Re: Apple laptop kernel keyboard discussion
On Thursday 21 August 2003 4:29, Michel Dänzer wrote:
> On Thu, 2003-08-21 at 15:23, Frank Murphy wrote:
> > Actually, I use it all the time. For a US keyboard, with no special chars
> > engraved on the keys, Multi_key + ^ + u = û is the only way to type û. So
> > in the US, Mode_switch is rarely used (though using the en_US keymap
> > makes Mode_switch useful for characters like ¡ or ¿)
>
> I'm using a US keymap as well, and I have customized the 'a', 'o' and
> 'u' keys to yield umlauts on the third and fourth level. I mean,
> Multi_key is clumsy to use, whether it requires shift or not, isn't it?
For me to type French, I find that it's better to have the accents in a single
place. é and è, which gets the third shift level. (Plus É is used too. I
don't think there are umlauts on an initial vowel in German.) And on a Mac,
my wife is very used to Multi_key+c c for ç.
But it's matter of habit, of course. :)
> > Another thing is that the fn+logo and shift+enter solutions both have the
> > same problem ... and the same solution. To use the fn+logo key to get,
> > say, the { character on a Swiss keyboard, press fn, then logo, then
> > release fn, and press the 9, which will be the same finger-gymnastics
> > with the Shift+Enter. So the fn+logo isn't dead after all. :)
>
> Heh, I'd consider Enter-Shift-<key> much more intuitive and easier to
> use than fn-Enter-<fn release>-Shift-<key> though... (same for
> Enter-<key> vs. <modifier>-Enter-<modifier release>-<key>)
But for me to not get an umlaut for accent aigu with Multi_key on the shifted
Enter, I have to do Shift-Enter <release shift> single-quote <release
everything> e (to get é, not ë).
Another thought though. For me, using fn-logo for Multi_key, then using the
letter is OK. The only accent that's a pain is circonflex (because the 6 is
also a fn-enabled key), but I can get around it with the finger-gymnastics.
So maybe just leave Multi_key on right logo and change the Enter to be only
Mode_switch (perhaps leaving KP_Enter on the shifted Enter). Then, also, on
the fn-6 (a.k.a Clear) key, instead of Pointer_EnableKeys on the first shift
level, put another asciicircum, that way I can avoid the pain. :)
I imagine that the fn- stuff is done in the keyboard firmware, but do you
think it would be possible to only allow the fn-key to affect the first key
pressed and not all the keys held. It would avoid the finger-gym.
> > Perhaps, but there's a problem. According to Apple's docs on this
> > keyboard, fn+Enter is supposed to be the Windows Menu key. Unfortunately,
> > it is a copy of the PageUp key (X keycode 99).
>
> D'oh, I wondered what 'Prior' means...
Xkb for Page Up, I think.
> > Now, I had noticed that there was a similar problem with fn+logo,
> > where the X keycode was 222. However, since I upgraded my kernel from
> > stock Debian 2.4.19 to stock Debian 2.4.21, the problem with fn+logo
> > is fixed (the X keycode is 116, like it should be.
>
> [...]
>
> > But, if that can be fixed, I actually think it's a good idea to be
> > consistient with the rest of the fn-keypad.
>
> Yes, let's hope this can be fixed, but otherwise no worries either I
> guess, unless someone comes up with a case where KP_Enter is
> indispensable? (it had better be important though :)
At least, I can add Menu = Enter to my apple file, so if it gets fixed in the
kernel, X will "just work."
Frank
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