Migrating from Media Keyboard

[kppanic]

Hello,

In the anticipation of the arrival of my new keyboard,

I would like to know how previous users have coped with going from media keyboards to these mechanical ones.

The only thing I'll miss is the volume control key/knob on my pooey keyboard.  I use it a lot, expecially when running games and vent/skype, i need to be able to control the volume on fly and immediately.

Are there any programs that will allow a certain key combo to act as volume up/down or am I out of luck?

Thanks in advance!

[itlnstln]

I miss the volume controls as well, but I'mm used to it these days.  The Das S has them, so you could always go that route, and you can get them with Cherry blues or browns.  You can use Autohotkey to map come key combos to perform the same fuction.

[lowpoly]

The only thing I'll miss is the volume control key/knob on my pooey keyboard.  I use it a lot, expecially when running games and vent/skype, i need to be able to control the volume on fly and immediately.

You may want a Griffin PowerMate.

[kppanic]

You may want a Griffin PowerMate.

THAT is the COOLEST volume control thingy ever!

A little pricey though.....  Argh... Why is it so easy to spend money??

[whininggit]

I second the AHK recommendation. How often do you use Scroll Lock or Pause/Break? Map them to volume. Or use the Windows key in conjunction with whatever key you want.

[Chao]

The funny thing is, they went out of their way to make it cool with the led lighting, and that feature is exactly why I don't want it.

Same.

[kppanic]

I second the AHK recommendation. How often do you use Scroll Lock or Pause/Break? Map them to volume. Or use the Windows key in conjunction with whatever key you want.

I've had the opportunity to look into AHK and I've decided to go this route.  

Thanks for all the advice!

[microsoft windows]

The funny thing is, they went out of their way to make it cool with the led lighting, and that feature is exactly why I don't want it.

Those bright blue LED's are awful. There's one on my DTV converter box that blinds me every time I go to watch my TV.

[elservo]

Thanks for the link to the AutoHotKey volume control option.  I'm gonna work on that when I get to work.  

Edit:  I asked if the script worked in Vista before checking the thread in which it is clearly said that it works great in Vista.  Floggings all around!

[elservo]

Well look at that!  It works perfectly!  A nice little volume status pops up right next to the pointer and I'm back in control of my volume!  Exclamation points!

[elservo]

The only flaky thing I've noticed is that if I turn the volume down I can't bring the volume back up to 100%.  It won't go above 30 percent for some strange reason.

[DreymaR]

Here's what I use, with Portable Keyboard Layout by Farkas Máté (AHK-based):

Code: [Select]

; These keys are modified/transposed by holding down the 'extend key' (CapsLock by default):
;+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
;|Esc + |F1 <> |F2 << |F3 >> |F4 <> |F5 <> |F6 << |F7 >> |F8 <> |F9 <> |F10<> |F11<> |F12<> |
;| Caps | Play | Prev | Next | Stop | Mute | Vol- | Vol+ | Media| BrHom| Mail | App1 | App2 |
;+======+======+======+======+======+======+======+======+======+======+======+======+======+
;|` ¤¤¤ |1     |2     |3     |4     |5     |6     |7     |8     |9     |0     |-     |=     |
;| Del  | F1   | F2   | F3   | F4   | F5   | F6   | F7   | F8   | F9   | F10  | F11  | F12  |
;+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
;|Tab   |Q ¤¤¤ |W *** |F <<> |P <>> |G *** |J ### |L ### |U ### |Y ### |; ¤¤¤ |[ ¤¤¤ |] ¤¤¤ |
;|      | Esc  | *WhUp| BrBck| BrFwd| *Btn1| PgUp | Home | Up   | End  | Del  | Esc  | Ins  |
;+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
;|Caps+ |A +++ |R *** |S +++ |T +++ |D *** |H ### |N ### |E ### |I ### |O ¤¤¤ |' ¤¤¤ |\ ><> |
;| ++++ | Alt  | *WhDn| Shift| Ctrl | *Up17| PgDn | Left | Down | Right| Back | Apps | BrFav|
;+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
;|Z ¤¤¤ |X === |C === |V === |B *** |_ *** |K *** |M *** |, *** |. *** |/ *** |Spc ¤ |Entr¤ |
;| Undo | Cut  | Copy | Paste| *Le17| *Dn17| *Ri17| *Btn3| *WhLe| *WhRi| *Btn2| Enter| Break|
;+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+-------------+
;Legend: # Movement; + Modifiers; = GUI edit; * Mouse; <> MultiMedia; ¤ Various commands.

As you can see, F1-F4 serve the Player buttons (works with most players, just like the Media Keyboard keys do), F5-F7 are sound control, and F8-F12 are for starting apps. There's also a Favorites key, wheel scrolling and other navigation there. Other functionality is generally included passively, such as Extend-'5' for Refresh.

Works great for me, at least! Tell me if you're interested, or look it up on the Autohotkey forums.

[DreymaR]

Okay, found it for you:

http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28447&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=76

Maybe I've done a very small change or two but nothing substantial. I use two VolUp and three VolDown for each key press now, for instance; that works best for me. On a side note, I wish that I could see the sound volume on-screen when I change it; that's usually done by the media keyboard's driver or extra software.

[whininggit]

I don't like having the OSD volume control because of the possibility for it to cause other apps to lose focus (e.g. games or Windows Media Center).

If you're used to a multimedia keyboard, and therefore don't mind just having master volume up and down without anything fancy, then a surefire method that works perfect even in Vista and 7, is to simply use:
chosen key:: Send {Volume_Down}
chosen key:: Send {Volume_Up}
No need to enumerate audio devices and find the specific slider etc. (although it's cool to be able to do that if required). This just simply controls the master volume as a MM keyboard would.

[DreymaR]

Those Send commands are what I'm using in PKL, only adding a 2 or 3 inside the brackets.

OSD volume control is a mixed blessing. If I get around to putting it into an AHK script, I'll make it suspendable by hotkey.

[kppanic]

I don't like having the OSD volume control because of the possibility for it to cause other apps to lose focus (e.g. games or Windows Media Center).

If you're used to a multimedia keyboard, and therefore don't mind just having master volume up and down without anything fancy, then a surefire method that works perfect even in Vista and 7, is to simply use:
chosen key:: Send {Volume_Down}
chosen key:: Send {Volume_Up}
No need to enumerate audio devices and find the specific slider etc. (although it's cool to be able to do that if required). This just simply controls the master volume as a MM keyboard would.

OK I tried this and works good in desktop.

But does not work in games, I think the game steals focus...

Any fix?