geekhack

geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: bitt3n on Sat, 17 September 2011, 20:18:40

Title: filco scroll lock not lighting up on mac
Post by: bitt3n on Sat, 17 September 2011, 20:18:40

I noticed the scroll lock on my new filco TKL is not lighting up when I connect it to my macbook pro, although it does light up when connected to my windows box. is this normal?

Title: filco scroll lock not lighting up on mac
Post by: iindigo on Sat, 17 September 2011, 20:26:46

This is normal behavior under Mac OS, since Apple has never supported using the numpad as arrow keys. Effectively, num lock is always on.

EDIT: Bah, I shouldn't post while half-asleep, thought you said num lock. Scroll lock doesn't really do anything under Mac OS.

Title: filco scroll lock not lighting up on mac
Post by: bitt3n on Sat, 17 September 2011, 20:57:26

Quote from: iindigo;417902

This is normal behavior under Mac OS, since Apple has never supported using the numpad as arrow keys. Effectively, num lock is always on.

EDIT: Bah, I shouldn't post while half-asleep, thought you said num lock. Scroll lock doesn't really do anything under Mac OS.

yes I realize it's a fairly pointless key, but if it isn't working as expected, it suggests there might be something wrong with the board

Title: filco scroll lock not lighting up on mac
Post by: iindigo on Sat, 17 September 2011, 21:44:47

Yeah I can see what you're saying and would probably think the same thing if my primary OS was Windows.

Looking at my fullsize Mac keyboard, the PrintScreen/Scroll Lock/Pause keys are replaced by F14, F15, and F16 so this means the key is acting as an unassigned Fkey. If you want to bind something to it, you can do so in System Preferences --> Keyboard --> Keyboard Shortcuts.

Title: filco scroll lock not lighting up on mac
Post by: Playtrumpet on Sun, 18 September 2011, 10:12:48

And if you wanna get really crazy, you could try ControllerMate. You can play with the functionality of the keys, and control the LED diodes on your keyboard. I have mac set up to deactivate caps lock, and CM to have its light turn on when I'm pressing Shift. Further, I have it set so after 1.5 seconds of holding Shift or Spacebar, the three LEDs will blink in succession over and over.

Besides that, I've changed where my volume and brightness controls are, as well as PrintScreen.

I feel like a program like ControllerMate is essential for customizing key controls.

Title: filco scroll lock not lighting up on mac
Post by: simon_C on Sun, 18 September 2011, 10:24:12

yeah theres no such thing as scroll lock on a mac. its an extra F key.

Title: filco scroll lock not lighting up on mac
Post by: whiskerBox on Sun, 18 September 2011, 11:50:50

Quote from: bitt3n;417899

I noticed the scroll lock on my new filco TKL is not lighting up when I connect it to my macbook pro, although it does light up when connected to my windows box. is this normal?

Hey I noticed that with my filco and MBP  that ScLk and Pa/Br control the contrast of the screen.

Title: filco scroll lock not lighting up on mac
Post by: jedcred on Sun, 18 September 2011, 11:54:04

Quote from: whiskerBox;418140

Hey I noticed that with my filco and MBP  that ScLk and Pa/Br control the contrast of the screen.

 
Really? Mine don't even seem to be picked up by the OS, if the key event logger from PCKeyboardHack is correct.

Title: filco scroll lock not lighting up on mac
Post by: file_id on Sun, 18 September 2011, 12:19:40

Yes, it is normal for the scroll lock not to work on Mac OSX. If you really want to see if all your LEDs work, when you boot up your mac all the LEDS will light up. Hope that helps.

Title: filco scroll lock not lighting up on mac
Post by: iindigo on Sun, 18 September 2011, 12:37:19

Is that Helvetica on the NeXT keycaps?

Good taste IMO.

Title: filco scroll lock not lighting up on mac
Post by: czarek on Sun, 18 September 2011, 15:06:08

Hehe I never used those 3 LEDs on keyboard since I started using Mac. They are used in 3 situations:
1) HHKB / Optimizer mode - when I toggle that mode by pressing a key combination they all light up.
2) Scroll Mode - when I toggle my trackball into big 2D scroll ball (by clicking left and right button) they glow up. I love this feature - it's the best way to scroll. I used it even on KEM which had it's own dedicated scroll which I didn't like.
3) UPS status - when power goes down for some reason they show the status of its battery. 100% means 3 LEDs glow, 66% means 2 LEDs glow, 33% means only one LED glows and it's time to save the work.

I plan to add another feature - iTunes visualizer that would blink the less when Highs, Meds or Lows peak, or maybe just light them up according to current volume level... Not sure, that's why it's not implemented yet. It's not so important so not a priority at the moment...

Title: filco scroll lock not lighting up on mac
Post by: whiskerBox on Sun, 18 September 2011, 17:48:52

Quote from: jedcred;418145

Really? Mine don't even seem to be picked up by the OS, if the key event logger from PCKeyboardHack is correct.

When the keyboard is plugged in to the USB port goto

System preferences > keyboard > change keyboard type

this will have you press a few keys and make some use out of the buttons for you. I also run a virtual machine with parallels and windows 7 in coherence mode and all the buttons also work properly on the VM as well. Hope that helps

Title: Re: filco scroll lock not lighting up on mac
Post by: manolodeinternet on Sun, 08 April 2018, 00:36:08

Quote from: czarek on Sun, 18 September 2011, 15:06:08

Hehe I never used those 3 LEDs on keyboard since I started using Mac. They are used in 3 situations:
1) HHKB / Optimizer mode - when I toggle that mode by pressing a key combination they all light up.
2) Scroll Mode - when I toggle my trackball into big 2D scroll ball (by clicking left and right button) they glow up. I love this feature - it's the best way to scroll. I used it even on KEM which had it's own dedicated scroll which I didn't like.
3) UPS status - when power goes down for some reason they show the status of its battery. 100% means 3 LEDs glow, 66% means 2 LEDs glow, 33% means only one LED glows and it's time to save the work.

I plan to add another feature - iTunes visualizer that would blink the less when Highs, Meds or Lows peak, or maybe just light them up according to current volume level... Not sure, that's why it's not implemented yet. It's not so important so not a priority at the moment...

Hi, czarek !!!
Would you mind to share with the community the code or the process through which you control LED lights, please ?

Thanks czarek for your time and attention !!!
Have a good day !!!