their daily lives. I know, this might be a bit of a culture shock, but I am sure the engineers over there can handle it when their management lets them. (Sorry, but I need to be cynical here for self preservation.)

Update: Of course, I couldn’t leave it be and eventually gave in and tried it with “US Intl - Microsoft” and “British - Microsoft” - with the same results. None of the Microsoft specific settings work, only the default Apple layouts are compatible.

3 Responses to “My Microsoft Natural keyboard does not like Apple’s Java 6 VM”

  1. # FilterPunkon 30 Oct 2008 at 5:41 pm

    Hi,
    i have found out the same “hard” way. If I change the default java version to 1.6(.0_07), the keyboard doesn’t work on any text fields.
    If I switch to the regular apple keyboard layout everything works as it should.
    So, what are we going to do about it? Any idea? I think I will try to post a bug report to microsoft.
    If you find a solution, plz drop me a mail.

  2. # FilterPunkon 30 Oct 2008 at 7:13 pm

    good news:
    microsoft updated their intellipoint and -type for mac
    current release is 6.3

    bad news: it doesn’t solve our problem.
    no keyboard input for java 1.6 on mac

  3. # Winnion 31 Oct 2008 at 6:43 am

    Hi and thanks for your post!

    I don’t think there’s anything that we can do about it. My workaround is to switch to the driver for Apple keyboards while I’m in Java. There are some differences in the layout, but at least I can use the Natural Keyboard and type something. When I leave the Java app, I switch back to the Microsoft driver.
    To easily switch between the drivers, I checked “Show input menu in menu bar” in System Preferences/International/Input Menu. In addition to the ” - Microsoft” keyboard layouts, I also checked the regular language versions (without the ” - Microsoft” suffix).
    It’s not beautiful, but it works here.

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