USB Keyboard with Pointing Stick

Do you mean the little "eraser nub" that Big Blue uses? The little red thing right in the middle?

Yes, that is exactly what I mean. I'm not sure what the official name is but it's the little red eraser head in the middle of some PC laptops.

IBM's name for the nub/eraser/pointing stick is trackpoint, and IBM makes a few USB keyboards with trackpoint built in: google "USB trackpoint" and you'll pick up a couple sites. In all honestly you'd probably save yourself a lot of trouble by putting down the $100 for one. They're used in some chording keyboards as well.

As for building it into an existing keyboard. Don't know. Finding the mechanism itself would be a chore. I did a little searching and didn't find any. I sort of doubt you can even get them in small quantities. Then, assuming you can buy or scavenge one, you'll probably need to to interface it, and that's easier said than done. I don't know how trackpoints register movement, but I bet it's close to a standard mouse signal, which means a controller. You may get lucky and find you can hack it to a regular mouse, but I think its more likely that you'd need to find a chipset that supports trackpoints specifically or program one yourself.

I don't think its impossible, but I'm sure it wouldn't be a simple hack.

I think hands-down the best keyboard ever made is the IBM Trackpoint II, which uses the same clicky buckling-spring mechanism as their Model M keyboards, and adds a trackpoint (regrettably only 2 buttons, though). They use a PS/2 interface but work just fine with a PS/2-to-USB adapter. I'm using one right now at work (i've brought it from job-to-job for years), and love it so much that I bought a spare that's still at home, unopened in case this one ever croaks.

They still show up new-in-box on ebay regularly, even though they've been discontinued for years. IBM must've made a ton of them that never sold. One quirk about them is that the trackpoint cap that comes with them is smooth. Some people like this, but I prefer the "cat's tongue" texture of modern trackpoints. Fortunately, the caps are interchangable, so I picked up a few spare cat's tongue trackpoint caps on ebay for a couple of bucks.

-vga4life

I like this. You can use trackpoint (also touchpad). On PC, you
can change "sensitivity" of the trackpoint, but you cannot use such
feature because there is no driver for MacOS X. But you can change
the speed of the pointer. It helps a lot.
Unfortunately I'm a Japanese using special keyboard with localized
keymap and additional keys, so, it was a very tough problem. Apple's
USB HID driver recognizes all unknown keyboard as "US" one.
So, I tried and tried, and finally I found that the latest
Microsoft's keyboard's driver. Using "USBProbe" in Apple
Developer Tools you can get the keyboard's Vender ID and Product ID.
Then I hacked Info.plist in the MS keyboard's driver's package. What
I did was Just add some entries to make MS driver miss-recognize IBM's
keyboard.
Such language specific issue is not yours, right? I'm using uControl
to get missing Command key because IBM's keypad has no Windows key.
These two keys generate the same code. Some guy reported uControl works
on 10.3.6 with some modification.
The second more "global" problem is Touchpad that called Ultranavi.
Unfortunately, when you plug the keyboard to Mac, not only trackpoint
but also Ultranavi become activated. In addition, Ultranavi's special
driver is, of course, not supplied for Mac. Its default action is
terrible. You can "click" by slightly touching the pad. The key is
Microsoft's latest mouse driver. Get Vender ID and Product ID, and hack
Info.plist.

My case, Japanese environment, the MS mouse driver recognize Ultranavi,
not trackpoint. Maybe because touchpad is more general. ?
Anyway, if your MS driver miss-recognize your Ultranavi, from the
System Prefererence, choose MS mouse driver, and modify the function
of each buttons like that:
(firstly, modify the third, scrool wheel button)

right -> Nothing
left -> Nothing
scroll wheel button -> right click

Then, you can find the touchpad is just a touchpad. Not clickable.
Because Ultranavi doesn't have any center button!
----My iBook G4 1GHz Japanese Keyboard is working with the IBM keyboard
like that. Take your own risk, please. All things I wrote here were
translated from Japanese, so I believe they are basically right.

Tatsuro

My daughter wants a full size keyboard to use with her iBook blueberry, which has a single USB port. She likes using the trackstick and keyboard of her Mom's ThinkPad. Would the IBM trackstick keyboard work with her iBook, which is running Mac OS 9?

Is there some way to share email addresses with individual users on this forum for out of band communications?

Yes the model m/trackpoint keyboard will work with os 9 with a ps2 to usb adatper (i know that for a fact because thats what i use, a ps2 to usb adatper and an IBM model m keyboard (the older pre-lexmark models) with my usb kvm with my beige g3 mac and windows computers.)

The good news is that I discovered that I do have an IBM trackpoint keyboard--model KPD8923, with a USB to PS/2 Adapter (Wake Up).

The bad news is that when plugged it into the USB port on my daughter's blueberry iBook running Mac OS 9.1, it doesn't work at all.

Is there some kind of software that I need to install, or do I need to look for another model keyboard or adapter?

I've got an IBM KPD8923 and a cheap GE USB PS/2 adapter plugged into an iMac. Seems both the KPD8923 and my other IBM Trackpoint kbd, RT3200 V:5NTW both have trackpoint problems. Neither works much. If I can ever find one in good shape I'll be very happy. I'm not suprised neither works, they cost me $4 and $5 respectivly. I really like the small size of the RT3200. It must be made for rack applications.

Japanese Page for RT3200 Mine is a Rev A01

I searched all over for a good keyboard for the Mac, and I think the IBM USB Keyboard with UltraNav (similar to the Travel Keyboard with UltraNav, but with a numeric pad) might be the best, for now...

Best info I can find on the Web, a Korean web site:
http://www.funshop.co.kr/vs/detail.aspx?no=0050856413

[Tried the so-called "best" keyboard for the Mac, Matias' Tactile Pro, and it is so disappointing: While the tactile feed back is good, its phatom key problem is serious -- even though Matias' web site specifically claims superiour functionality in this area. E.g., Right Command + Shift + Return (or + "U") does not register any input!]

I'd like to ask Tatsuro for your experience in getting the IBM keyboard to work in OS X 10.3, and if you have tried the USB keyboard remapping hack described in:

http://www.snark.de/mac/usbkbpatch/index_en.html

Thanks a lot!

Kenneth P. Wong