Key layout / non-registering keys (Mac)

[Palatino]

You know on a Mac, when you plug in a new keyboard, it asks you to hit the key to the right of the left shift, then to left of the right shift, so it can identify the layout? Well, the key to the right of the left shift is the backslash on this keyboard, and it doesn't register (either in normal use, or when going through this keyboard identification process). The other key I've marked doesn't register either (I've no idea what the key is called, and never use it, which probably reduces my DT points substantially). All other keys are fine. It seems unlikely, and a bit of a coincidence, that the backslash has a dead switch, so is there a way I can force my Mac to recognize it? The more annoying thing is actually that Shift+2 gives @, not the " that I'm used to, and which is printed on the key. It was actually this which led me to go to Preferences -> Keyboards and start the identification procedure. I imagine this is right up Muirium's alley, but thought a wider post would give others a chance to chip in too!

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Tsk, only 7 out of 8 last posts on the top 8 topics!

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[Bjerrk]

What protocol does the keyboard use?

[Muirium]

Modern Macs only really understand USB / Bluetooth. If it's a protocol thing, it's going to be the converter. Soarer should be able to handle this no bother. If it's a USB native board, however, hmm.

That weird key is "international backslash" in Soarer's docs, off the top of my head. Let me go look it up.

Actually: Soarer calls it Europe_2. The USB HID spec name for it is 'Keyboard Non-US \ and |" and it lies on scancode 0x64. On UK Mac ISO English keyboards, it's a pretty funky looking § and ± key.



I remap my MacBook Air's to backtick / tilde as ANSI intended. One of my many Karabiner tricks I should write up sometime.

[Palatino]

The keyboard is AT/XT switchable, with the switch currently set to... XT! That's got me even more confused. I'm using with with a 5-pin to PS2 adapter then an active PS2 to USB converter. I thought anything XT wouldn't work at all and would require a Soarers etc. When I flick the switch to AT, no keys work at all, or one random one does every twenty presses, or the full stop repeats: the sort of behaviour I'd expect from XT turned on. Maybe the XT/AT switch is wrong labelled on the keyboard itself?

[Palatino]

Thanks Muirium - my Soarers cable will be arriving soon which I'll then use instead of my current £3 PS2 adapter. However, the non-registering of these two keys is still puzzling.

[Muirium]

Good chance all keys will work fine with Soarer. It sounds more like a converter thing than a keyboard thing.

That XT/AT switch, though: that one's the keyboard's error!

[Palatino]

I'm willing to forgive it though as it has blue Alps: my first catch after two near misses! First impressions: they don't live to the hype (but what could!?), definitely feel good, not as crisp and light as SMK blues (but they're probably not in tip top condition), but the sound is better.

[Muirium]

Oh, absolutely. There may even be nothing wrong with the board (besides that goof with the XT/AT switch) and your missing keys are no fault of its own.

Blue alps? Tasty. I built a custom 60% from the mad wee things. Very characterful! Alps vary a lot by condition, though, so YMMV is all too real.

[Palatino]

Well, I fixed the " vs @ thing: I just changed the keyboard language from 'British' to 'British PC' and that did the trick!

True: my first ever Alps board was one I got off eBay quite cheap with the cord cut, just to try them out for feel and maybe reuse the keycaps (which I did, transplanting the alphas onto my Matthias Pro). The switches though were so horrible and binding that even if the cable had been present, the keyboard would have been unusable. I'll try following Chyros's restoration video with a few of them at some point to see if I can get them nice again.