Disable eject key?

Question

Level 1

5 points

Disable eject key?

I have a 1.67 ghz 15" Powerbook and occasionally while typing I'll accidentally hit the eject key. This is frustrating because sometimes I'll have something in front of the slot area (namely my Rain Design iLap's wrist pad) and I have to scramble to lift the Powerbook before the CD/DVD ejects as I don't want it to try to eject and get stuck somehow by something in front of the optical drive.

Is there a way to disable the eject key or map it to a different key combo (like maybe I could have to hit TAB-EJECT or something, and hitting the eject button by itself will do nothing)?

Thank you for any and all advice.

15" Aluminum Powerbook Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Posted on Jan 8, 2006 9:19 AM

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Answer 1

Tallan

Level 4

3,095 points

Jan 8, 2006 10:00 AM in response to John Hailey

Try System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Keyboard Shortcuts Tab and remap that key to nul (nothing) or if that's not possible maybe space. I've not tried this, others may have better ideas.

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Answer 2

John Hailey Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 8, 2006 11:15 AM in response to Tallan

Hello. Thanks for your advice. I had already tried this but unfortunately the Keyboard Shortcuts feature only seems to work on Menu commands and not the actual keys. In System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Keyboard there is an option that lets you use the F1-F12 keys to control software or hardware (thus being able to alternate between controlling Exposé, etc. and dim light, volume and so on). You can effectively use this trick to disable the F12/Eject button on the iBooks but since the Powerbook has its own eject key, this trick won't work.

Macosxhints.com, google, The Missing Manual and a few other Mac books hasn't helped yet.

Thanks for trying though. I'll report back if I find a solution. Until then, keep the replies coming!

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Answer 3

Tallan

Level 4

3,095 points

Jan 8, 2006 1:13 PM in response to John Hailey

I wonder if Automator could be made to help? Or Terminal? In UNIX you can control just about anything, but I have no idea how.

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Answer 4

John Hailey Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 14, 2006 8:54 AM in response to Tallan

Automator would be of no use, neither would Applescript... unless I knew of a command that could control individual keys. But if I knew the command I could just invoke it from Terminal. If there is a Unix command (or one specific to OS X) then I could easily either a) create a delay so that the eject key has to wait x-seconds before ejecting media or b) disable the eject key entirely, and make a key combo that would eject it (say, TAB-EJECT or whatever).

I'm delving in to the Unix option as I have experience in that field. Thank you very much for your ideas. It is helpful and I'll keep everyone posted if I find a solution for my MacBook Pr, erm, Powerbook. 😉

Xserve G4 1.33ghz, G4 Cube, 15" Aluminum Powerbook, B&W G3 Power Mac Mac OS X (10.4.3)

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Answer 5

Tallan

Level 4

3,095 points

Jan 14, 2006 9:06 AM in response to John Hailey

Under DOS I know it would be possible to write a little program in C or BASIC that would be essentially:

if <keypress> then > nul

so there must be a functional equivilant in UNIX. Good luck finding it!

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Answer 6

Feb 27, 2006 9:22 PM in response to John Hailey

Have you had any luck with disabling the eject key? Many times i will accidently press it while watching a Dvd or while about to watch the dvd, it can be come quite a hassle. You think there would be an easier way..

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