Remapping keys: Apple, please listen!!
Remapping keys: Apple, please listen!!
- Subject: Remapping keys: Apple, please listen!!
- From: Markian Hlynka <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 01:09:25 -0600
On Tuesday, September 9, 2003, at 11:01 PM,
email@hidden wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I just got a power book G4, and would like to remap the Ctrl key and
> the Caps lock key under X11. I used to use the following xmodmap script
> to do this on my previous linux laptop (vaio), but on powerbook this
> remapped only the CAPS to the Ctrl correctly, and the Ctrl-key went
> somewhere I don't know. Does anyone know the correct syntax?
> This isn't really x11 specific question, but still a problem under
> x11, so
> I hope it's ok to ask this here.
> Thanks in advance. -Ken
>
> Or you might try this:
>
> http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/12106
The problem is more complicated than this. Ucontrol works in this case,
but not in others. Specifically, I'm talking about function keys. Apple
seems to consider notebook users to be not worth worrying about. I need
my functions keys to work properly (ie, with a SINGLE keystroke)! And
not just so I can play games without an external keyboard, though
that's huge too; it means when I'm on the road, I can't play a game to
relax! We KNOW the hardware can (used to?) be able to do this.
The word on versiontracker is that apple is removing what little
recourse we had in panther.
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/12106
Are you listening, Apple? This isn't funny! If you want to be
considered seriously by unix users, being able to access my function
keys with a _single keystroke is essential! Please, please, _please say
something reassuring, Apple!
I've included below the text from the most comprehensive comment on
versiontracker:
------------------------included from
versiontracker---------------------
To bring everyone up to date... currently, users of Apple branded
laptops face the issue of having to press the fn key in order to use
the function keys in a standard way (instead of with their
Apple-portable-default mode of adjusting brightness, etc). Many of us
would prefer to have normal function key access (like any other
computer), given applications like Flash, Photoshop, Quark and Apple's
own X11 & Final Cut Pro make extensive use of the function keys. Also,
many of us rarely need to readjust brightness, etc compared to our use
of application shortcuts. This becomes especially difficult when users
switch between an Apple portable and a tower (or a PC), and have to
remember the extra keystroke for several shortcuts.
The work around we had in OS 9 was to launch our Keyboard Control
Panel, click an option, and the function keys were "reversed", in other
words, we could click F6 and have it behave as F6, instead of as volume
or num lock (which we could still access by pressing the fn key).
Before the 12 & 17" PBs shipped, powerbook users could boot into OS 9
and change this setting, and it hacked something (firmware?) that
carried over when we rebooted into OS X. But now, since the new PBs
don't boot into OS 9 (in Classic, the Control Panel option is missing),
we can't get this functionality back. And it is driving lots of us
crazy...
Among the function key applications I've been testing since the arrival
of my 17", (uControl, One Key, YoupiKey, XKeys, iKey & Function Keys
Mapper), uControl got the closest to fixing this problem, but for a
long while now, it's only worked for F1-F6, with the num lock key being
broken, and F7-F12 being ignored. That feature in uControl is called
"Real Function Keys".
Hey Shane (and any of the other coders at uControl), have you been able
to make any progress on developing Real Function Keys since the last
update? Is there a way to figure out what OS 9 Keyboard Control Panel
tricks out when that option is ticked? Any way to incorporate that
hack into uControl?
It sounds like, from one of the user responses below, that Mac OS X.3
Panther not only doesn't resolve the issue but disables the work around
we had. Can others confirm this? More Info
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