3 ms·

Are any of your Model Ms new enough to have modifiers other than Ctrl and Alt? I have only one, it's a lovely bit of kit but that was one thing that put me off

by Lio 5y ago

Are any of your Model Ms new enough to have modifiers other than Ctrl and Alt? I have only one, it's a lovely bit of kit but that was one thing that put me off using it myself. I always thought a modern trackpoint version might be my ultimate keyboard but I couldn't get on with the key travel.

lproven 5y ago
Nope, they're all 1980s and early 1990s models. Just the way I like it. I use them on Windows (very occasionally) and on Linux (mostly). I use old Apple mechanical keyboards on MacOS boxes. I miss having a Windows key, and I don't really need CapsLock, so I just remap CapsLock to Super and presto, 100% functionality. This is a built-in function in Windows -- it's just a Registry key -- so all you need is to set it. There's a handy FOSS program called SharpKeys to do it for you, after which SharpKeys itself can be uninstalled. https://www.randyrants.com/category/sharpkeys/ https://www.randyrants.com/category/sharpkeys/ (It's built in on macOS as well; I have a Lenovo USB keyboard with Trackpoint on one of my Macs and I remapped CapsLock to Command there.) I also redefine the Right Alt key as a Compose key. In Linux, these are both desktop-dependant. In GNOME-based desktops (GNOME, Unity, Cinnamon etc.) it's either in keyboard settings, or banished to the Tweaks app (for stuff that the GNOME developers don't need and therefore consider irrelevant and unimportant.) In KDE it's in System Settings somewhere, like everything the KDE devs want. (Want to resize your start button? Want to resize the clock? Want a panel spanned over 2 monitors? Tough, you can't.) In Xfce environments, e.g. on openSUSE, I just use `xmodmap` in my login scripts somewhere. Can't remember now; it's years since I did it. I don't need a right-click-menu key, so I ignore that. I don't use media keys anyway, so I don't care about them. But for my purposes, I find having Command/Windows/Super to be handy, and that is trivially easy to achieve on the main 3 desktop OSes.
- lproven 5y ago
  FWIW, there is a more general-purpose solution if you want extensive remapping: Kinto. https://benreaves.medium.com/kinto-a-mac-inspired-keyboard-mapping-for-linux-58f731817c0 https://benreaves.medium.com/kinto-a-mac-inspired-keyboard-m... E.g. when using a Model M on a Mac for a longer time, I redefined Ctrl as Cmd, meaning that PC-like keystrokes Just Work™ (Ctrl-C to copy etc.) and also redefined CapsLock as Ctrl. For me, the feel of an IBM keyboard tells my muscle memory to use PC-type control keys. The above fixes that. Others, for reasons that elude me, want the same _positions_. In 35 years of using Macs, I'd never noticed that Cmd is next to the space bar and Opt/Alt is further away. Kinto lets you do this: remap Alt as Cmd, Ctrl as Opt, and I think CapsLock as Ctrl. The point being that this is an easy situation to work around and there's a choice of solutions.

by Lio 5y ago

lproven 5y ago

Nope, they're all 1980s and early 1990s models. Just the way I like it. I use them on Windows (very occasionally) and on Linux (mostly). I use old Apple mechanical keyboards on MacOS boxes. I miss having a Windows key, and I don't really need CapsLock, so I just remap CapsLock to Super and presto, 100% functionality. This is a built-in function in Windows -- it's just a Registry key -- so all you need is to set it. There's a handy FOSS program called SharpKeys to do it for you, after which SharpKeys itself can be uninstalled. https://www.randyrants.com/category/sharpkeys/ https://www.randyrants.com/category/sharpkeys/ (It's built in on macOS as well; I have a Lenovo USB keyboard with Trackpoint on one of my Macs and I remapped CapsLock to Command there.) I also redefine the Right Alt key as a Compose key. In Linux, these are both desktop-dependant. In GNOME-based desktops (GNOME, Unity, Cinnamon etc.) it's either in keyboard settings, or banished to the Tweaks app (for stuff that the GNOME developers don't need and therefore consider irrelevant and unimportant.) In KDE it's in System Settings somewhere, like everything the KDE devs want. (Want to resize your start button? Want to resize the clock? Want a panel spanned over 2 monitors? Tough, you can't.) In Xfce environments, e.g. on openSUSE, I just use `xmodmap` in my login scripts somewhere. Can't remember now; it's years since I did it. I don't need a right-click-menu key, so I ignore that. I don't use media keys anyway, so I don't care about them. But for my purposes, I find having Command/Windows/Super to be handy, and that is trivially easy to achieve on the main 3 desktop OSes.

lproven 5y ago
FWIW, there is a more general-purpose solution if you want extensive remapping: Kinto. https://benreaves.medium.com/kinto-a-mac-inspired-keyboard-mapping-for-linux-58f731817c0 https://benreaves.medium.com/kinto-a-mac-inspired-keyboard-m... E.g. when using a Model M on a Mac for a longer time, I redefined Ctrl as Cmd, meaning that PC-like keystrokes Just Work™ (Ctrl-C to copy etc.) and also redefined CapsLock as Ctrl. For me, the feel of an IBM keyboard tells my muscle memory to use PC-type control keys. The above fixes that. Others, for reasons that elude me, want the same _positions_. In 35 years of using Macs, I'd never noticed that Cmd is next to the space bar and Opt/Alt is further away. Kinto lets you do this: remap Alt as Cmd, Ctrl as Opt, and I think CapsLock as Ctrl. The point being that this is an easy situation to work around and there's a choice of solutions.