Would love to get some input to figure out if this is possible or not.
I have 10 Thinkpads, and I am used to typing on the classic 7 row keyboard found in the xx20 series (and modified to work with xx30 series). Now I have finally manage to find an SK-8855 USB Keyboard (JP swapped to the US keyboard) and I recently built a gaming Desktop PC running Windows 7 Professional.
I cannot get used to a standard desktop Keyboard + Mouse combo as I have got so used to using my classic keyboard and love the productivity that it gives me while I can keep both hands on the keyboard at all times, without having to take off my hand to use the mouse. I have learned to do graphic design on the trackpoint alone, so I want to keep it that way.
I became obsessed with using tpmiddle.exe (
https://sdx1.net/tools/tpmiddle/) after having run Debian on my w530, and loving the middle click and scroll with the trackpoint + middle click to open new tabs while hovering over an active link (makes browsing the web faster). These were built into Linux by default I believe, but on Windows we needed tpmiddle to mimic that same functionality.
The Lenovo drivers for this keyboard (
https://support.lenovo.com/ca/en/solutions/migr-73183) do not come close to the level of functionality as tpmiddle. The stock drivers make browsing slow, and there is no middle click whatsoever. I have tried to recreate tpmiddle by using w10wheel, wiz mouse, and SmoothScroll, but they are not close. The closest I have got is using SmoothScroll, but the browsing speed is not the same over all applications. For example, browsing with SmoothScroll on Firefox is snappy and quick, but then on Notepad it is incredibly slow, and there is still NO middle click with SmoothScroll Alone. w10wheel and Wiz Mouse give me middle click functionality, and somewhat decent scrolling, but it is choppy and not smooth like Smoothscroll alone or tpmiddle.
Does anyone have any experience in successfully installing the Synaptics drivers required for tpmiddle to work on a desktop computer? I have spent hours trying to figure it out, and the closest I've got was this thread on the Thinkpad forums:
https://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=118125&hilit=sk+8855Please let me know if this is a possiblity. I want to keep what I know and proceed to using my new custom built PC, with the same level of productivity that I had on my Thinkpad Laptop. I have also looked at the Tex Shinobi (
https://mechanicalkeyboards.com/shop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=6169) but it is not identical to xx20 series keyboard. It may be the next best thing as it has speed functions built onto the bottom, but the price tag is hefty.
Picture of the connector board if anyone is interested:
https://imgur.com/a/k3VSonXThanks
