What I was (and still am, I guess) confused about is that I remember reading somewhere that Mac dropped the need for "extensions" in OS X (from OS 9) ??

Your right. Strike all that. Egg on my face. Got my OS' mixed in the head. Extensions will only be one the OS9 side.
Hey, do you have OS9 installed for use in the classic mode?

It was in an Extensions folder (or maybe it just was of an extension file type??) I don't remember. But either way, it was in the OS X System folder, nothing to do with OS9. In fact, the keyboard drivers are natively for OSX. They were made for the original version of OSX and worked (with a tweak) after an upgrade to Jaguar, but not on an already-existing Jaguar machine.

Can anyone comment on this Kensington keyboard?
http://www.kensington.com/html/2529.html

It looks EXACTLY like the CompUSA keyboard ... only it has updated drivers that work perfect.

I was able to find a Kensington keyboard (mentioned in the previous post) that looks and acts and is - practically - the exact same thing as the Design Concepts CompUSA one! (In fact, I'm sure they were both manufactured by the same place, and then branded by Kensington and CompUSA)

I returned the CompUSA keyboard in exchange for the Kensington one, and it works perfectly without even installing any drivers. Just as good as the original apple pro keyboard that comes with the mac - plug it and it's good to go!

Unfortunately I was never able to get the CompUSA keyboard working. My "fix" was simply to replace it with the Kensington one, which is really the exact same thing.

almost all of compusa stuff (theyre brand) need drivers Im mean almost everything thats why its cheaper I guess

Need drivers? YES! Cheaper? NO! That damn CompUSA keyboard was over $100! (Which turns out to be about equal to the price of the Kensington one.)

I had to do a similar thing. I returned my CompUSA keyboard, and got the Official MAC version, for the same price. Also no drivers were needed for either the media keys or the USB ports.

I really like the Kensington one. It's just as comfy and exactly like the Design Concepts one. Just no drivers needed!