geekhack
geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: aggiejy on Thu, 14 July 2011, 13:08:44
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Situation: I bought this nifty board from REVENGE:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]20781[/ATTACH]
It works awesome for the PC, but I'm 99.5% Mac. (They sell a mac version (http://www.goldtouch.com/p-154-goldtouch-numeric-keypad-for-mac-usb-putty.aspx), but I don't care *that* much.) Due to built in macros (I assume), the board completely becomes unresponsive when either the Shift/Fn or Num Lock key is touched. You have to unplug/replug to reset it. (And sometimes you have to change USB ports even then.)
No worries, I don't have to have those. But... it's way to easy to accidentally touch them, especially by that backspace key.
Any suggestions for something (non-permanent) I could put under the cap to block it firmly? I want the key to appear normal (so perhaps no removing the switch), I just want it impossible to press.
Thanks!
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A washer.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Washers.agr.jpg)
Just use the correct size
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I think they are (were) pad printed
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Indeed, with a coating. Someone hit Excel like a punching bag.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]20795[/ATTACH]
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A washer.
Dude, duh... why didn't I think of this. Thanks!
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You're welcome :smile:
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A washer.
Alright, I have 3 or 4 perfect size washers for this. I think it would work if I could get the switch stem into the keycap stem. But if you think about how you normally put on a cap... the switch bottoms out which gives you force for the keycap stem to slide onto it. Problem here is, we're limiting how far down the stem can go, thus the switch is never pushing back. Seems nearly impossible to get it in there this way. (aside from taking the switch out) Unless I'm missing something of course. :)
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Indeed you're right. It's a problem I haven't taken in account.
But maybe still feasible... cut a sector of the washer with a strong scissor (make it U shaped I mean) , remove the neighbor keycaps and carefully slide the washer under the keycap already in place, a little precision and patience is needed, but this way should work.
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You should just need to put enough on it to prevent actuation, not necessary enough to stop all travel.
Also, not sure if this would work, but I've had luck with it in similar situations: Poke the bottom of the stem with something small and sharp, in order to prevent it from moving while you push on the key cap. If it's anything like my Kinesis, it's not much force necessary to affix the cap, and this should work. I used the smallest flat head jewelers screwdriver I had when I tried this on my Kinesis just now, and it worked, with no visible damage to the key stem.
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Raptor K1 came with some proper lockers...
[ATTACH=CONFIG]20808[/ATTACH]
They're shown in the old Cherry datasheet (http://docs-europe.electrocomponents.com/webdocs/0146/0900766b8014611b.pdf) on page 5.
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keymap software, map it to nothing / dead key.
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lysol, I think that's the best idea I'm seen yet! Assuming you can get the keycode for that those keys, anyway.
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keymap software, map it to nothing / dead key.
Yes, I'm indeed working on that, but unfortunately it's spitting out macros and such. Nothing that my remapping software seems to understand. (And I've remapped just about every weird key on every board I've had...)
But hopefully I'll figure that out. (Of course the manufacturer says firmware built into the ROM, no way to work around, blah blah blah.)
In other news... In case it's helpful to anyone, I ended up with this ghetto way to keep the switch up as I push the switch on:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]20815[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]20816[/ATTACH]
Just lower the switch, stick some folded post-it note paper in there, pull the switch up with tweezers so that there's a bind. It will still go down if you push hard enough, but if you do it right, you'll get the cap on. I only used one washer so the two keys do sit just a tad low compared to the others. I could have added 2 (smaller) washers to each if I cared about that.
So now it's my dedicated calculator (http://www.acqualia.com/soulver/) keypad to go along with my 7" iMo.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]20817[/ATTACH]
It'll do donkey, it'll do.
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Yes, function is usually impossible to remap unless it's a fn labeled alt gr, but the numlock and shift should be doable.
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lol they're not compatible with Macs? That's interesting... I'm sorry I wasn't able to test for that before I sold them, didn't even think there would be a problem. I don't think any of this can be fixed in software, the Numlock does not actually send a scancode to the computer, it's only for controlling Numlock on the keypad itself.
Anyways, nice MacGyvering. :P
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lol they're not compatible with Macs?
No, you need an Apple labeled washer. :happy: