I frequently need the number pad but I think it's in the wrong place for a right handed person: By barging to the middle where it still remains as the least used part of input devices, it forces you to extend your mouse hand to the far right so you're always uncomfortable and sore for being in that position for a long time. I need the number pad to be on the left side so I can have the normal keyboard and mouse in a compact area right in front of me!
So I finally got a separate number pad. I wanted its layout to be as identical to the Apple keyboard one as possible, and I don't like the tall sugarcube-like keys. Hama 00053224 had only very minor differences in terms of the original, so I settled with it.
But there's some really bizarre differences in the special keys that are not numbers.
In the original Apple keyboard, the top row of the number pad is ⌧ = / * respectively.
On the Hama keypad, the row is = / * delete.
I need the number pad for various programs because I have hotkeys mapped to it. I assumed the only difference of these to be the order of characters but there's something else going on here that I don't understand, it's the top row and the comma key on it that don't work as I'd imagined.
If I open "Show keyboard viewer" from the language menu and observe the keystrokes, pressing number keys vs. the other character keys on the Hama keypad changes the layout of the keyboard in the viewer. After pressing numbers, the keyboard viewer's layout is a keyboard with F-keys up to F15, a layout that I don't have on any keyboard that I own. Pressing the characters on it can trigger the keyboard view to display a different keyboard.
If I'm in Safari now, pressing comma key on the pad seems to produce a space (but I don't see a space bar being actuated in the viewer), at some point the + and - were doing something weird but now they seem to type + and -, delete works as backspace, but... that top row: During writing, a while ago = was printing the letter f, and / was decreasing system volume, and * increasing system volume! Now as I write, all I've done is type random stuff, and for whatever reason, that keypad seems to now print the correct mathematical symbols again. If I go to a different software and return to Safari, the keypad's behavior has reverted to the weird thing that it does. When / and * work as system volume controls for who knows why, the keyboard view shows the layout of my Logitech short wireless keyboard but doesn't show any keys being actuated.
The installation was a bit strange too, I guess: The quickstart guide only tells you to plug the device in and basically press any key and accept everything. The problem is that the keyboard configuration window that comes up asks you to press a specific key which is a key on the right side of the left shift key. A number pad doesn't have such key so I couldn't possibly have pressed it. So is my Mac actually interpreting the layout wrong or what?
I've owned one separate USB number pad before, which was plug and play, and I don't think my Mac asked anything about identifying it, and that keypad always worked like any other.
So um.. what's going on and can I fix this?
So I finally got a separate number pad. I wanted its layout to be as identical to the Apple keyboard one as possible, and I don't like the tall sugarcube-like keys. Hama 00053224 had only very minor differences in terms of the original, so I settled with it.
But there's some really bizarre differences in the special keys that are not numbers.
In the original Apple keyboard, the top row of the number pad is ⌧ = / * respectively.
On the Hama keypad, the row is = / * delete.
I need the number pad for various programs because I have hotkeys mapped to it. I assumed the only difference of these to be the order of characters but there's something else going on here that I don't understand, it's the top row and the comma key on it that don't work as I'd imagined.
If I open "Show keyboard viewer" from the language menu and observe the keystrokes, pressing number keys vs. the other character keys on the Hama keypad changes the layout of the keyboard in the viewer. After pressing numbers, the keyboard viewer's layout is a keyboard with F-keys up to F15, a layout that I don't have on any keyboard that I own. Pressing the characters on it can trigger the keyboard view to display a different keyboard.
If I'm in Safari now, pressing comma key on the pad seems to produce a space (but I don't see a space bar being actuated in the viewer), at some point the + and - were doing something weird but now they seem to type + and -, delete works as backspace, but... that top row: During writing, a while ago = was printing the letter f, and / was decreasing system volume, and * increasing system volume! Now as I write, all I've done is type random stuff, and for whatever reason, that keypad seems to now print the correct mathematical symbols again. If I go to a different software and return to Safari, the keypad's behavior has reverted to the weird thing that it does. When / and * work as system volume controls for who knows why, the keyboard view shows the layout of my Logitech short wireless keyboard but doesn't show any keys being actuated.
The installation was a bit strange too, I guess: The quickstart guide only tells you to plug the device in and basically press any key and accept everything. The problem is that the keyboard configuration window that comes up asks you to press a specific key which is a key on the right side of the left shift key. A number pad doesn't have such key so I couldn't possibly have pressed it. So is my Mac actually interpreting the layout wrong or what?
I've owned one separate USB number pad before, which was plug and play, and I don't think my Mac asked anything about identifying it, and that keypad always worked like any other.
So um.. what's going on and can I fix this?