Microsoft Intellipoint

[ristin_uk]

When will OS X.1 compatible drivers for the Microsoft Intellipoint Optical mouse be available? If only Classic ones are available, does that mean the mouse won't work in OS X, just Classic?

[themacko]

The mouse should work fine in X, the only real purpose of mouse drivers would be to add functionality to all your mouse buttons. but yes, without drivers the mouse will work fine. (i tested 2 different MS Intellipoint mice on my computer and both worked without a hitch.)

[ewhan]

Without OS X drivers, the left mouse button works as per normal, the right button simulates control-click, the scroll wheel works in some applications and not others. The extra buttons on the side don't work at all.

In OS 10.0.4, the scroll wheel only works in Cocoa applications and some Carbon applications (eg Internet Explorer, but not the Finder), and doesn't work in Classic applications at all. People have reported that under 10.1, the scroll wheel works in far more applications, including the Finder.

I wish Microsoft would release Intellipoint for OS X, becuase I'm desperate to get those side buttons working again. I don't even know if they are planning on releasing OS X drivers ever. Their web site makes no mention of it.

[billybob]

Yah, I've got an intellipoint and it works just fine... i only got the 2 button + scroll wheel though, not the fancy 5 button one. OSX works just fine with this one, the right button and scroll wheel work as expected (although some carbon apps dont recognize the scroll wheel).

It would be nice to see some official drivers, then again, it's nice to know that they work fine as is.

[serpicolugnut]

I've temporarily ditched my Intellipoint Explorer for a Kensington MouseInABox four button mouse. It doesn't have as nice a feel as the Intellipoint, but it has drivers.

The Intellipoint just moved too slow even with the Mouse Control Panels fastest setting for me to use it. I love the MS Mouse, but without proper acceleration and use of the extra buttons, I'm stickin' with the Kensington...

Whatever happened to USB Overdrive? The author said he would have a version out shortly after OS X was released, and then he just disappeared....

[gravy]

Problem is you cannot swap buttons if you are a lefty – very frustrating. If anyone has some insight here let me know.

[Jasoco]

Originally posted by ewhan
I wish Microsoft would release Intellipoint for OS X, becuase I'm desperate to get those side buttons working again. I don't even know if they are planning on releasing OS X drivers ever. Their web site makes no mention of it.

I hear ya. If they don't soon, I'll have to sell the MS Intellimouse Explorer and buy a third party one made for X WITH drivers.

Microsoft, you have your mission. Don't screw it up.. again.. and again.. and again...

[mcasteel]

Originally posted by gravy
Problem is you cannot swap buttons if you are a lefty – very frustrating. If anyone has some insight here let me know.

I've swapped the buttons on my Intellimouse by modifying Apple's mouse driver, which is part of the Darwin open source. This involved:

- Installing the developer tools for OS X
- Downloading from the Darwin site the IOUSBFamily folder
- Opening the IOUSBFamily.pbproj (in Project Builder)
- Changing the code in AppleUSBMouse.cpp to swap buttons 1 and 2
- Build the project
- Replace the AppleUSBMouse.kext package in the PlugIns folder inside the IOUSBFamily.kext package in /System/Library/Extensions

Whew! Oh, then do it again whenever you install an update to OS X (at least this is my experience with all the updates so far). At some updates, this won't work until you are able to obtain the new sources when Apple releases them. This happened on the release of 10.1, for example. Apple posted the new Darwin sources within a week or so, but there was no left-handed mouse operation until then.

Here's the code I used, at about line 590 in AppleUSBMouse.cpp (which is in AppleUSBMouse::MoveMouse):

for (usageNum = 0; usageNum < usageListSize; usageNum++) {
if (usageList[usageNum] == 1) {
buttonState |= 2;
} else if (usageList[usageNum] == 2) {
buttonState |= 1;
} else if (usageList[usageNum] <= kMaxButtons) {
buttonState |= (1 << (usageList[usageNum] - 1));
}
}

I could probably email you the binary package if you contact me privately. It's open source, after all!