Mac 101: change keyboard modifier keys with a Windows keyboard

@4 - liar, liar pants on fire - where was your follow-up article?

THANK YOU VERY MUCH ~ i clicked the 'no action' and feel better already!

thanks alot!

JohnC :]

I sure want to thank you for that
I bought a bluetooth Apple keyboard and I have been hitting that key constantly and this tip will save my sanity!

Thanx ZuD

@Paul

I recently grabbed that script and modified it. The problem I had with it was that the author changed all the modifier keys back to defaults. I personally am sick of the caps lock key. So, I disable it. When the script resets to default, it turns the caps lock key back on.

In addition to changing the delay to .1 to speed the script up, I replaced:

else
-- We're in PC keyboard mode. Swap back to the defaults
click button "Restore Defaults"
end if

with:

-- We're in PC keyboard mode. Swap back to the defaults
click pop up button 3
click menu item 3 of menu 1 of pop up button 3
delay 0.1
click pop up button 4
click menu item 4 of menu 1 of pop up button 4
delay 0.1

I run this script when I login. When I'm at work, I've already plugged in my eternal keyboad, mouse, and monitor. Nothing fancy, but it works.

The only bug I've found is that if you have been playing with the system prefs and don't have the "Keyboard & Mouse" tab open when you quit, the script errors out. For whatever reason, it doesn't swap to the correct tab before continuing, or AppleScript doesn't do the "tell" correctly. I'm not sure, since I don't know AppleScript well. So, make sure you click back to the correct tab before closing system prefs.

I also popped off my alt key and windows key and swapped them to make it a little more Mac-like.

I use the Microsoft Intellitype drivers (they work with any external keyboard), which allow you to specify key layouts for your external keyboard separately from the MacBook keyboard.

It also allows you to do some additional functionality which can't be done with the standard Apple preferences pane, such as assigning keys to change the volume, pause and start iTunes, etc.

I use Doublecommand to do this. It's a little easier than the Keyboard pref pane, but still a pain to do every time.
http://doublecommand.sourceforge.net/


The developer promises:
"The highest priority now is having settings per keyboard, or at least only applying DoubleCommand to a single keyboard."

Or use Microsoft's Keyboard drivers for MS USB or Wireless keyboards. It enables modifier key swapping without affecting a laptop's built in keyboard setup.

As for Apple keyboards...I'll buy one when they've got a curved or ergo keyboard.

Here is a somewhat lengthy way to automatically switch the keyboard. The method uses a program called MarcoPolo as well as applescripts...

Link: http://fall-line.com/2007/07/02/change-keyboard-modifier-keys-automatically-on-osx-with-applescript

Does this button only appear when a non-mac keyboard is plugged in? On my Mac Pro (10.4.10) with a Mac keyboard & Mighty Mouse I do not have a "modifier keys" button at all.

Try controllermate (http://www.orderedbytes.com/controllermate/). I use it to change the modifier keys on a logitech G15 while simultaneously leaving the modifier keys as they are for the macbook keyboard. =)