Are peripherals cross platform?

[tRoG]

I quite like the look of some keyboards which have been designed for the Mac (This one, for example) - but is it possible to use them with a PC?

The first person to tell me to buy a Mac gets a smack on the head

Oh, and if it's not, someone recommend me a good, quiet keyboard, that doesn't have gazillions of extra buttons I'll never use

 

[RandomBastard]

My experience with usb products and pc/mac, is that they genneraly work when i had an ibook i could use all of my pc usb perpherials on it. Worst comes to worst you'll need a driver, but i dont see why a generic usb keyboard driver wouldnt work.

 

[old.user4556]

My logitech internet navigator keyboard is both PC & Mac because it has the apple key on the keyboard. Not sure about other usb keyboards tho?

 

[Jonty]

Hi tRog

I believe it really depends. For keyboards, I would hazard a guess that it would be detected as a generic USB keyboard in Windows. If it has any special buttons or functions, these may not work correctly. Your best bet would be to contact either the retailer or the manufactuer themselves and ask if their products function under Windows.

Kind Regards

 

[Shovel]

You may be able to fix any non working keys by making a customised Keymap, which can be done using something like: The Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator. I don't have it installed here, so I can't remember if it'll let you remap the Windows key (which a Mac keyboard wont have, of course), but if it does, maybe that'll aid you

I actually used it to make a UK Dvorak layout, since the supplied one is USA only, and doesn't include a £ sign. You load up an existing layout of your choice, change whatever you like, then export it to an MSI installer, which then bungs it into your Regionality settings automagically.

 

[mookie]

Whenever i've used a PC(win key) keyboard on me ibook, the apple key is the windows key, i'd assume it was the same the other way round?

 

[Xavier]

Mac keyboards to work on PCs, I used to use the apple pro keyboard on mine... though now I'm relegated to a deNovo

With regards to special keys, there are some third party apps out there, free ones, which specifically remap the mac buttons (F13-F15 for starters) to the windows keys insert,prt scr and pause/break.

Xav

 

[tRoG]

Oh, goody

Now, time to decide between the Apple one and the Macally offering

 

[Gurnox]

Oh, goody

Now, time to decide between the Apple one and the Macally offering

The last MacAlly one I used really sucked. The Apple Pro keyboard is super!

 

[TdC]

in TdC's perfect world all periphs are cross platform. he dislikes products keyed to one platform rather much :/

 

[Shovel]

Linux 2.6 has accepted the Windows standard for multimedia buttons has it not TeeDee? Everything's cross platform now