Thinkpads Forum

Hello,

I want to replace my Thinkpad X200 Quebec keyboard for a standard Dvorak keyboard. Do Lenovo make them? I did not find any on ebay

Else I can get sticker but I have a preference for real keyboard as sticker stop sticking after some time...

DestroyFX wrote:Hello,

I want to replace my Thinkpad X200 Quebec keyboard for a standard Dvorak keyboard. Do Lenovo make them? I did not find any on ebay

Else I can get sticker but I have a preference for real keyboard as sticker stop sticking after some time...

Why won't you just interchange the appropriate keycaps (i.e. take off all alphapunctuation keycaps and then put them back in the needed order)? They seem to be interchangeable...

penartur wrote: Why won't you just interchange the appropriate keycaps (i.e. take off all alphapunctuation keycaps and then put them back in the needed order)? They seem to be interchangeable...

Oh no they're not - been there and failed.

I don't have experience with the x200 keyboard, but I do have some experience buying/selling/replacing key caps on some older model I.B.M. keyboards. I think the problem being described here is that many same-sized keys are interchangeable in terms of snapping off a key cap and putting it in another spot, but key cap or not, the keys have been assigned certain values based on their location. If you've ever replaced a lot of key caps in a hurry you would have a chuckle typing "T" and getting "Y" for example because you hurriedly mixed up the keys. (Not saying that I've ever done something so silly ) But sometimes I have to check a complete keyboard as a reference if I get distracted and have a bunch of key caps in my hand

Hey- this would make a great practical joke switching keys around on your college roommate's keyboard so as they're messaging someone they type something embarrassing. Nothing bad of course
Just "You're a potty gorilla" instead of
.... "You're a pretty girl LOL". Something innocent like that.

Been always fascinated with the concept of the DVORAK keyboard ever since I read about it once as a schoolboy and learned that the QWERTY keyboard is actually laid out in such a manner as to slow one down because in the early days of computers/typewriters? the machines couldn't keep up with such a fast input of data. That's how the story goes as far as I can recall. If they had blazing fast duo core or quad core computers back then as we have now I guess all Lenovo keyboards would come with a DVORAK layout from the factory.

DestoyFX wrote:Else I can get sticker but I have a preference for real keyboard as sticker stop sticking after some time...

I don't understand how stickers can help you to rearrange a keyboard if, as far as I know, the keys have a set value based on their location.
One possible solution: Couldn't you switch the key caps, as suggested earlier, to a DVORAK layout, and then find some software program that reassigns the key values? I'm sure such a tool exists or can easily be created by an expert programmer.

Daniel,
the little YP in NYC.
"We had pizza in the Lion's Den "

@Thinkpad Lover
To change keyboard layout to dvorak one in software is not a big deal. When one is choosing their keyboard layout in windows, there are dvorak layouts in the list. So, with such layout selected, when one will press the second key from the left in the bottom row, they will get "q" on the screen instead of "x".
Now in order to make signs on the keys match with letters shown on the screens, one could just interchange the appropriate keycaps, so that the second key from the left in the bottom row will be both marked as "q" and produce "q" on the screen when pressed.
The keyboard scancodes, of course, wouldn't change, because the scancode does not tell anything about the letter, the scancode is just scancode. Even if there was such thing as "dvorak keyboard" in the store, it would basically be the same old good qwerty keyboard with keycaps rearranged, and the second key from the left in the bottom row would still produce the same scancode as "x" key on the common keyboard. This is done to make internationalisation possible, so that one could use dvorak english layout, while still being able to type in common (or some another) russian layout.

One possible solution: Couldn't you switch the key caps, as suggested earlier, to a DVORAK layout, and then find some software program that reassigns the key values? I'm sure such a tool exists or can easily be created by an expert programmer.

There is no need in such a tool, because Windows supports it out-of-the-box since at least XP (and i believe it was possible even in 98 and NT4.1, and maybe even 95).