Disabling the caps lock delay on the aluminum keyboard

Something I just noticed. It appears I need to enter the kbd ID every time I reboot.

Are you experiencing the same?

Thanks!

T.

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You have to read the english instructions; they're somewhat cryptic. Someone posted them, here they are again: http://www.geocities.jp/nasukoji7/download/download_setkeyboardlede.html

To make it work for apple kbds (I have a wireless and that works), you have to do this from the Terminal command line:

$ sudo sysctl -w setkeyboardled.vendorid=0x5ac

(nb: that's a zero after the =)

As a previously angry Emacs user, I just love this guy for writing this, if only he had a paypal donate button!

can't believe one must install third-party software to get this thing fixed 😟

although i'd install it - if it didn't keep the LED always on

Thank you for using SetKeyboardLED.

I came to introduce KeyRemap4MacBook today.
KeyRemap4MacBook is very powerful keyboard remapper by Takayama Fumihiko.
Especially, I think it is useful for the Emacs users.
KeyRemap4MacBook solved the delay problem by the method similar to SetKeyboardLED in v4.0.6.
KeyRemap4MacBook corresponds to not only MacBook but also other Mac.
I recommend the use of KeyRemap4MacBook in the future.

KeyRemap4MacBook page
http://www.pqrs.org/tekezo/macosx/keyremap4macbook/index.html

download
http://www.pqrs.org/tekezo/macosx/keyremap4macbook/files/KeyRemap4MacBook-4.0.6. pkg.tar.gz

Please uninstall SetKeyboardLED before installing KeyRemap4MacBook.
After installing, put the check mark in the following item in the preferences panel.

SysPrefs -> KeyRemap4MacBook -> General -> Enable Capslock LED Hack (To prevent the Apple keyboard's Capslock delay)

Hi. Thanks!

I installed the software.

There isn't the following option however:

SysPrefs -> KeyRemap4MacBook -> General -> Enable Capslock LED Hack

Should I comment on the download website?

Cheers!

T.


****************

Thank you for using SetKeyboardLED.

I came to introduce KeyRemap4MacBook today.
KeyRemap4MacBook is very powerful keyboard remapper by Takayama Fumihiko.
Especially, I think it is useful for the Emacs users.
KeyRemap4MacBook solved the delay problem by the method similar to SetKeyboardLED in v4.0.6.
KeyRemap4MacBook corresponds to not only MacBook but also other Mac.
I recommend the use of KeyRemap4MacBook in the future.

KeyRemap4MacBook page
http://www.pqrs.org/tekezo/macosx/keyremap4macbook/index.html

download
http://www.pqrs.org/tekezo/macosx/keyremap4macbook/files/KeyRemap4MacBook-4.0.6. pkg.tar.gz

Please uninstall SetKeyboardLED before installing KeyRemap4MacBook.
After installing, put the check mark in the following item in the preferences panel.

SysPrefs -> KeyRemap4MacBook -> General -> Enable Capslock LED Hack (To prevent the Apple keyboard's Capslock delay)

Please confirm the version number of KeyRemap4MacBook.
You should install v4.0.6.
The link to v4.0.6 is in nasukoji's post.

Yeah I grabbed 4.0

4.0.6 hung my laptop though!

When I reboot, the screen goes gray and is hung. There's a message telling me to press my power button down for a few seconds to reboot. When I reboot I get the same and I'm stuck ...

Ow!

Start up in Safe boot. And uninstall it.

sudo /Library/org.pqrs/KeyRemap4MacBook/extra/uninstall.sh

It might be a conflict with other drivers.
Are you using a special keyboard driver or mouse driver?

Thanks.

I'm actually not using any special drivers.

The machine is about week old and fairly stock. I'm new to the mac. I was getting sick of windows issues and linux is great for a webserver sure, but for day to day personal use it's tantamount to torture.

I ended up booting in safe mode and doing an OS re-install and cleaning house! Ow.

One thing I'm learning about the mac is freeware is freeware, just like in the windows domain (as well as the linux domain). There's a lot of great stuff written by great people, but you need to be careful and mind the fact that the challenge with all that software is configuration management, testing, support, and compatibility.

One thing's for sure. Recovering from a catastrophic failure is orders of magnitudes easier with a mac than windows! And Linux of course. Sure, linux fails less often, but when it does it's a nightmare.

The debate right now for me is whether or not to go back to KeyboardSetLed and manually set the vendor ID in a shell every time I boot (or write a startup script to do so), or to put off using the aluminum keyboard until there's a more stable solution.

Still love the new mac though, and appreciate the community! Hey. **** happens. Fact of life.

Cheers!

T.

*

Start up in Safe boot. And uninstall it.

sudo /Library/org.pqrs/KeyRemap4MacBook/extra/uninstall.sh

It might be a conflict with other drivers.
Are you using a special keyboard driver or mouse driver?

Well,
The author tested with Intel MacBook on OSX10.5.2.
I tested with PPC desktop (G4 Gigabit Ethernet) on OSX10.4.11/10.5.2.
We did not experience hanging up in the test.

The change that caused hanging up was not found though I confirmed the change in the source code from v4.0.0 to v4.0.6.
In addition, SetKeyboardLED is made by using the frame of the old version of KeyRemap4MacBook.There is no difference in the technique to hook the keyboard.
Therefore, I think that it is difficult to find the cause of hanging up.

The latest version of KeyRemap4MacBook is v4.0.7.
http://www.pqrs.org/tekezo/macosx/keyremap4macbook/files/KeyRemap4MacBook-4.0.7. pkg.tar.gz

v4.0.6 -> v4.0.7
change Xcode version (3.0 -> 2.4) @ prefpane
update InstallationCheck (added to check SetKeyboardLED)
support JIS_MACBOOK @ RemapUtil::isInternalKeyboard

It appears that the keyboard firmware update released today fixes this issue. I'm now able to use capslock as my control key and no longer experience typing delays.

Yay apple! I'm unreasonably excited about this fix.

You can find the update here: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/firmware_hardware/aluminumkeyboardup date.html

Yes!

I did the Aluminum Keyboard Update at what it does is it updates the firmware of the keyboard so the slow caps lock issue is fixed at the source, the keyboard itself.

There was a slight hitch to the install because of that - being that it updates your keyboard rather than your mac: The firmware installation software couldn't automatically detect my preconfigured wireless keyboard that was already paired and working with the mac.

I discovered the solution to that was ...

While the updater was still alive and asking you to select a keyboard from a blank keyboard-list (because it couldn't detect one) ...

To go to system preferences --> keyboard/mouse --> bluetooth. Then turn off the keyboard to disconnect it. Then follow the regular procedure to re-detect and pair it. After I did that, the firmware updater detected my wireless and I could then select it to be updated.

The update takes a few minutes and you can see the green led blinking as the new firmware is loaded. Then the led goes off while a read-back operation happens.

The updater then helps you reboot and you're good to go! You've got an updated keyboard!

Thanks, Apple! Thanks y'all!

Cheers!

T.

Does this updates completely solve the problem? I still feel a slight delay after installation.

I don't detect any.

I test it with Ctl-x u

which undoes things in emacs. I can slap at the keyboard as fast as I can and it catches everything.

T.

It's been mentioned already above but since some people may expect new postings at the bottom of the thread and may miss it (like myself) I just wanted to add a note here at the bottom: it appears that the latest Apple keyboard update fixes this issue mentioned here. After installing the update there appears to be no more delay when using the CapsLock as a Control key.

Praise be the Emacsen, and whoever it was at Apple that drove this fix. w00t!

Hate to dredge up an old topic, but does anyone else think its pretty lame Apple only released a firmware fix for Leopard and not Tiger for the Al keyboard? Seems like Apple just wants to push people to get Leopard more and more lately by abandoning support for Tiger and phase it out.

Message was edited by: Emancipator Computator