Kinesis Advantage Function Keys alternative

[cavey]

Hi all,

I've been lurking for a while but decided to sign up to ask this question.

First, a bit of history. I had a kinesis advantage that I returned maybe a month ago because of the f keys. However, that has made me realize how good it was for my wrist. A couple more keyboards later (a cherry red mx gaming, and kinesis freestyle) I have almost decided to go back to an Advantage (linear force this time).

The one last thing still holding me back is the f keys.

I've read here about this one mod that swapped the horrible f keys row with standard keys. I also read a review on amazon that mentioned the f-keys stick but not sure if that would work right with the curvature of the advantage.

I was hoping to be able to maybe map the Keypad button elsewhere and use that to touch type f-keys using the regular number keys.



Bottom line, I'm wondering, what is the easiest way out? I would be willing to sacrifice one of my thumb keys to switch it to a keypad switch (the temporary one, not the toggle type). It's been a long time since I've soldered anything but this problem must be solved!


Thanks

[hoggy]

I don't have mine at home, but I'm pretty sure you could map something like ctrl-alt-1 for f1.

If you are going to rely on remapping, do it early.  Once the key isn't usable, you want be able to reprogram another key to it. 

Alternatively, you could get a cherry g84-4700 key pad and program it using cherry keytools.  You would want to some relegendable keycaps to really make it fit in.  The x-keys stick should work fine - although I've never used one, so you might want to confirm before you buy.

If the f keys are all that's stopping you from getting a kinesis, then buy one!

[natas206]

The Keypad key is not remappable, unless you have a Kinesis footswitch which by default functions as a Keypad shift. Because the footswitch functions as a keypad, as kind of a work-around you can actually remap it to a key on the keyboard, such as one of the  thumb keys as you mentioned. This then becomes a Keypad toggle.

From there you can easily toggle between the regular number row keys and remapped function keys.

As mentioned you can also use a separate programmable keypad. Besides the cherry g84-4700, there are also PI Engineering programmable keypads, although more expensive.

[cavey]

I forgot to mention why the F keys are so important to me - I'm a programmer and there are too many shortcuts using F keys in my IDE(s) of choice, that I can't just go and remap all of them, plus I don't want to sacrifice my "portability" - I still want to be able to code on other people's computers as pairing is very typical for me. So Ctrl-Alt can't really be part of the mapping for the f keys

The foot switch idea though is great - I can't find any reference as to whether the 1 pedal foot switch would work for this scenario, though I'm afraid it only covers the toggle keypad function.

[natas206]

Unless I read that wrong (still need more coffee :/) , you shouldn't have any problems with remapping keys or macro's while on other people's computers since the keyboard has on-board memory. There are no drivers or software required for programming the keyboard, everything is done internally.

[cavey]

What I mean is I still want to mentally thing of Shift-F10 or Ctrl-F9 as the shortcuts, regardless of what real world physical pattern I use. That's why adding Ctrl or Alt to the mix would cause a mess.

Back to the foot switch, does anyone know what is the default key for the single switch one? The triple switch one says "Default actions are "Keypad Shift", "Keypad Enter", and "Shift" ".

It would stand to reason the single switch one would have Keypad Shift, as Keypad Enter and Shift already exists on the keyboard...