Proper UK Keyboard

Question

Proper UK Keyboard

Hi,

Do Apple sell a proper UK keyboard for the iMac, rather than the US keyboard with the # replaced by a £?

If not, are there any recommended replacements available?

Not having had a mac before, it's the only thing I've really found disappointing about it.

iMac 24", Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Oct 13, 2008 2:23 AM

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Answer 1

Dah•veed

Level 9

66,541 points

Oct 13, 2008 8:18 AM in response to xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Any USB keyboard will work with the Mac. But it is the question of key mapping. The access to £ would most likely not change on a different keyboard unless it came with its own software for the Mac. It is in the same place, just uses the Option modifier key. To access £ press Option + 3.
You might also look into this UK remapping fix.

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Answer 2

Dah•veed

Level 9

66,541 points

Oct 13, 2008 8:29 AM in response to xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Maybe I am not following because English is a second language for me.
Do you want a keyboard mapped to UK PC keyboards? Do you want a keyboard not only mapped to UK PC keyboards, but with the keys physically printed to match the physical printing on a standard Mac keyboard?
If the latter, that would be a bit of a nitch market. May not be many customers for so specific a product or there may be millions of you and no one has tapped this yet. At this point I think it is a bit like having your cake and eating it too!

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Answer 3

Oct 13, 2008 8:48 AM in response to Dah•veed

I'd like a Mac keyboard with a UK key layout.

So, the special Mac keys (alt, cmd, opt, function keys, etc) but with a proper UK keyboard layout.

The current "UK" keyboard appears to be a US keyboard with # swapped for £

Does any other manufacturer make a UK "mac" keyboard?

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Answer 4

Dah•veed

Level 9

66,541 points

Oct 13, 2008 9:00 AM in response to xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I downloaded and installed the above remapping file. It claims to be a Universal binary, but will not work with 10.5.5. Maybe it worked with 10.4.
As to the UK Mac keyboard. As I said, it may not have enough demand for someone to manufacture. I see where other UK Mac users claim the PC keyboard is the odd man out and that the Mac keyboard is the standard. You may have to relearn.
I cannot fathom a US, UK, Australian, etc keyboard. It would appear to me all folks speaking English would use the same keyboard. You lot may have differences in spelling, but the alphabet remains the same. Perhaps the PC folks have pulled a scam on you all.
Spanish keyboards are mapped different because of diacritical marks and we have an extra letter; Ñ. But the layout is the same for Mac or PC in all of the Spanish speaking world.

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Answer 5

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,210 points

Oct 13, 2008 9:20 AM in response to Dah•veed

I downloaded and installed the above remapping file. It claims to be a Universal binary, but will not work with 10.5.5. Maybe it worked with 10.4.

It's not a binary, just a text file. Could you explain "will not work" in more detail? Did you put the .keylayout file in Home/Library/Keyboard Layouts, then logout/login, then go to system prefs/international/input menu and check its box, then select it in the "flag" menu at the top right of the finder?

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Answer 6

pogster

Level 5

5,123 points

Oct 13, 2008 10:48 AM in response to xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Hi,

Do Apple sell a proper UK keyboard for the iMac, rather than the US keyboard with the # replaced by a £?

If not, are there any recommended replacements available?

Not having had a mac before, it's the only thing I've really found disappointing about it.

I was under the impression there was a UK keyboard version. Have you checked them out at any UK Apple retailers? I'm assuming you are from the UK.

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Answer 7

Oct 13, 2008 10:55 AM in response to pogster

This iMac was sold with what Apple store page calls "Keyboard (British) & User’s Guide (English)"

All British keyboards I've used in the past have, for instance, " as shift-2, and # on a key just to the left of the return key as well as numerous other differences from a US keyboard.

The "British" keyboard supplied is basically a US layout but with # removed and £ instead.

Having spoken to other Mac users they seem to suggest this is Apple's standard UK keyboard.

I was wondering if Apple supply a "proper" UK keyboard or if anybody else supplies a replacement keyboard that has Mac-specific keys on in but in a proper UK layout?

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Answer 8

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,210 points

Oct 13, 2008 11:00 AM in response to pogster

I was under the impression there was a UK keyboard version.

He wants a version with the Windows UK keyboard, which has a different layout from the Mac UK keyboard. If you use a Windows keyboard layout, you will still have to download and install a special .keylayout file to have the keys match the output.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britishand_Americankeyboards

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Answer 9

Oct 13, 2008 11:06 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

No, I do not want a Windows keyboard.

My Psion, BBC Micro, Acorn Archimedes, VT220, Sun Workstation, typewriters and goodness only knows what else all have shift-2 as ", not as @ and are NOT Windows keyboards and, indeed, pre-date Windows as we know it.

I would like a Mac keyboard with a UK layout.

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Answer 10

Dah•veed

Level 9

66,541 points

Oct 13, 2008 11:19 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

The "fix" is available for downloading at Softpedia, Versiontracker and Mac Update. Softpedia lists it as a Universal binary and Mac Update says PPC/Intel compatible.
I did exactly those steps, as outlined in the instructions that accompany the file, although they do not say Home/Library/Keyboard Layouts they say /Library/Keyboard Layouts. But I tried it separately in both locations, even with a restart in addition to logging in & out. I was unsuccessful in getting it to work. When I would type in a number of different apps, the cursor would not move, no letters appeared.

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Answer 11

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,210 points

Oct 13, 2008 11:28 AM in response to xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

No, I do not want a Windows keyboard.

Whatever you want to call it, Mac's have always used a different mapping for the "British" layout than PC's have. Mac's have Shift + 2 = @ and physical keyboards for Mac's will always be printed that way. If you want Shift + 2 to produce ", whether or not the physical keyboard is printed that way, you need to install a special .keylayout file such as the one for which the link was given earlier in the thread (I installed it and it seems to work fine).

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Answer 12

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,210 points

Oct 13, 2008 12:07 PM in response to Dah•veed

When I would type in a number of different apps, the cursor would not move, no letters appeared.

I don't know how that could happen. I'm running 10.5.5 and it works just fine in TextEdit:

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Answer 13

Oct 13, 2008 1:22 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the explanation.

There was a British Standard (4822) for keyboards which dates back to 1980 so it rather pre-dates Windows, Macs, etc.

Mac's have Shift + 2 = @ (as well as the other "different" keys I've not listed) probably because that's what American keyboards do and Apple is an American company.

This is the format I, and others I've spoken to, am used to after almost a quater of a century and it appears that I was mistaken to assume that what Apple describe as a @British Keyboard@ would, in fact, be a British Keyboard.

I'll have a look at the suggested program and stick some self-adhesive labels on the keyboard.

Cheers,
James

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Answer 14

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,210 points

Oct 13, 2008 1:54 PM in response to xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

it appears that I was mistaken to assume that what Apple describe as a @British Keyboard@ would, in fact, be a British Keyboard.

That's correct:-) I have no idea why Apple's "British" layout does not conform to 4822 after all these years. They have no problem conforming to French, German, and Italian typewriter layouts -- azerty, qwertz, and qzerty.

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Answer 15

Dah•veed

Level 9

66,541 points

Oct 13, 2008 2:00 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Tom I have downloaded the file again and tried to get it to work. It does not work in /Library/Keyboard Layouts or in ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts. As you can see from the screenshot, choosing this UK layout de-populates the Keyboard Viewer, whereas both my English and Spanish layouts populate the Viewer.

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