View detailed info on PowerBook/MacBook Pro keyboards

I'm amazed: I never knew this documentation page at apple.com existed. It explains in great detail how Apple's PowerBook/MacBook Pro keyboards interpret key presses, including how to get Alt Gr, right ctrl, windows, and menu keys, for switchers. Not much of this information is all that obscure; the keyboard viewer will show most of it. But it's useful to see it all compiled in one place.

published on Monday, the 18. December 2006, macosxhints

Use Chikka Messenger via the browser

On a Windows PC, Chikka Messenger looks great, but using it on my iBook G4 it's not a program you can download, install, and use. Instead, to use Chikka Messenger in Mac OS X, bookmark this link in Safari and/or Firefox. For those that don't know, Chikka Messenger is a text (SMS) messaging utility. Since October 2006, I have been in the Philippines. Not only do I use the iBook G4 on a daily basis, I also use Chikka Messenger at the same time, as it is easier or faster than other internet chat services. There is a major drawback to using the Java version of Chikka Messenger, however: I am unable to save Phone Number and Password info at the login screen -- I have to use the copy and paste keyboard shortcuts to resolve that. I found that I can't even do that in the Firefox Java version of Chikka; however they work fine using Safari.

published on Wednesday, the 13. December 2006, macosxhints

10.4: Zoom window via control-scroll

I just discovered something that I believe came about in 10.4.8. If you hold down the Control key and then scroll using the mouse (for me it is two fingers on the MacBook Pro's track pad), then the entire screen will zoom at the point where the mouse is. This is not related to the Universal Access setup, since I have everything turned off in there. It appears the only way to zoom out is to scroll back up. [robg adds: This feature used to be reserved for those with the Mighty Mouse, but it was added to the Mouse tab in the Keyboard & Mouse System Preferences panel as of 10.4.8. Using the Mouse tab, you can disable the feature, or change the modifier. You can also change how the screen scrolls by using the Options button. On my G5, for some reason, the only option that works right is "leave cursor centered in image;" the others both prevent me from reaching screen top...

published on Wednesday, the 11. October 2006, macosxhints

AltGr in Parallels Desktop on a laptop Mac

This hint may only apply to users with a non-US keyboard. In Sweden on a Windows machine, you press AltGr+2 to get the @-sign. A Mac keyboard of course has no AltGr key, but I thought one could use the key combination Control-Alt instead. In many cases you can do that. However, Office 2003 (at least the Swedish version) doesn't recognize Control-Alt as AltGr, though many other programs do. Of course this is problem when working in Outlook 2003. The solution: remap keys in Windows. I tried many remapping utilities, but many didn't do the job. Maybe because the utilities are designed for US keyboards. I found one free utility that do work: KeyTweak. Download and install (in Windows in Parallels, obviously). I used the 'Half Teach Mode' to remap the right Command key to 'Right Alt' (AltGr). Then use the Apply button to let KeyTweak write the remapping into Windows' Registry. Since it is a registry change, it means that the rem...

published on Wednesday, the 20. September 2006, macosxhints

10.4: How to type Ctrl-Alt-Delete in Parallels on laptops

I found a way to quickly type Control-Alt-Delete on my Macbook Pro to login to Windows within Parallels. Just hold down the Control and Option keys, then hold down the fn key, and press the Delete key.[robg adds: On Apple laptops, fn-Delete sends a forward delete (removes characters to the right of the cursor), as opposed to the delete key, which actually sends a backward delete (removes characters to the left of the cursor). This older hint explained this functionality, and the comments offer some alternatives if you find this keystroke combination awkward to use. I have no idea if those solutions still work today, however. On full Mac keyboards, there's an actual forward delete key (and no fn key), so this hint is only applicable to laptops.]

published on Wednesday, the 6. September 2006, macosxhints

10.4: Remapping keys in Mac OS X 10.4

The Mac OS X 10.4 Keyboard & Mouse preference pane provides a way to remap certain keys. However, the interface doesn?t expose the full functionality -? a common problem with Apple software. Note that this guide assumes you?using the bash shell. Read on to learn... What keys can be remapped without the use of any third?party software? How do I remap those keys? How do I remap the Caps Lock key to the Escape key? What keys can be remapped without the use of any third?party software? (The following list shows the key name on the left, and that key's value on the right.) None ? ?1 Caps Lock ? 0 Shift (Left) ? 1 Control (Left) ? 2 Option (Left) ? 3 Command (Left) ? 4 Keypad 0 ? 5 Help ? 6 Shift (Rig...

published on Tuesday, the 29. August 2006, macosxhints

Create keyboard shortcuts for Safari bookmarks

If you have bookmarked a site, for instance macosxhints.com, and visit it frequently, you can save time creating a custom keyboard shortcut to that bookmark. Here is how. First quit Safari, then launch Terminal and type... defaults write com.apple.Safari NSUserKeyEquivalents \ '{"bookmarkName"="keys";​}' ...where bookmarkname is the name you've given the bookmark, and keys is one or more of the following... @ = Command $ = Shift ~ = Option ^ = Control ...followed by the desired key combination. For example, to set up a bookmark called MacOSXhints with the shortcut Command-Option-X, you should type this in Terminal: defaults write com.apple.Safari NSUserKeyEquivalents '{"MacOSXhints"="@~x";}' You can create as many shortcuts as you want at one time just by duplicating the code within the braces. The example below will create two shortcuts, one to App...

published on Thursday, the 24. August 2006, macosxhints

Experimenting With Light on Apple Laptops

venkatg writes "Soon after Apple introduced sudden motion sensors in their PowerBooks in early 2005, Amit Singh had shown how these sensors can be used for creative purposes (covered by Slashdot earlier as Having Fun With PowerBook Motion Sensors and PowerBook As A New Kind Of Human Interface Device). This time around Singh discusses "Experimenting With Light" in a new article whereby by light he means the ambient light sensors and the illuminated backlight keyboard sensors in Apple's laptops. The article shows (source code is included) how one can measure ambient light and do things with it. It also shows things like how to get/set illuminated keyboard brightness and display brightness or do fade transitions of the keyboard lighting. So now that we have all these motion and light sensors under control is there a MacBook discotheque in the works?"

published on Monday, the 19. June 2006, apple-slashdot