[gui-talk] Fancy Computers and Function Keys
David Andrews
dandrews at visi.com
Sun Jan 2 23:41:39 UTC 2011
I will ask my guys at work tomorrow -- they set up 1 or 2 new
computers a week, each, mostly Dells, but the odd HP, Sony, Toshiba,
Asus, IBM etc.
Dave
At 05:29 PM 1/2/2011, you wrote:
>Hello, all.
>
>I just bout a rather fancy HP Pavillion DV7 laptop. Once I got over
>the initial hurdle of getting the machine to a position to install
>JAWS, all went well ... Until I tried to use the function keys
>(either alone or in combination as with Alt-F4 or JAWS combinations
>using the function keys). I soon discovered that the "new thing on
>the block" is not to have those keys be function keys by default
>but, rather, to have them do other things as with new Mac
>keyboards. One can still get them to function as good old function
>keys by holding a modifier key down while pressing them. Which is
>OK, I suppose, unless you want to kill a program from the keyboard
>or do a myriad of other things. One doesn't have enough hands to
>hold down the combinations. I suppose I could use Sticky Keys but
>that seems almost equally awkward. I understand that changing this
>behavior, i.e., reversing the situation so the keys would be
>function keys by default and do their fancy new thing when the
>modifier key is held down, requires a BIOS change which is double-plus uncool!
>
>My question: has anyone discovered a work-around for this short of
>ditching the computer and getting something more bare-bones (read
>old-fashioned)?
>
>T I A!
>
>Mike Freeman
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