While in Germany last month, my wife allowed me time in Saturn's Kudamm store -- seven stories of electronics that makes BestBuy look like a 7-Eleven. Generally, I don't buy electronics in Europe, because they're too expensive, there might be warranty problems, and returning a defective product to the store becomes r-e-a-l-l-y difficult once back home in North America.
How expensive? Generally, computers and such are priced in Euros what I am used to paying in Canadian dollars -- about 60% more expensive. For instance, my LG netbook was $460 in Canada but e450 in Europe. Now, those prices need to be adjusted for sales tax; the Canadian price excludes 12% tax, the German price includes 19% tax.
This time, however, I bought the Elecom Scope Node Mouse, which looks much better in person than in photographs. Best looking mouse I've ever seen. Designed in Japan. It was e39. Not available in North America.
As is usual for non-Logitech mice, it claimed it would work just fine with Microsoft's generic mouse driver -- a white lie, for the driver does not -- and never has -- support the "middle mouse button", where you click the roller wheel. No driver disk included in the fancy packaging.
On a hunch, I searched for an Elecom mouse driver, and found one that works. For me, "works" means I can program the middle button to perform double-clicks.
Getting the Elecom Mouse Driver
To access the driver, you have to take several non-intuitive steps:
1. Do not go to Elecom's home site in Japan. Instead, go to the site of its European distributor at http://www.ednet-gmbh.de/?lang=en&corp_id=0&page=0
2. Click the Support tab.
3. Download the Generic 32-bit driver for XMouse. (There is no driver specific to the Scope Node mouse, but I guessed that any driver would probably work.)
4. Install, and then run the driver. (An icon appears on the taskbar.)
This driver is meant for a six-button mouse, but I found it works just as well for the Scope Node mouse. There is also a driver available for 64-bit systems.
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