I tried this keyboard but felt like the profile was bigger than usual. It does provide a better PgUp/PgDown configuration, but for now I will stick to my Natural Elite keyboard.
By the way, is anyone selling their Microsoft Natural Pro keyboard? I am willing to put in a few bucks to get my hands on that one.
I’ve kind of summarised my thoughts on the keyboards I’ve used over the years here:
a href="http://farhanahmed.net/index.php/Keyboards"http://farhanahmed.net/index.php/Keyboards/a
“rundll32.exe hid.dll,HidservInstaller /install”
Will reinstall the HID service and make your volume keys work. I had the wireless KB and the volume keys worked when I upgraded to the 4000 they stopped and I just couldn’t work it out.
Removed the above service, rebooted and then reinstalled from SP2 and presto my volume key issues are over.
Cheers
finally saw it in the flesh (well, plastic). still rubber domes, so… but what’s with the variable key size??? T, G, H, N (at least, Staples is cheap with lighting) are larger than the rest, but differently sized from each other. looks to be sort of right handed. why is this a Good Thing?
T, G, H, N (at least, Staples is cheap with lighting) are larger than the rest, but differently sized from each other
Yes, but it was this way on the original MS Natural Pro as well. Check the product images above.
Does anyone have trouble with the “H” key not always typing. Happens very frequently to me. I have tried just hitting it by itself to see if it was the angle I was hitting it at, and it isn’t because just a straight on hit will frequently not print.
Just picked up one of these for work, based on this review. Faaaantastic. Thanks Jeff!
I just started using mine and I think I like it a lot - I’ve never owned an ergonomic keyboard before but this just looked really interesting and the reviews were good.
I’m finding the space bar to be pretty stiff. On my old “normal” MS keyboard the spacebar felt like any other key. On this one it takes a good bit of work to press it down. Also when I press it on the right hand side it clacks loudly from the plastic hitting the underlying part of the key. It’s loud enough to be seriously annoying.
I think I’m going to go exchange it for another of the same model and check the new one at the store for any clacky keys.
I think I’ll love this thing once I get the space bar thing fixed and get used to the position.
I have just bought one of these keyboards, and I have to say, it is great. However, ironically, I feel that the software lets it down a bit. The Intellipoint 5.3 software allows you to customise your “favourites” keys 1 - 5… fine you’d think, but it only allows you to specify a path to a file or a URL. This is different to the other keys (for example, the Web/Home key) whereby you can customise it to launch a file or run a command selected from a list. These commands (for example, Next Track, Calendar) are pretty handy… so I was disappointed that I couldn’t use them in customising the “favourites” keys. I have raised a call with Microsoft about it…but until they update (or decide not to) the Intellipoint software, you can use a “Command” on the favourites keys by entering into the registry (BE WARNED - don’t fiddle with the registry unless you know what you are doing and have backed it up first). I have found that the favourites keys have entries 78-82… therefore, to set the Next Track / Prev. Track for keys 4 and 5 respectively you need to add the following into the registry…
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\IntelliType Pro\EventMapping\81]
“Command”=dword:000002c0
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\IntelliType Pro\EventMapping\82]
“Command”=dword:000002bf
I found the command values by changing what the Web/Home key did and inspected the change in the registry - so it should be pretty obvious how to assign the commands you want against your favourites.
I hope this is useful to people!
I just purchased and hooked up a brand new Belkin OmniView and the volume and other special keys are definitely not working with the MS Ergo 4000. I tried the reinstallation of the HID service, this did not resolve the problem. I’m going to try some different things to get it to work and will post if I find the solution.
A volume button fix.
I had the same problem with the keyboard’s volume buttons not working. I also had a Genius mouse (Netscroll+ Superior) installed which had volume buttons. I uninstalled the Genius driver and the keyboard’s buttons leapt back into life.
So, there’s maybe something plugged in that’s usurping the volume function.
Cool. This has taken me ages to figure out.
W.
The following fix worked for me!!
MS Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000: Volume Control Keys not working…
Volume control seems to work fine if you start the “HID Input Service”.
If you are not able to start it (happened to me), fire up the registry
editor and find:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HidServ\Parameters
If there’s a string called “ServiceDll” delete it, and create a new one
(expandable string named “ServiceDll”) with this value:
%SystemRoot%\System32\hidserv.dll
Gary
Still no luck with special function keys through my Belkin USB KVM switch. The keyboard works if it’s directly attached to a computer, but still not finding a solution to have the special function keys working through a KVM switch. If anyone knows of a workaround please post )and an email would be much appreciated)!
The post by Gary worked for me too. I had the same issue with the volume buttons…
My problem was I could not start the HID service…
After adding the registry value that Gary mentioned:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HidServ\Parameters
If there’s a string called “ServiceDll” delete it, and create a new one
(expandable string named “ServiceDll”) with this value:
%SystemRoot%\System32\hidserv.dll
Then starting the HID service through the control panel, the volume button worked great.
Thanks Gary!
It is lame, however, that these newer keyboards moved the CapsLock and other Lock indicator lights OFF THE FREAKING KEYBOARD.
I am typing this off my natural pro … I love it still!
I am trying out the new 4000 just yesterday and my first impression has not been good. It seems to be a bit far apart and the spacebar takes so much effort to press down. Maybe it needs a little breaking in.
Anyway, I’ve been looking for the natural pro replacement as well (I’m a developer also) … I hope the 4000 is it.
luda.
My current keyboard is the Pro model, and I knew I would need to upgrade it at some point. I was quite upset by the mangled configuration of the PgUp/Dn and diamond cursor clusters, so was quite happy when this new MS Natural keyboard appeared. No only that, I’ve just upgraded my displays, which are now black and silver, so the world was going to be color-coordinated too!
I’ve used the keyboard for a day now, and I find that my right hand often lands in the wrong place when returning from the cursor keys. I pulled out my trusty ruler, and discovered that there’s a difference in distance between the banks.
Between the centers of F and J, the Pro has 9.8cm, while the Ergo has 10.3cm: a difference of 0.5cm (just under 1/4").
The centers of 6 and 7 on the Ergo are kind of ambiguous, so I’ve measured the distance from 5 to 8. On the Pro it’s 8.3, while the Ergo is 8.8: again a difference of 5cm.
From V to M on the Pro is 10.6cm, while the Ergo is 11.1cm: again 5cm.
I was wondering whether the angle was different, and it appears not. However, that extra half-centimeter (just under 1/4") will take some adjustment. I’m almost tempted to return it, and then pick up a few cheap Pros on ebay, but I think I can live with this change. It will just make it difficult when I switch to my other machines that have older incarnations of the Natural keyboard (both Pro and original). I have no difficulty switching from a Natural keyboard to non-split designs, or to my laptop, so I don’t anticipate too many troubles.
Mike Hanson
a href="http://www.boxsoft.net"http://www.boxsoft.net/a
Pardon my silly question, but will this keyboard (the basic functionality) work with Linux? I happen to be a developer with Linux being my primary development environment, but I would like to have a comfortable keyboard.
Nadya-- absolutely! Most of the special keys should work as well, they’re just USB keyboard scancodes.
I arrived here looking for a fix for my keyboard’s volume hotkeys not working. I have a Comfort Curve Keyboard 2000 with the problem described here. I removed a Labtec keyboard with media control keys that worked so maybe that’s the problem. I’ll try Gary’s HID registry fix, thanks 
PS - I find it misleading that the box for my keyboard says it works out of the box, but I had to download the IntelliType software (not included with the keyboard!) to get any of the hotkeys working 
Thanks Gary, your registry/service fix worked for me 
Cheers mate!