Slightly F-keyed off

[Martin Baxter]

On 15/12/13 11:27, Richmond wrote:
> Right . . . I'm a bit like Hank Wangford: In search of the lonesome yodel.
> 
> Not really; but I am in search of the lonesome modifier key which is
> going to be 'totally transcendental'
> and rise above the petty materialism (pace maya-tattva) of types of
> computer and types of operating system.
> 

Good luck with that. ;)

> So, I would be most grateful if a Windows mages could tell me:
> 
> 1. What they think about my using an F-key as a keyboard modifier.
> 
> 2. What F-keys are not otherwise engaged.
> 
> Likewise for Macintosh and Linux.
> 

I'm not a Windows or any other OS mage, so I'll just point you at
Wikipedia. Which should at least give you a feeling for the
transcendentalities of the question.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Function_keys>

Readers who liked "Function keys" by "Wikipedia" may also enjoy:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTY>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt_gr>

Or, (radical suggestion), let the poor user choose their own modifiers
in some setup screen, and just record the keycodes you get.

Martin

> For years (well from 1992 to 2004) while I was a Macintosh monomaniac, I
> could not
> understand why one could not access four keyboard layouts with Windows
> as one could
> with Macintosh OS 7 - 9.
> 
> I have been mucking around with rawKeyDowns, and on "modern" systems
> (just love that word 'modern', about as useful as a bucket of quicksand)
> the ALT and SHIFT-ALT combos don't send different keyDowns when letter
> keys are pressed while they are depressed.
> 
> Having 'failed' with the altKey, and subsequently with the ctrlKey,
> eschewing the capsLockKey, and still
> being in search of a second keyboard modifier key that will be truly
> cross-platform I am rapidly
> getting desperate and becoming a cross-patch.
> 
> Richmond.