Keyboard Configuration

January 2, 2005 1:43 AM

Keyboard configuration question. [the more, it is inside]

My keyboard (a wireless Dell keyboard that I acquired secondhand) has a set of little media player buttons on it: play/pause, skip forward and back, and a volume dial. Right now the volume dial controls the system master volume, and the other buttons don't seem to do anything.

What I'd like to do is configure those buttons to work with winamp. I've downloaded a couple of freeware keyboard config applications, but I haven't been able to get it to work so far. New drivers and searching Google haven't given me any help, either.

posted by Yelling At Nothing to computers & internet (5 comments total)

There are some plugins that might help.
posted by muckster at 1:53 AM on January 2, 2005

It might be worth trying to remap those keys with KeyTweak if they aren't standard media keycodes.
posted by j.edwards at 2:13 AM on January 2, 2005

Have a look for MediaKey (versato?). It has on screen media controls plus a few extras.
posted by Cancergiggles at 2:43 AM on January 2, 2005

Two things that helped my similar predicament (but with an HP keyboard):

1. Get the very latest version of Winamp 5 - it supports some important keyboard-related features like softkeys that don't have their own keycodes.

Uninstall your old Winamp first. This is important.

2. Install the latest driver for your keyboard.

3. Go into Preferences > Global Hotkeys in Winamp and try to configure your keys. If they're recognized when you try to add a key, you're in business.

Some of the keys may already have been configured when you installed the new WinAmp.

I left a few steps out such as "gnash teeth" and "repeat steps 1-3 again". I hope your experience is a bit more pleasant.

Good luck!
posted by mmoncur at 7:50 AM on January 2, 2005

If none of the already-mentioned options work, you might try installing Netropa's Delltouch keyboard configuration software. It worked for my thrift-store Dell multimedia keyboard.
posted by box at 12:46 PM on January 2, 2005