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Author Topic: Using a Matias Mac keyboard on a PC  (Read 3182 times)

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Offline Fandom

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Using a Matias Mac keyboard on a PC
« on: Tue, 28 January 2014, 14:28:32 »
Hey everyone,

Does anyone have experience with using a Matias Mac keyboard (with the CMD etc buttons) on a PC? Would there be any compatibility issues?
What about the other way around, when using a Matias PC keyboard on a Mac, are there any issues with this configuration?

Thank you very much for your time!
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Offline Daniel Beardsmore

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Re: Using a Matias Mac keyboard on a PC
« Reply #1 on: Tue, 28 January 2014, 14:59:54 »
Using a Mac keyboard on a PC: try the "driver" at the top-right of this page: http://matias.ca/tactilepro3/support/index.php; for some reason it's missing from the support page for the Tactile Pro 4. This is a compiled AutoHotkey script that swaps the keys. May not work in XP (completely useless for me when I tried — the alt key would constantly jam during alt+tab) but works fine in Windows 7, likely due to limitations in XP. For some reason Matias forgot to add an icon to the EXE or hide the tray icon; this is really easy to do if you want to build a custom version.

Mac OS X has native UI for remapping the modifier keys in System Preferences, so using a PC keyboard on a Mac works just fine.

Obviously in both arrangements there will be keys in the wrong places, keys that do nothing, and functionality that you'd like but don't have the key for. For example, there's no pause/break key functionality when using an Apple "Aluminium" Keyboard on a Windows computer. You could probably remap that in using AutoHotkey.
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Offline rowdy

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Re: Using a Matias Mac keyboard on a PC
« Reply #2 on: Wed, 29 January 2014, 21:41:47 »
The only thing I change when using a standard PC-layout keyboard on a Mac is to swap Command and Option in System Preferences.  Everything else seems to work fine.  I don't think the Menu key does anything, and on my Ducky keyboards the extra 4 keys in the top right corner (calculator, email, web browser, file browser) do not do anything either.

Edit: Sorry, part of that is not Matias-relevant, but you get the general idea :)
« Last Edit: Wed, 29 January 2014, 21:45:17 by rowdy »
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Offline Fandom

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Re: Using a Matias Mac keyboard on a PC
« Reply #3 on: Thu, 30 January 2014, 20:14:29 »
Quote from: rowdy on Wed, 29 January 2014, 21:41:47
The only thing I change when using a standard PC-layout keyboard on a Mac is to swap Command and Option in System Preferences.  Everything else seems to work fine.  I don't think the Menu key does anything, and on my Ducky keyboards the extra 4 keys in the top right corner (calculator, email, web browser, file browser) do not do anything either.

Edit: Sorry, part of that is not Matias-relevant, but you get the general idea :)

Maybe you could map those extra keys (calculator etc) to do something via BetterTouchTool?

Also, is there a way to have specific keyboard options (such as Alt<-->Cmd change) happen automatically when plugging in the keyboard? :)
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Offline SonOfSonOfSpock

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Re: Using a Matias Mac keyboard on a PC
« Reply #4 on: Fri, 31 January 2014, 19:19:48 »
Quote from: Fandom on Thu, 30 January 2014, 20:14:29
Quote from: rowdy on Wed, 29 January 2014, 21:41:47
The only thing I change when using a standard PC-layout keyboard on a Mac is to swap Command and Option in System Preferences.  Everything else seems to work fine.  I don't think the Menu key does anything, and on my Ducky keyboards the extra 4 keys in the top right corner (calculator, email, web browser, file browser) do not do anything either.

Edit: Sorry, part of that is not Matias-relevant, but you get the general idea :)

Maybe you could map those extra keys (calculator etc) to do something via BetterTouchTool?

Also, is there a way to have specific keyboard options (such as Alt<-->Cmd change) happen automatically when plugging in the keyboard? :)


OS X remembers the different keyboards I plug in. If I plug in my Apple Aluminum keyboard it remembers to not swap command and option and if I plug in my Ducky it remembers to swap command and option.
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