International keyboards?

[Puggy]

Hi all.

I got my TP through the university i work for. They imported it from the US. But I find myself hitting the SHIFT+NumLk combo a lot for activating the keypad.

I've considered getting the USB keypad, plus an USB extender (the two ports aren't enough, got an external hard drive and a mice there), but the other thing i'm considering is buying an spanish enabled keyboard.

Anyone know if they sell it? Can I change the one I have since I'm still within my 30 day limit?

Thanks!

[Puggy]

This is the layout I was looking for:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/globali ... KBD171.jsp

But I haven't found if they sell it, or if they can replace the one I have now.

[edelrc]

Of course they sell it. It costs around $40.
This is how my European-Spanish looks like: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/edelrc/files ... nishkb.jpg

Keyboard FRUs: http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.ws ... 503&loc=gl

[Puggy]

Of course they sell it. It costs around $40.
This is how my European-Spanish looks like: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/edelrc/files ... nishkb.jpg

Keyboard FRUs: http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.ws ... 503&loc=gl

MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS!

Thanks a lot!

I'll go for the Spanish-Latin America one.

[Puggy]

Sorry, just ne more thing, sorry if it's a stupid question.

How would I go about ordering a keyboard replacement? I'll probably buy it myself, not through the university.

Thanks!

[edelrc]

If you are in the US, just call IBM and ask for the FRU you want (in the US they shoulb be $33). If you are not in US call the local IBM and ask for the local IBM Depot, you may need some advise on this case...

Regarding the 3 FRUs (ALPS, NMB,CHINOY or whatever it was), look what other members had posted, but I do not recall an agreement of which of them is best.

[Puggy]

If you are in the US, just call IBM and ask for the FRU you want (in the US they shoulb be $33). If you are not in US call the local IBM and ask for the local IBM Depot, you may need some advise on this case...

Regarding the 3 FRUs (ALPS, NMB,CHINOY or whatever it was), look what other members had posted, but I do not recall an agreement of which of them is best.

Thank you soooo much. I was about to ask what those acronyms meant.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll sure read up.

I'll probably go with the US shop. I live right at the border, and have a PO BOX were i get shipped US merchandise.

Again, thanks!

[edelrc]

In the US it will be probably cheaper.

PS: When I said there was no consensus on which type was better I meant in the 15" T42. However, with the 14", there is indeed a consensus that one was better than the other, but can´t remember which.

!Que tengas suerte!

[daeojkim]

You can actually type Spanish using US keyboard by adding "EN International" for your keyboard in language options. This will allow you to type all the Spanish characters with ease.

Here is how to in Windows XP


1. Log On
2. Click the Start button
3. Click on Control Panel
4. Click Regional and Language Options - a new window will pop up
5. Click the Languages tab
6. Click on the Details button
7. Click the Add button - a new window will pop up
8. Select United States-International (keyboard layout menu)
9. Click OK
10. Click Apply
11. Read the instructions for "Using the U.S. - International Keyboard" below.

Note: You will now have a keyboard icon on the taskbar (usually on the right side). To switch between keyboard layouts click the keyboard icon on the task bar and choose which layout you want to use. Changing the keyboard layout will only affect the log on profile used. No other users will be affected.

Using the U.S. - International Keyboard

If you followed the above directions carefully, your keyboard will now react slightly differently than it did before. First of all, notice that if you strike the single apostrophe (') key, nothing happens. To type the single apostrophe now, you must strike the single apostrophe key and then strike the space bar. When you strike the spacebar, the apostrophe will appear.

The next thing to note is that the quotes (") key behaves the same way as the apostrophe key. You must first strike the quotes key and then strike the space bar in order to create the (") symbol. These two minor inconveniences are more than made up for by the ease with which you can now type the special characters.

To type the special characters, two keystrokes are required. To type the á, you need only strike the apostrophe key and then the letter a. The other characters are just as easy:

á = ' + a
é = ' + e
í = ' + i
ó = ' + o
ú = ' + u
ñ = ~ + n
ü = " + u

To type the special punctuation characters, you need to hold down on the Alt key while you strike the appropriate punctuation mark. On some keyboards, only one of the two Alt keys will work for this.

¡ = Alt (hold down) + !
¿ = Alt (hold down) + ?

[edelrc]

I kind of agree with daeojkim. I was used so much to the US keyboard that my new spanish keyboard had made me a hard transition. I almost prefered the incovenience of playing with the Shift keys to get the spanish characters than having to look at the keyboard as I do now for the new characters. And that in spite it is a QWERTY format!!!

Unless this is going to be a permanent change, don´t bother with the SP keyboard. (than applies even more for those languages that they don´t even have a QWERTY format!)

[Puggy]

[snip]You can actually type Spanish using US keyboard by adding "EN International" for your keyboard in language options. This will allow you to type all the Spanish characters with ease.[/snip]

"I didn't know you could do that".

Thanks for this AWESOME tip.

I'll probably test this method first before ordering the new keyboard layout from IBM.

[Moroner]

If you like to tinker, Microsoft has made available a tool to create your own keyboard layouts.

[Puggy]

If you like to tinker, Microsoft has made available a tool to create your own keyboard layouts.

Thanks!

I'll try it since these combos didn't work:

¡ = Alt (hold down) + !
¿ = Alt (hold down) + ?

I'll recofigure so they work. I'll post an update after trying it.

[Puggy]

Excellent tool, kinda weird, but it got the job done.

thanks, again.