Getting an unsupported Logitech Numeric Keypad to work

asmeurer · 02-24-2009, 03:16 PM

I recently went to a Circuit City going out of business sale and purchased a Logitech wireless numeric keypad for my laptop. It didn't say it supported the mac, but what the heck, I thought, it might work anyway or at least I can probably hack it to work.
A search on the internet reveals several forums stating that the keypad does not work on the Mac. However, unlike the posters of those forums, I am not afraid to get my hands dirty to get this thing to work.
Well, I can confirm that it does not in fact work. The '/', '*', tab, and enter keys work, and every other key would just cause my computer to beep. After some investigation, I found that those other keys are all mapped to the clear key. And herein lies my problem. I would use a program like ControllerMate to map each key to what it should be mapped to, but mapping one key to something maps them all to that same thing, since they all seem to be sending the same key signal (I used a command line program called HIDFiddler, along with ControllerMate to verify this).
So if anyone here can give some insight into this, that would be good. Namely, how does this thing even work on a PC if it sends the same signal for each key? It must be intercepted incorrectly somewhere in the software level. Also, the keypad uses a 2.4 GHz band to communicate wirelessly with the USB receiver. Isn't that the same band that Airport uses? Is there perhaps some way I could intercept the signals with my MacBook Pro's wireless card to glean some more information here. And lastly, does anyone know of any programs that could maybe help me here? It doesn't necessarily need to be something that will make it work straight away, but anything that could help me figure out what needs to be done.

trevor · 02-24-2009, 03:35 PM

Quote:


	And lastly, does anyone know of any programs that could maybe help me here?

I don't know what programs would help you, but I would personally start by fiddling with USB Overdrive: http://www.usboverdrive.com/USBOverdrive/News.html

Quote:


	Also, the keypad uses a 2.4 GHz band to communicate wirelessly with the USB receiver. Isn't that the same band that Airport uses? Is there perhaps some way I could intercept the signals with my MacBook Pro's wireless card to glean some more information here.

That band is unregulated in the US, so lots of things use it. Bluetooth, the vast majority of WiFi, many cordless phones, wireless devices, and many more things are at 2.4 GHz. No, there is no way that you can intercept the signals from your keypad with your 802.11x card. Just being at the same frequency does not help you here.

Trevor

asmeurer · 02-25-2009, 09:01 PM

That program only seems to work with mice and joysticks.

02-24-2009, 03:16 PM	#1
asmeurer Prospect Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 46	Getting an unsupported Logitech Numeric Keypad to work I recently went to a Circuit City going out of business sale and purchased a Logitech wireless numeric keypad for my laptop. It didn't say it supported the mac, but what the heck, I thought, it might work anyway or at least I can probably hack it to work. A search on the internet reveals several forums stating that the keypad does not work on the Mac. However, unlike the posters of those forums, I am not afraid to get my hands dirty to get this thing to work. Well, I can confirm that it does not in fact work. The '/', '*', tab, and enter keys work, and every other key would just cause my computer to beep. After some investigation, I found that those other keys are all mapped to the clear key. And herein lies my problem. I would use a program like ControllerMate to map each key to what it should be mapped to, but mapping one key to something maps them all to that same thing, since they all seem to be sending the same key signal (I used a command line program called HIDFiddler, along with ControllerMate to verify this). So if anyone here can give some insight into this, that would be good. Namely, how does this thing even work on a PC if it sends the same signal for each key? It must be intercepted incorrectly somewhere in the software level. Also, the keypad uses a 2.4 GHz band to communicate wirelessly with the USB receiver. Isn't that the same band that Airport uses? Is there perhaps some way I could intercept the signals with my MacBook Pro's wireless card to glean some more information here. And lastly, does anyone know of any programs that could maybe help me here? It doesn't necessarily need to be something that will make it work straight away, but anything that could help me figure out what needs to be done.

02-25-2009, 09:01 PM	#3
asmeurer Prospect Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 46	That program only seems to work with mice and joysticks.