Thinkpad X30/X31/X32 keyboard

[ahmad]

Just got a thinkpad X32.  Love the laptop, but I don't know what everyone was raving about with regards to TP keyboards.  My old vaio Z1RSP was felt much nicer under the fingers.  Meh, maybe it'll grow on me.

Anyway, enough ranting.  I use a tiling window manager (wmii on the laptop, xmonad on the desktop) and apparently the X32 is missing a magic key.  So no Mod4 for me.  Anyone suggest something to remap to be my modkey?  Alt conflicts.

Also, anyone know what those keys to either side of the up arrow do?

Also, this thinkpad is super-snappy (2GHz!  Take that, lowly netbook!!)

Also, thanks for your help

[ch_123]

Use Caps Lock as the Mod4 key.

And those keys on either side of the arrow keys are forward and back keys.

[ahmad]

Use Caps Lock as the Mod4 key.

And those keys on either side of the arrow keys are forward and back keys.

Capslock!  Why didn't I think of that?  If I remap it, will the LED still toggle on/off every time I press it?  That would be annoying.

[ch_123]

No, the LED is not managed by the keyboard - it is turned on by the OS when it receives the scan code associated with Caps Lock. If you set the Caps Lock key to something else, the LED will not go on.

[J888www]

I don't know what everyone was raving about with regards to TP keyboards.

Over time, there were three main TP keyboard manufacturers, ALPS, Chicony and NMB. It is with the NMB keyboards which everyone raves. The pinnacle of ThinkPad build quality lies with the ThinkPad T60P. I would assume your TP keyboard is more cost effective from the manufacturer's point of view.
 
As you are now an owner of a ThinkPad, this Link may be of interest.

[ahmad]

Thanks for the info.  My particular model is one of the last IBM-designed ones.  It seems to be Lenovo-manufactured, though, as that is who the XP OEM sticker is attributed to.

One of the first things I did after getting the 'book was to join thinkpads.com

A T61P 14.1" would pretty much have been my dream laptop a year ago; one year on, it still doesn't seem to have much competition.  Alas, my wallet couldn't cope, but this X32 is turning out to be a cracking machine.  The lack of bulk is something I didn't think would really impress me, but now I can see myself bringing the laptop along with my camera when required, and doing some PP on-site; something I very rarely did with my 14" Vaio.

[J888www]

My preference lies with the T60p mainly due to the FlexView screen, it is quite difficult to put into words the difference in image quality.

There are still some available, manufacturer refurbished, sealed in box. The specifications are not really comparable to present products, but I intend to upgrade what-ever possible, even parts which do not require replacing ie: if it has a Chicony keyboard, I'll replace it with a NMB. Unfortunately, I need to learn to be content with the ATI FireGL V5200.

[EverythingIBM]

My preference lies with the T60p mainly due to the FlexView screen, it is quite difficult to put into words the difference in image quality.

There are still some available, manufacturer refurbished, sealed in box. The specifications are not really comparable to present products, but I intend to upgrade what-ever possible, even parts which do not require replacing ie: if it has a Chicony keyboard, I'll replace it with a NMB. Unfortunately, I need to learn to be content with the ATI FireGL V5200.

ATI fire cards are perfectly fine... And didn't IBM used to own the Fire GL line? I guess they sold that division too, stupid idiots.

I like my T60p as well, although a nice bulky win 98 thinkpad would be nice.

[microsoft windows]

Not as nice as a Windows 3.1 thinkpad. Especially one with a butterfly keyboard.

[EverythingIBM]

Not as nice as a Windows 3.1 thinkpad. Especially one with a butterfly keyboard.

I'll get one some day... but right now I can't find any. Just a bunch of lousy power adapters on ebay.

300PL w/ pentium 1, then a thinkpad 701..

But right now I have heroes of might and magic compendium and some 128 sticks of EDO RAM coming, so I must block all of that out of my mind.

There actually is a guy who has a 701 locally, but he seems to have started ignoring my emails... but he's starting to find out that no one else is going to buy it lol.