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Add a Right-Alt Key to your MacBook with KeyRemap4MacBook
Posted by Kevin Purdy at 12:30 AM on February 28, 2008
Mac only: The new MacBook Pro models released Tuesday brought new processor power, more hard drive space, and a little-heralded but kinda nifty feature: The addition of a right Alt key (and dropping of the mini Enter key), giving keyboard enthusiasts access to "third-level" characters and a wider array of shortcuts. For those with MacBook models older than 48 hours, free remapping utility KeyRemap4MacBook can help you reassign that tiny Enter or other under-utilised keys for similar shortcut happiness. Definitely worth the effort for programmers and coders, but potentially helpful for anyone who wants to assign Mac environment shortcuts (like Spaces, for example) to non-default keys. KeyRemap4MacBook is a free download for Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 only.
Tags: downloads | featured mac download | keyboard | keyboard shortcuts | keyboards | macbook pro | top | utilities
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
zakharm
Posted 2:10 AM 28/2/08
I've always wanted to make the little enter key a windows equivalent delete key instead of using fn+delete.
It doesn't look like KeyRemap4Macbook will do this though. Any ideas?
zakharm
zikman
Posted 2:10 AM 28/2/08
but... but I like that little enter key
zikman
jdoree
Posted 3:19 AM 28/2/08
Can KeyRemap4Macbook remap my eject key to the equivalent of a delete key?
jdoree
mathmonkey
Posted 4:30 AM 28/2/08
I use mine as a forward-delete key, and it's great.
mathmonkey
NineTailedFox
Posted 4:30 AM 28/2/08
Oh, YES! It can remap the "English" and Japanese script keys on my Japanese-layout MBP!
(does a little dance, makes a little love, gets down tonight)
NineTailedFox
arturogoga
Posted 4:30 AM 28/2/08
I tried KeyRemap4MacBook just yesterday, out of desperation of being unable to change my enter key to ALT-GR (and DoubleCommand is still incompatible with Leopard), but sadly, it didn't work.
Sure, you can configure it as a clone of the Left Option key, but it'd be nice to have the option to have an ALT-GR (which is a key I use to perform @)
arturogoga
chriseboy
Posted 4:30 AM 28/2/08
"The new MacBook Pro models released Tuesday brought new processor power, more hard drive space, and a little-heralded but kinda nifty feature: The addition of a right Alt key (and dropping of the mini Enter key"
Errrm. No they didn't. I got my MacBook early January and I have a right alt key instead of an enter key.
chriseboy
oldtimey
Posted 6:49 AM 28/2/08
zakharm and arturogoga: :
I don't believe that DoubleCommand is incompatible. In fact, I am using it now on my Macbook (10.5.2) and I have this exact mapping (enter key -> forward delete). It works great.
oldtimey
ptotheatsign
Posted 6:49 AM 28/2/08
I've mapped the Enter key on my MacBook Pro to forward delete using DoubleCommand.
ptotheatsign
BearsFan34
Posted 6:49 AM 28/2/08
Just so folks know, the MacBooks released in October/November 2007 also have the new keyboard layout, with the option/alt key on the right side next to the Command key...and no small "Enter" key. So MacBook owners since late 2007 have this key on their keyboards.
BearsFan34
oldtimey
Posted 6:49 AM 28/2/08
zakharm - Double Command will do exactly that.
[doublecommand.sourceforge.net]
oldtimey
bobm
Posted 9:24 AM 28/2/08
DoubleCommand is incompatable on _some_ macbooks (mine for example.
It causes a hard crash if I go out of bluetooth range and then back in and start typing on the bt keyboard.
So some of us are having issues.
(I verified in the crash report that the DoubleCommand app is the cause of the crash).
bobm
NathanK
Posted 10:38 AM 28/2/08
WARNING: If you have EVER installed doublecommand,
and possibly any other keyboard remapper listed on their website, just uninstalling the preference pane will not actually remove it. I had previously done this, and when I installed KeyRemap4Macbook, I soon found my keyboard non-functional. Rebooting revealed that it was not working. It stopped responding shortly after seeing the login screen, along with the touchpad. Rebooting into safe mode froze (hold shift when turning computer on). The only way I managed to fix it was by booting into single user mode (Command-s) and using the root shell, delete the DoubleCommand folder in "/Library/StartupItems/". In trying to fix it, I also deleted the KeyRemap4Macbook from the /Applications folder, and also KeyRemap4Macbook from some other folder. I dont remember what that folder is, but I found it by probing various places with 'find . -amin -20' to find directories modified in the last twenty minutes (I replaced the '.' with various directories in the root (I probably found what I was looking for in /Library or /System)).
Panic attack aside, I love the program, universal emacs mode and colemak if I ever feel daring are great options. There are many modifier remapping options, and it is even possible to swap the semicolon and the return key.
NathanK
N2O1138
Posted 4:46 AM 29/2/08
I also just messed up my MBP, thinking that this and Doublecommand would work if only one was enabled at a time. It turns out that they were very serious with that warning. Whenever I hit a key or tried to plug in an external keyboard I would get what I think is a kernel panic (I've only been using Mac since Christmas).
I eventually figured out how to use the on-screen keyboard to enter my password, which was required to delete the files. So for a simpler fix than the above by NathanK, just go to System Preferences/International/Input Menu/Keyboard Viewer, and use that to enter the password so you can delete the aforementioned files.
N2O1138