caps lock is too sensitive on keyboard

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Level 1

11 points

caps lock is too sensitive on keyboard

I don't know if this is a software problem, or a hardware problem, but is there any way to force the keyboard into lowercase, and keep it that way?

This is my first Mac mini, and it uses a "Macally" keyboard. The slightest touch on the caps lock key makes the whole keyboard go into uppercase mode. (It is very, very unsettling for someone who is not used to PC compatibles, or Macs, for that matter.)

Shouldn't there be a spring under the momentary contact switch? That way it would lock into place.

Is this a problem with Pages, or is it just the keyboard I bought to go with my Mac mini?

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Sep 18, 2008 12:33 PM

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Answer 1

Tulse

Level 5

5,812 points

Sep 18, 2008 12:39 PM in response to beta_zero

This sounds like an issue with either the keyboard hardware or driver. Since those are the responsibility of Macally, you should contact them about this matter.

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Answer 2

beta_zero Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 18, 2008 12:43 PM in response to Tulse

So it's a hardware problem specific to the manufacturer of the keyboard, and there is no way Pages can 'lock' everything into lowercase mode?

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Answer 3

Tulse

Level 5

5,812 points

Sep 18, 2008 12:49 PM in response to beta_zero

This is not a Pages issue, and likely not even a keyboard driver issue, but is most probably just related to the physical setup of the keyboard. Do you get the same problem in other text editing applications, like TextEdit? If so, you need to contact Macally about this (or, if it really bothers you, buy a different model keyboard -- they are relatively cheap these days).

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Answer 4

dwb

Level 7

33,256 points

Sep 18, 2008 1:40 PM in response to beta_zero

IMHO Macally isn't among the best of keyboard manufacturers and I suspect you just have a defective keyboard.

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Answer 5

beta_zero Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 18, 2008 11:48 PM in response to dwb

Well, the only reason I got a Macally keyboard, is, the salesman suggested it to me. -There has got to be a keyboard manufacturer out there who has the good sense to put a spring/lock thing between the key itself, and the point where the metal gets grounded to the grid inside the keyboard.

I was really hoping that Pages would have a keyboard fix, somewhere. I doubt that Darwin (the Mac version of Unix) has a command that goes low enough into the Kernel to fix the capslock problem. Not that Windows users would notice this sort of thing, but I sort of expected the capslock to go down, and stay down while it is in the 'lock' position, but maybe that's just me?

And so long as we are on the subject, can you suggest a keyboard manufacturer that has umlauts over the a-o-u vowels? Having to go to a character palette (or whatever it is called) to look up "unicode equivalents" (or whatever they are) is a real chore. There has got to be a better way.

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Answer 6

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,252 points

Sep 19, 2008 3:27 AM in response to beta_zero

And so long as we are on the subject, can you suggest a keyboard manufacturer that has umlauts over the a-o-u vowels? Having to go to a character palette (or whatever it is called) to look up "unicode equivalents" (or whatever they are) is a real chore. There has got to be a better way.

This is done by software, not by hardware. Here is a list of the keyboard shortcuts for accented characters. ü is made by doing Option/alt + u, then u.

http://homepage.mac.com/thgewecke/diacritics.html

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Answer 7

Sep 19, 2008 5:34 AM in response to beta_zero

Aside from the problem with a third party hardware keyboard, the trend appears to that the travel distance in hardware keys is minimised.

The trend towards software input methods implemented in touch surfaces has lead to a trend to modify the travel distance of a hardware key, making input methods seem more similar.

With regard to the static input method of a hardware keyboard with hard painted or engraved key graphics for one and only one writing system, this is also changing.

Patents have been published for a keyboard that changes keyboard graphics when the user changes the writing system. The business with modifier keys is back to Steven Capps who was hired into Apple from Xerox in 1981 and with him brought the Xerox Star interface utility that display a bitmap of a keyboard. Selecting a bitmap of a keyboard selects the mapping of key codes to character codes in the connected hardware keyboard - without changing the graphics on the hardware keys. A simpler solution is to do this in software and co-ordinate the hardware keyboard with the character space the user is actually writing.

/hh

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Answer 8

beta_zero Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 20, 2008 12:09 PM in response to Tulse

Tulse wrote:
This is not a Pages issue, and likely not even a keyboard driver issue, but is most probably just related to the physical setup of the keyboard. Do you get the same problem in other text editing applications, like TextEdit? If so, you need to contact Macally about this (or, if it really bothers you, buy a different model keyboard -- they are relatively cheap these days).

For some unknown reason, the manufacturer made the caps lock key twice as big as any of the other keys on the keyboard, except the SHIFT keys, and the SPACE BAR. Making the caps lock key so big, magnifies the likelihood of a stray finger alighting on it (ever so lightly) and toggling the keyboard into uppercase mode (a useless mode, so far as I can tell).

So, in that respect, the manufacturer is clearly at fault.

And I've noticed the same sort of thing happen with other keyboards, like those for the PC compatible. (I haven't any experience with the Apple II, or Apple IIe, or Lisa computers, though; do you know if those keyboards are afflicted with the same caps lock bug?) For the life of me, I can't figure out what good a caps lock key is supposed to be.

But the Mac kernel really ought to have some way of fixing this bug, and keeping things in lowercase mode. Yes, it happens with other applications, like TextEdit. That merely implies the bug is way down there, possibly in the Kernel.

Is there a Unix command that will make the caps lock key inert?

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Answer 9

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,252 points

Sep 20, 2008 1:38 PM in response to beta_zero

Is there a Unix command that will make the caps lock key inert?

It's a lot easier than that:

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/2181/macos_x_disable_caps_lockkey

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Answer 10

beta_zero Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 22, 2008 10:46 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Tom Gewecke wrote:

Is there a Unix command that will make the caps lock key inert?

It's a lot easier than that:

http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/2181/macos_x_disable_caps_lockkey

Hmmmm...

My mouse froze up on me after trying it out. I had to power down, and power back up again, to get it working again. Or maybe I was just unlucky. There's always that possibility.

Can you post the source code? It's in assembly language for an Intel Mac, right? Could you add comments to each line of source code, and walk me through it slowly?

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Answer 11

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,252 points

Sep 22, 2008 11:32 AM in response to beta_zero

Can you post the source code? It's in assembly language for an Intel Mac, right? Could you add comments to each line of source code, and walk me through it slowly?

Sorry, no, I have no info regarding the source code for anything at all in OS X. This is simply a setting you make in system prefs/keyboard and mouse/modifier keys that should make it so the caps lock key does not do anything when you hit it.

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