Remap keyboard keys?

Question

Remap keyboard keys?

I have a MacBook with American keyboard. I would like to use some Norwegian keys namely æ, ø and å. These are obviously not available on the American keyboard. Is there a way to change a key like < and > perhaps to be set as one of these letters?
I never use < for anything, so I wouldn’t miss it.

20 iMac Core2 Duo, MacBook C2D Black, iMac G3 600

Posted on Jan 9, 2007 6:42 AM

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Answer 1

Bob Lang1

Level 5

4,090 points

Jan 9, 2007 6:57 AM in response to Freddy Johansen

Hi Freddy

I can't answer your question, but I can suggest a workable alternative. All the letters you mention can be entered from the standard keyboard. For example: æ is option '

There's a new widget called CharacterPal which can be downloaded from here:
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/reference/characterpal.html

CharacterPal quickly shows you the keys necessary to enter any character from the keyboard. I'm sure that with a bit of practice you'll quickly learn all the ones you need for Norwegian.

Bob

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Answer 2

Jan 9, 2007 7:35 AM in response to Bob Lang1

Thanks for the suggestion Bob.

But typing shift option and then a key to enter a letter seems a little too much work. Sort of the Windows way to do it. I was hoping to find an easier solution.

20 iMac Core2 Duo, MacBook C2D Black, iMac G3 600

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Answer 3

Bob Lang1

Level 5

4,090 points

Jan 9, 2007 7:49 AM in response to Freddy Johansen

In that case, you can switch your keyboard to Norwegian mode like this:

System Preferences > International > Input Menu
Check the "Norwegian" setting
Check "Use one input source for all documents"
Check "Show input menu in menu bar "

You can now select Norwegian from menu bar and your keyboard will be remapped to Norwegian. For example: å is [ and æ is '

Bob

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Answer 4

Jan 9, 2007 9:15 AM in response to Bob Lang1

Thanks, but that is not the solution I am looking for. I would like to keep the American keyboard layout since it fits perfectly with the MacBook keyboard. But I wish to add the the 3 Norwegian charactors in as easy a way as possible.

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Answer 5

Jan 9, 2007 7:17 PM in response to Freddy Johansen

Hi Freddy,

If you get a Norwegian keyboard for your Macbook, the entire top case is replaced (about USD$240), so the norwegian one will fit perfectly as well. Another option is to get an external Norwegian keyboard.

However I think in this case, your expectations exceed those that Apple wishes to meet. The method of typing accented characters with one keystroke + modifier, or one keystroke + modifier + another keystroke is far far simpler than that provided by Windows.

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Answer 6

Jan 9, 2007 9:12 PM in response to Freddy Johansen

Hi,

Try "Ukelele" software.

http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?siteid=nrsi&itemid=ukelele

Basically you can open an existing (let's say, American) keyboard and change several keys to the ones that you use mostly. The program comes with instructions, so it's not hard to learn how to tweak the keyboards.

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Answer 7

Jan 10, 2007 2:47 AM in response to nycgraphiste

Good suggestion, except it won’t start on my MacBook. Do you know if it actually is Universal Binary?

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Answer 8

Jan 10, 2007 5:31 PM in response to Freddy Johansen

No, it's PowerPC. But it opens on my intel MacBook fine. It should work alright.

Try fixing permissions first before you install the program. Maybe when you installed it the preference file got corrupted.

... I've just checked the versions both on my computer and on their site. Mine is 1.6.4 while on the site it's 1.7.

If nothing works, let me know, I can send you a copy of my earlier version Ukelele. I can do that since the software is a freeware.

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Answer 9

Jan 12, 2007 7:06 AM in response to nycgraphiste

Thanks for the suggestion. I still can not seem to make the version 1.7 to work on my computer. Do you have version 1.6 available to perhaps mail to me? I would appreciate if you could.

my mail address is freddy@wigwamjapan.com

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Answer 10

PRoland

Level 1

0 points

Jan 13, 2007 5:32 PM in response to Freddy Johansen

I might be able to help.
I have the same interest (except I use Svensk!).

Open System Preferences and open the International section.
Choose the Input Menu tab and scroll down to Norwegian and check the box on the left.

After doing this (for Swedish, in my case), I now have top-right menu bar icon of an American flag.

If I click the flag, there is a drop-down which allows me to change the keyboard to the other language.

Of course, the keytops themselves don't change - 😉
But, I can find the åäö required ([;' keys).

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Answer 11

PRoland

Level 1

0 points

Jan 13, 2007 5:36 PM in response to PRoland

Or, maybe you actually did want to have the physical keytop show the Norsk characters ?
Not sure if you can swap keys themselves. I'd stick a label on them in that case. 😉

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Answer 12

Jan 13, 2007 10:57 PM in response to Freddy Johansen

What I ended up doing was:

I was able to get the program Ukelele to start.

I then opened the american keyboard layout, and I modified 3 buttons to give me easy access to æ, ø and å.

Now all the keys on the keyboard are identical to the american physical keyboard, excet the 3 keys between DELETE and ENTER. The now give me the 3 Norwgegian keys in small and capital letters.

Those symbols that were there I have no use for anyway.

So now my american keyboard is a lot easier to use for me.

Thanks for the suggestions and help guys!

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Answer 13

mojoryno

Level 1

0 points

Jan 14, 2007 12:10 AM in response to Freddy Johansen

Does anybody know if the keyboard on a macbook purchased in Japan is exactly the same as one purchased in the U.S.? The one that came with my iMac isn't and it's a nuisance.

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Answer 14

Jan 14, 2007 3:10 AM in response to mojoryno

Mine was actually bought in Japan. With american keyboard. So if you bought american keyboard MacBook in Japan, it is a standard american keyboard. No different from the one bought in the US. However you can also buy Japanese keyboard in Japan.... Which one did you get?

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