I'm a PC, you're a Mac
July 8, 2011 1:46 PM Subscribe
Switching to a Mac - how to rebind hotkeys for basic functions like cut, copy, paste, beginning of line, end of line, etc?
I work in a heterogeneous environment. Windows will always be the main platform -- Mac's are only used for the very few tasks that absolutely cannot be accomplished on a Windows box. I connect to my Mac's via VNC remote desktop, thus with a standard PC keyboard, not a Mac keyboard.
How can I make the Mac behave as Windows-like as possible? The most frustrating things for me right now are:
- the usual keystrokes for cut/copy/paste (CTRL-X/C/V), beginning of line (Home), end of line (End), beginning of document (CTRL-Home), end of document (CTRL-End), etc.
- getting the green (+) button to really maximize windows
Any other tips on integrating this Mac into my daily workflow would be appreciated.
Don't bother telling me just to learn the Mac way of doing things -- I don't have time for it.
I work in a heterogeneous environment. Windows will always be the main platform -- Mac's are only used for the very few tasks that absolutely cannot be accomplished on a Windows box. I connect to my Mac's via VNC remote desktop, thus with a standard PC keyboard, not a Mac keyboard.
How can I make the Mac behave as Windows-like as possible? The most frustrating things for me right now are:
- the usual keystrokes for cut/copy/paste (CTRL-X/C/V), beginning of line (Home), end of line (End), beginning of document (CTRL-Home), end of document (CTRL-End), etc.
- getting the green (+) button to really maximize windows
Any other tips on integrating this Mac into my daily workflow would be appreciated.
Don't bother telling me just to learn the Mac way of doing things -- I don't have time for it.
Don't bother telling me just to learn the Mac way of doing things -- I don't have time for it.
That may be, but for most of your questions the answer is simple: on an Apple keyboard, the command key serves the function of a Windows ctrl key.
posted by Marquis at 2:08 PM on July 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
That may be, but for most of your questions the answer is simple: on an Apple keyboard, the command key serves the function of a Windows ctrl key.
posted by Marquis at 2:08 PM on July 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
- the usual keystrokes for cut/copy/paste (CTRL-X/C/V), beginning of line (Home), end of line (End), beginning of document (CTRL-Home), end of document (CTRL-End), etc.
These are pretty much all replaced with Cmd replacing Ctrl. You can flip them, it's under Keyboard settings > Modifier Keys. Or you should just press Cmd if you are planning a long term Mac switch.
posted by smackfu at 2:08 PM on July 8, 2011
These are pretty much all replaced with Cmd replacing Ctrl. You can flip them, it's under Keyboard settings > Modifier Keys. Or you should just press Cmd if you are planning a long term Mac switch.
posted by smackfu at 2:08 PM on July 8, 2011
Oh, and on my KVM at least, Cmd maps to the left Windows key on a PC keyboard. YMMV.
posted by smackfu at 2:11 PM on July 8, 2011
posted by smackfu at 2:11 PM on July 8, 2011
Response by poster: That may be, but for most of your questions the answer is simple: on an Apple keyboard, the command key serves the function of a Windows ctrl key.
A sincere thank you, but I am aware of how to do things The Mac Way and having to pause (even if for a split second) to translate in my head the different ways of doing things in a heterogeneous environment is really killing my productivity.
I want the most common keyboard functions remapped so that I can be as lightning quick on the Mac as I am in Windows.
posted by wutangclan at 2:35 PM on July 8, 2011
A sincere thank you, but I am aware of how to do things The Mac Way and having to pause (even if for a split second) to translate in my head the different ways of doing things in a heterogeneous environment is really killing my productivity.
I want the most common keyboard functions remapped so that I can be as lightning quick on the Mac as I am in Windows.
posted by wutangclan at 2:35 PM on July 8, 2011
Response by poster: Or you should just press Cmd if you are planning a long term Mac switch.
I am not. The Mac will always be the secondary environment.
posted by wutangclan at 2:37 PM on July 8, 2011
I am not. The Mac will always be the secondary environment.
posted by wutangclan at 2:37 PM on July 8, 2011
Here's an edit you can make to make the Home/End keys go to the beginning/end of a line instead of the whole document.
posted by zsazsa at 2:58 PM on July 8, 2011
posted by zsazsa at 2:58 PM on July 8, 2011
Definitely take a look at Doublecommand (mentioned above).
Also go into the Keyboard preference pane and click on the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. This is the orthodox way to remap key bindings. Redoing everything will be a PITA, but it'll work.
For whatever it's worth, start of line/end of line is almost always command left/right arrow on the Mac, so if you're remapping one keystroke to another, use those.
I wouldn't be surprised if there's some kind of drop-in Windows key binding set for the Mac out there, but I haven't looked for it.
posted by adamrice at 3:24 PM on July 8, 2011
Also go into the Keyboard preference pane and click on the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. This is the orthodox way to remap key bindings. Redoing everything will be a PITA, but it'll work.
For whatever it's worth, start of line/end of line is almost always command left/right arrow on the Mac, so if you're remapping one keystroke to another, use those.
I wouldn't be surprised if there's some kind of drop-in Windows key binding set for the Mac out there, but I haven't looked for it.
posted by adamrice at 3:24 PM on July 8, 2011
Is this helpful? I googled "windows key bindings mac"; there were a few other results but this seemed the best & most current after a bit of looking.
posted by furiousthought at 3:44 PM on July 8, 2011
posted by furiousthought at 3:44 PM on July 8, 2011
On your windows boxes, remap capslock to control; on your Macs, remap capslock to command.
This will make the transition easier, with the side effect of making make your life quite a bit better.
posted by mhoye at 6:04 PM on July 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
This will make the transition easier, with the side effect of making make your life quite a bit better.
posted by mhoye at 6:04 PM on July 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
It might be worth your time to check out Quicksilver, a free app for OSX. They bill it as a "Task Launcher", and it does launch apps, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. In your case, I think you'll find it useful, because you can basically map any function, or combination of functions to any keystrokes, or combination. There are also dozens of plugins that extend the functionality into apps. A huge bonus, it's free. It takes a bit of time to get setup and customized, but once that's done you won't be able to live without it.
posted by EvilPRGuy at 6:19 PM on July 8, 2011
posted by EvilPRGuy at 6:19 PM on July 8, 2011
OMG, I love you all so much. Thank you for showing me how to get my control-c and control-v back. Maybe it would be easier if I had a true Apple keyboard, but the one they had at our local Authorized Reseller (*sigh no Apple Store in Korea) gave me sticker shock. No thanks, I'll use my 10 buck generic keyboard.
posted by kathrynm at 5:39 AM on July 9, 2011
posted by kathrynm at 5:39 AM on July 9, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by dfriedman at 1:56 PM on July 8, 2011 [1 favorite]