Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with keyboard and windowsxp

Once you go Mac, you'll never go back.

chrisfromthelc — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:47:25 -0800

I'm looking for a Windows-specific Mac-style keyboard. I've looked, to no avail, to try to find a keyboard that has the same style of keys that the current generation Mac keyboard has. I use a Mac at home, and used to take my machine in at my former job to work on. However, I'm starting a new gig soon and will be stuck in front of a Windows machine all day. I'll miss my keyboard!

I've done the "Mac keyboard remapped for Windows" thing before, and it just was annoying to have someone else sit down at my machine and have a befuddled look when trying to use a key combo ("What's Command? Where's the Windows key?"). So, I'd prefer to NOT use a true Mac keyboard.

I would like wireless, but I'll take what I can get at this point!

How to remap a mac keyboard for Windows usage?

WhereAmI — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:41:18 -0800

I am using the slim, aluminum Apple Bluetooth Keyboard on my Windows XP computer. It works fine for typing, but I need to change / re-map a few of the keys to their windows xp equivalents and need your help. Here's a link to the keyboard I'm referring to: Link For example, I need the eject key (in the upper right hand corner) of the keyboard to be the Windows "Delete" key so I can hit "Control Alt Delete" to log in to my Windows machine (I currently cannot do this as no key is mapped to the windows "Delete" equivalent). I also need to re-map the right side "Command" key to be a "Control" key.

Here are the 2 keys (circled in red) that I need to re-map: Link

Can anyone point me in the right direction? Let me know if you need more information from me.

Thanks!

More like WRONG arrow key, amirite?

Rhaomi — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 19:52:28 -0800

My laptop's right-arrow key is remapping itself. Any tips for diagnosis or repair? The right-arrow key on my laptop is behaving badly. It seems to be wildly remapping itself several times per second, varying between a few keys. After a little testing, here's what I found out:

- Inside a text field, pressing it will produce either "n/ " or "b". It varies between the two randomly with repeated keypresses. Example:

n/ bbbn/ n/ / bn/ / n/ n/ bn/

(Yes, I realize it typed "/" twice in the middle there -- no clue why)

- When it does type "b", it also minimizes whatever application I'm using.
- When testing in Notepad, pressing the arrow also displays the little underscores under "File", "Edit", etc. that usually appear when you press "Alt", suggesting this key is getting selected, too.
- To see exactly how the key was working, I brought up a driving game that has an area in the menu to test the controls -- pressing the acceleration key will fill up a bar slowly to the maximum speed, for instance. I mapped this function to the arrow, then pressed it. Instead of filling the bar smoothly, it caused it to jitter around a bit but never increase, as if I was lightly tapping the key over and over again.
- Lastly, and most puzzling: the problem comes and goes, seemingly not tied to any one program or process. It'll be there when I boot up, disappear for awhile, then return for no visible reason.

I thought the problem was rooted in a Windows Update I had recently added that XP had been nagging me to install, but rolling back to the pre-Update (and pre-problem) state via System Restore didn't fix it. Rebooting does nothing, either. And I don't have any spyware or viruses, to my knowledge -- my AV software hasn't given me any warnings lately.

My laptop is a Dell Latitude D820, running Windows XP SP2.

Any thoughts? Are there any Microsoft diagnostic tools I could run to repair this irritating little problem?

Windows doesn't think I have a keyboard, but I do.

Meagan — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 07:49:03 -0800

Windows XP doesn't think I have a keyboard plugged in, but it works fine in BIOS. What gives? First off, I'll make it known that my computer's been having all sorts of random issues over the past 2 years (hard drive issues, Windows randomly not detecting its installation, freezing at the Windows loading screen, etc) so I know something is not running as it should, however for the past few months the computer has been 100% stable, no crashes, no freezing, a perfect computer.

The issue is this: Windows doesn't think I have a keyboard plugged in. Not only does the keyboard not work while in Windows (but it does get power, as the num lock key turns on when I press it [note, num lock is set to turn on by default, so maybe that's part of the issue]), but every program's menu/buttons/etc no longer have their keyboard association underlines.

Now what's even stranger is that the keyboard works fine in BIOS. I can get to both the boot and setup menus and navigate inside them with no problems. Obviously the keyboard isn't broken, and I would think that the motherboard's PS/2 port is fine as well.

I've tried plugging in a different keyboard, which works fine in BIOS but not in Windows, same as my own keyboard. This second keyboard is also PS/2. I have not yet tried a USB keyboard as I do not have access to one.

One last thing: right before the keyboard stopped working, I removed my MX Revolution mouse and uninstalled SetPoint (Logitech's mouse setting program). Right after doing so, the keyboard conked out. I would assume the two are related, but Googling hasn't brought up anything helpful.

What should I do, hive mind? My next thought is to update the BIOS, but beyond this I have no idea what to do. My Google-fu isn't helping me solve the problem. I guess the last option is to reinstall Windows, and I'll do that if it's what it takes, but I'd rather avoid having to do this (because I've done it 3 times within the last year...)

Tech Details:
OS: Windows XP SP2
Motherboard: ASUS P5ND2-SLI
Keyboard: Generic Microsoft PS/2 keyboard

Random repeating keys

corpse — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 07:51:19 -0800

So I am having this problem with keystrokes randomly repeating in all Windows XP programs. I will be typing along merrily and all of a sudden a key will start repeating (helloooooo), for like 15 characters then stops suddenly. This occurs every 10 or 15 minutes of use.

I have looked at all the usual suspects. I have tried different model keyboards (USB), updated drivers, different ports, nothing seems to stop this behavior.

It there is also some weird behavior with the mouse as well, when I click on some text (in all programs), it selects chunks of it (not the whole paragraph) instead of just placing the cursor.

Has anyone seen this before?