(fn) Key on new iMac? also - Home/End?

kwajaln said:

Hey you all! I got my first Mac about 6 months ago while I was working in Kuwait, an iBook G4. I am back in the States now and recently bought a 20-inch, 2.0 GhZ iMac G5. I absolutely love it, but have a couple questions about the keyboard layout. (I tried searching the forums, to no avail . . . )

What is the equivalent of the old fn (function) key and where is it? I ask because I used to use it a lot for Windows-style "delete" by pressing fn-delete for backspace-delete.

On Apple, I quickly realized that there was no HOME or END key, instead I needed to use the arrow UP and/or DOWN keys. BUT, on my new iMac there ARE home and end keys, however they do not seem to do anything. Can anyone help?? PLEASE?!?

Thanks. BTW, I totally LOVE the new iMac G5. We watched a series of DVDs on it tonight (PBS Ocean DVDs) and the video quality was truly amazing!! As good, if not better than any TV I have ever seen! The wireless keyboard and mouse are awesome and the clutterless look is perfect!!!

BILL! 😀 😀 😀

Click to expand...

As for the first part, you can do a 'forward delete' by pressing the 'delete' key that is in the same block as home/end, and page up/page down. (It has a symbol looking like a boxy arrow pointing right with an x inside.) No need for fn-delete. (The full keyboard includes dedicated keys for everything that needed the function key on the iBook/PowerBook.)

As for home and end? On the Mac, they have always acted differently than on a PC. Home means 'beginning of document', not 'beginning of line', and End is 'end of document'. For 'beginning of line', hit Command-Left-Arrow (Command=Apple='clover',) or Control-Left-Arrow, and for 'end of line', hit Command-Right-Arrow or Control-Right-Arrow. (This works on Power/iBooks, too, of course, and Command-Up-Arrow duplicates Home, Command-Down-Arrow duplicates End. Next, Option-Up-Arrow or Control-Up-Arrow is page-up, and Option-Down-Arrow or Control-Down-Arrow is page-down. (Option says 'option', 'alt', and/or a funny 'merge on its side' logo, depending on your nationality of keyboard.) Finally, Option-Left-Arrow goes to the beginning of the current or previous WORD in a text input area (word processor, text input box in web browser, etc,) and Option-Right-Arrow goes to the end of the current or next word.