Sunday, December 07, 2003

Using a Mac G4 keyboard on my WinXP machine
They are such nice looking keyboards and they type beautifully! Over the weekend I hooked one up to my main setup (remote desktopping has freed me from ever having to use a KVM switch to get to my server and media PC) and here are the things that sorted it for me:
  • Travis Krumsick's KeyTweak allows you to re-assign the scancodes in the registry. I guess if you are a real Windows man you'd hack it by hand but it involves making the scan codes using four-bit combinations - use the utility. Since the G4 keyboard has no "print screen" key you can (for example) assign F13 to this function (most PC keyboard lack an F13). Anything else you need you can put on other keys. This works for all Windows software

  • Make sure you assign the keyboard as a US business layout (ControlPanels>Regional>Language>Details) then add a new keyboard.

Windows also recognises the CD transport keys above the number pad (which is nice!).

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