NumPad in Osx and Vista with Macbook Pro?

[simonpickard]

Hello all,

On my old Dell laptop I can use a Fn key + L, O, etc to act as a Numpad.

How do I use this with a macbook pro in both Osx and Vista via bootcamp?

 

[Anuba]

Hello all,

On my old Dell laptop I can use a Fn key + L, O, etc to act as a Numpad.

How do I use this with a macbook pro in both Osx and Vista via bootcamp?

Like this?

Honestly, I don't know. Apple seems hell bent on eliminating things (ports, buttons, keys etc), and lately their attention has turned to the numpad which they have removed from their wireless keyboard and now there's a wired one without numpad as well. And they've stolen most of the F keys for the system itself.

 

[simonpickard]

No not an external keyboard I mean like this..

So if I hold down Fn and the ? Key it's a Numpad +, etc, etc.

How does this work on the macbook pro?

Regards,
Simon

 

[Anuba]

No not an external keyboard I mean like this..

So if I hold down Fn and the ? Key it's a Numpad +, etc, etc.

How does this work on the macbook pro?

Regards,
Simon

I know that's what you meant. The shot of the external USB numpad was my half-joking, half-serious suggestion for getting numpad functionality on a Macbook.

Those Dell shortcuts are proprietary and built into the hardware. They're not generic keyboard shortcuts that you can replicate on any keyboard. It's different from an external keyboard where keys do the same thing on Mac and PC even if they're marked differently on the surface.

 

[simonpickard]

Really?

They are pretty standard on most laptop keyboard that don't have a numpad...

So what you're saying is the Macbook pro can't do this?

Regards,
Simon

 

[Anuba]

All the custom stuff on a Dell notebook keyboard, like Fn+whatever for Standby, Hibernate, CRT/LCD switch, backlight adjustment etc, is proprietary, built into the keyboard electronics. If I plug an external keyboard into my Dell Notebook I can't do any of that stuff, even though my Logitech keyboard has a Fn key. The MBP keyboard wasn't built for Windows, so it acts more like a generic external keyboard without any special shortcuts.

 

[simonpickard]

All the custom stuff on a Dell notebook keyboard, like Fn+whatever for Standby, Hibernate, CRT/LCD switch, backlight adjustment etc, is proprietary, built into the keyboard electronics. If I plug an external keyboard into my Dell Notebook I can't do any of that stuff, even though my Logitech keyboard has a Fn key. The MBP keyboard wasn't built for Windows, so it acts more like a generic external keyboard without any special shortcuts.

Yes I get it...

But please answer the question.. Either in Osx, Or windows, does the macbook pro keyboard have any kind of numpad functionality via Fn keys, or whatever?

Regards,
Simon

 

[cherry su]

apple used to have this on the older laptops' keyboards

 

[simonpickard]

Yeah exactly!

Why would they drop that? So useful on a laptop keyboard.

Or are they still there but just not painted on?

How did they used to work? Is there some NumLock thing you have to turn on before they will work with the Fn key?

Regards,
Si

 

[Anuba]

Yes I get it...

But please answer the question.. Either in Osx, Or windows, does the macbook pro keyboard have any kind of numpad functionality via Fn keys, or whatever?

Regards,
Simon

I thought I did... no, you can't, unless there's some third party software that can do it for you. You could on an old Macbook, but not anymore.

Like I said, they're hell bent on eliminating things (seen the new Shuffle? *Zero* buttons), and if they've almost gotten rid of the numpad from their external keyboards, they're unlikely to offer that functionality on the laptops...

Be happy that they still give you *some* keys and a monitor, I bet in 5 years they'll find a way to remove those too and just give you a solid slab of metal to stare at and fondle.

 

[ViciousShadow21]

I thought I did... no, you can't, unless there's some third party software that can do it for you. You could on an old Macbook, but not anymore.

Like I said, they're hell bent on eliminating things (seen the new Shuffle? *Zero* buttons), and if they've almost gotten rid of the numpad from their external keyboards, they're unlikely to offer that functionality on the laptops...

Be happy that they still give you *some* keys and a monitor, I bet in 5 years they'll find a way to remove those too and just give you a solid slab of metal to stare at and fondle.

i highly doubt that they will ever get rid of the numeric pad on keyboards. but with the way that keyboard technology is going you arent to far off with the no key thing. check this out

http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus-tactus/

 

[betterdays]

Yes it kind of sucks that Apple removed the functionality. I never use it but for those who do...
Rejoice, you can bring it back (you'll have to do without the numbers on the keys! or engrave them yourself).

Ukelele (free) can create custom keyboard layouts. In the DMG you'll find a folder with lots of stock keyboards for each country, that you can use as a template then customize.
For example, I used the French layout in the Roman folder.

The Control key is almost useless on a Mac nowadays (except for global zooming with the mouse). It doesn't give any special characters by default when used with letters. So I just assigned the numpad keys to the original numpad keys, and Control is the (temporary) numpad toggle.

To do this, you hold Control, then double click on the key you want to redefine. In the box, type the number/sign, and hit Enter. Do it for all 15 numpad keys, and save your keyboard layout using a meaningful name.

Put that file into your Home/Library/Keyboard Layouts folder and reboot. Next time you'll be able to choose that layout in the "International" pane of the system preferences. Too bad we can't disable the default layout (sometimes, the keyboard layout choice gets reset to its default and if you haven't enabled layout status in the menu bar, you won't know it).

Et voilà !

 

[phylogeek]

KeyRemap4MacBook

This is the easiest solution to resurrect the Macbooks number pad. Works a treat (all recent osx versions >=Leopard) + give extra keyboard ReMap options if wanted:

See macworld article for details:
http://www.macworld.com/article/1142609/ressurect_numberpad.html

Sorry to post on such an old thread - but maybe still of use in saving time for others wanting a solution