Better way to remap your windows key

[Logi7]

soo... the liek most IBM software, i found the keymapper retarded, as it took more than 30 megs of ram and had 3 sepreate processes running

winodws acatually supports keybaord remapping via the registry so there is no 3rd party application that have to run in the background (esp ones that take up so much resouces)

but since its pretty hard to edit the registry try this program:
http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick/

edits the registry for you... works great




anybody have any other programs that are much more efficent and replace the IBM software?

im still looking for a 3rd party connection manager

[Nabeel]

That's hot, thanks. I'll try this out..
The connection manager built into XP SP2 seems pretty decent...

[XCoalMiner]

...

anybody have any other programs that are much more efficent and replace the IBM software?

Editing the registry is actually pretty easy, just use a .reg file, correctly formatted.

To remap keys, you need to know the keycodes. The program you cited will help you figure them out. Here's a recent post on the subject:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=

In all cases, using the registry is much better than something like the IBM remapper.

[Nabeel]

Does that program remap the volume keys and things too? I think the volume keys on the keyboard are the hardware volume not software, so does that program control the hardware volume?
I guess it doesn't show that little overlay right?

[Kenn]

Does that program remap the volume keys and things too? I think the volume keys on the keyboard are the hardware volume not software, so does that program control the hardware volume?
I guess it doesn't show that little overlay right?

Nabeel: I didn't try it, but from what I saw the program does allow you to remap common hotkeys such as web, sleep, volume up and down, which I assume IBM uses as standard. However, it does look like the volume keys are hardware (it doesn't affect the windows master volume slider) but the mute key seems to be software.

Logi7 - Thanks for the tip on the program! I only use one remap (right alt as Windows key) so a remap beats a resource-hogging application any day. It works like a charm, and uninstalling the IBM key remapper reordered my startup items enough where the system doesn't pause for a 10-20 seconds before loading up the network drivers. Sweet.

[Nabeel]

Ah, yeah, that's the only thing. Right now I have my right-Alt mapped to the Windows key, but I use the volume knobs alot. Have you tried remapping those?

Or maybe those don't go through the IBM Keyboard Customizer at all because I don't see those options.

I'll try it out tomorrow morning, can always reinstall the IBM proggy.
Thanks!

[Roy_W]

I believe that the volume keys on Thinkpads are hardware controlled and/or are directly linked to the onboard speaker/volume hardware, the keystrokes are not sent to the operating systems.

I wrote a small program which scans the keyboard

---------------------------------------------
Detectable keys :

Blue FN Key
Page Forward
Page backward
---------------------------------------------

Undetectable keys :

Volume Up
Volume Down
Volume Mute
Combinations of FN + Blue Keys
---------------------------------------------


The combination keycodes are difficult to determine because there is definately an interaction with the system but I cannot log the key actions themselves. IBM is either "Hooking" the keyboard or one of their utilitites is using non standard API's or propriety drivers.

[Kenn]

---------------------------------------------

Undetectable keys :

Volume Up
Volume Down
Volume Mute
Combinations of FN + Blue Keys
---------------------------------------------

The mute key might be passed to the OS - if you have the volume key visible in your systray, it X's out and "Mutes All" from the master volume when you mute. Also, I think the information from the other keys must passed to software (somehow if not by standard keyboard input), which is how the On-Screen Display (in Display -> Settings -> Advanced) pops up with the overlay text.

Has anybody tried using Tweakui for XP to see if it can use the Command Keys settings to remap the volume keys?

[Roy_W]

In order for the OnScreen display to work you must first load the IBM Utility which allows to do this. I believe the IBM utility is capable of communiting directly with the Keyboard hardware or has the capacity to use BIOS routines that are unique to IBM.

When IBM traps one of the IBM keys it performs whatever is pleases then uses the appropriate API for controlling the Volume.

Remove the IBM utility and you will see what I mean.

The same conditions apply when running *nix on the Thinkpad, you must install a smalll utility in order for the Thinkpad keys to be be detected.

[boardmonger]

Does anyone know if you can use registry to map the left ctrl+Alt to the windows key? I think it would be great to use the two key combo, so I can still use the control and alt with my left hand.

[rgrosz]

Ya know, you can always use Control-ESC as your Windoze key. You don't need to remap anything.

[Humpa]

Yeah, but the shortcuts dont work!
For example, Ctrl-ESC-D doesnt minimize your windows and bring the desktop to the front.

[Kenn]

Ya know, you can always use Control-ESC as your Windoze key. You don't need to remap anything.

Yeah, the Windows key to bring up the start menu alone is worthless. But, it's the hotkeys (run/lock/desktop/explorer/find etc.) that people are missing

Check them out here, they're huge timesavers once you start using them: http://www.geocities.com/budallen98_98/ ... 20Accented

[ZPrime]

I keep my ctrl/alt keys. I put my Windows key on caps lock.

i mean seriously, how often does anyone *need* caps lock on their thinkpad?

lets me use the same finger that i've trained for windows keys (i always use left pinky on my desktop's keyboard), just a different muscle motion. There has only been one or two very rare times where i've missed it. These are the times where I wish there were a way to temporarily override the mapping, or perhaps hit ALT+capslock to actually mean "Capslock key"... 99% of the time i'm fine with my "wincapslock" though. remember, on original/real unix keyboards, CTRL was where capslock is today, so the idea of putting a modifier key over there instead of a toggle switch is nothing new...

[Roy_W]

Does anyone know if you can use registry to map the left ctrl+Alt to the windows key? I think it would be great to use the two key combo, so I can still use the control and alt with my left hand.

The registry hacks do not permit key combination, only single key strokes.

The solution to this problem requires monitoring keypresses, waiting until the CTRL key is pressed, then waiting to see if the ALT key is pressed within a relatively brief period, lets say less than <400ms .

This would require working relatively closely with the OS. There was a period, talking DOS here, when it was relatively simple to write a TSR ( terminate and stay resident) program in ASM to handle such a task. Today the same task requires a little more knowledge.

IBM has there own keymapping software supplied with each Thinkpad, although I no longer use the program, I must admit that it does work as it should.

Unfortunately in order the trap the CTRL-ALT solution you are obliged to use some kind of third party solution, whether it be IBM or otherwise.

[Humpa]

I was using the registry to remap the right Alt to the Windows key, but I liked Zprime's CapsLock idea. So I remapped the Caps Lock to the Windows key instead.
I wanted access to the Caps Lock (rarely), so I remapped the right Alt to Caps Lock, and the Caps Lock On/Off overlay still works.

I also have a third party application that I'm happy with so far, but I don't always run it.
I have a Logitech Bluetooth mouse, and you can't use their utility to configure the buttons (unless you use their USB BT thing).
I dont think you can remap a mouse button in the registry, so I am using autohotkey to remap the middle scroll button to the Enter key.
autohotkey ( www.autohotkey.com ) is only supposed to use 1MB of ram, but you have to write a simple script for all your remapping (so, this might not be for everyone).
It is extremely flexible though - you can have hotkeys that do just about anything.