Illuminated keyboard help please

[agunat]

I bought an Ativa illuminated keyboard made for and sold by Office Depot (Ativ
item #:617-593). In order to turn the illumination on or off you are suppose
to toggle the Scroll-Lock key. This works fine with one HUGE exception.
Pushing the Scroll-Lock key to change the illumination also changes th
Scroll-Lock! I am looking for a way to change one but not the other.
realiz
that most functions of this type are usually handled by an FN key to push i
conjunction with the Scroll-Lock. This keyboard has no FN key. I have trie
every combination with ALT, CTRL, TAB, etc. keys that I can think of and non
work. I've called both Office Depot and Ativa and neither could supply an
support for this keyboard. Can anyone help

Thanks in advance... Bob

 

[charlie]

I bought an Ativa illuminated keyboard made for and sold by Office Depot (Ativa
item #:617-593). In order to turn the illumination on or off you are supposed
to toggle the Scroll-Lock key. This works fine with one HUGE exception.
Pushing the Scroll-Lock key to change the illumination also changes the
Scroll-Lock! I am looking for a way to change one but not the other. I
realize
that most functions of this type are usually handled by an FN key to push in
conjunction with the Scroll-Lock. This keyboard has no FN key. I have tried
every combination with ALT, CTRL, TAB, etc. keys that I can think of and none
work. I've called both Office Depot and Ativa and neither could supply any
support for this keyboard. Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance... Bob

The only suggestion I have, based upon your use and the reply from the
seller and the OEM is to try another brand/model illuminated keyboard.
The no FN key tells me that the keyboard is likely not what you want.

That aside, there may be an undocumented multiple key combination that
will do what you want. Trouble is, some of these do things that are
undesired, and reversing the unintended consequences can be a pain.

I tend to use a Logitech or Microsoft illuminated keyboard.

 

[agunat]

charlie wrote on 06/27/2012 05:10 ET

On 6/27/2012 2:06 AM, agunat wrote
The only suggestion I have, based upon your use and the reply from th
seller and the OEM is to try another brand/model illuminated keyboard
The no FN key tells me that the keyboard is likely not what you want

That aside, there may be an undocumented multiple key combination tha
will do what you want. Trouble is, some of these do things that ar
undesired, and reversing the unintended consequences can be a pain

I tend to use a Logitech or Microsoft illuminated keyboard

The reason I jumped at it is simply that I can't afford the $80-$100 range th
major companies want for their boards. I got this on clearance for about $2
and was very leery about its quality but the keys feel great and the degree o
illumination is perfect. I agree that there must be a combination of keys tha
will solve my problem it's just that I haven't been able to find them yet

Bob

 

[Paul]

charlie wrote on 06/27/2012 05:10 ET :
The reason I jumped at it is simply that I can't afford the $80-$100 range the
major companies want for their boards. I got this on clearance for about $20
and was very leery about its quality but the keys feel great and the degree of
illumination is perfect. I agree that there must be a combination of keys that
will solve my problem it's just that I haven't been able to find them yet.

Bob

In the Linux world...

http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=36824&p=321885

xset led 3 <--- turn on illumination

xset -led 3 <--- turn off illumination

The xset command in Linux, controls more than that. The LED
argument, takes a number between 1 and 32, for which LED to switch.

http://linuxreviews.org/man/xset/

xset led named "Scroll Lock" <--- alternate syntax, named LEDs

Now all you need to do, is find a Windows program that claims
to control keyboard LEDs, and try various LED numbers for the
desired effect.

I found an example, to show the concept exists. Note
that this particular one, doesn't list Windows 7 as a
supported OS. You would want to "turn on the Scroll Lock LED".

http://www.fileguru.com/downloads/keyboard_led

" Keyboard LED Control 1.09 Fadsoft.net

Keyboard LED Control is a tool to control LED of the Numlock, Caps Lock,
and Scroll Lock indicator lights on the Keyboard, which can be controlled
in the Numlock, Capslock, and Scroll Lock key state of being always on,
always off or flash. Keyboard LED Control is designed for Windows-XP,
Windows-2000, Windows-NT and Windows-9x. . Free download of
Keyboard LED Control 1.09, size 335.87 Kb. "

*******

I bet I could fix it with a soldering iron...

That's how Paul fixes stuff like that. No "wimpy program" needed.

Paul

 

[choro]

charlie wrote on 06/27/2012 05:10 ET :
The reason I jumped at it is simply that I can't afford the $80-$100 range the
major companies want for their boards. I got this on clearance for about $20

Have you ever thought that THAT might be the reason why it was placed in
the _clearance_ offers?

 

[Bob Henson]

I bought an Ativa illuminated keyboard made for and sold by Office Depot (Ativa
item #:617-593). In order to turn the illumination on or off you are supposed
to toggle the Scroll-Lock key. This works fine with one HUGE exception.
Pushing the Scroll-Lock key to change the illumination also changes the
Scroll-Lock! I am looking for a way to change one but not the other. I
realize
that most functions of this type are usually handled by an FN key to push in
conjunction with the Scroll-Lock. This keyboard has no FN key. I have tried
every combination with ALT, CTRL, TAB, etc. keys that I can think of and none
work. I've called both Office Depot and Ativa and neither could supply any
support for this keyboard. Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance... Bob

You might be able to re-program the key with AutoHotkey. If not, it's
free anyway, and when you've got it and found out all the other things
it can do, you'll wonder how you managed without it.

--
Bob
Tetbury, Gloucestershire, UK


Why is there only one Competition Commission?

 

[Zaidy036]

I bought an Ativa illuminated keyboard made for and sold by Office Depot (Ativa
item #:617-593). In order to turn the illumination on or off you are supposed
to toggle the Scroll-Lock key. This works fine with one HUGE exception.
Pushing the Scroll-Lock key to change the illumination also changes the
Scroll-Lock! I am looking for a way to change one but not the other. I
realize
that most functions of this type are usually handled by an FN key to push in
conjunction with the Scroll-Lock. This keyboard has no FN key. I have tried
every combination with ALT, CTRL, TAB, etc. keys that I can think of and none
work. I've called both Office Depot and Ativa and neither could supply any
support for this keyboard. Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance... Bob

Maybe KeyTweak will do it:
http://www.tucows.com/preview/327616

 

[Bob I]

Click Start, click in Search/Run box, type in OSK, press enter, click
mouse cursor on ScrLk button, click on "x" to close OSK..

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Click Start, click in Search/Run box, type in OSK, press enter, click
mouse cursor on ScrLk button, click on "x" to close OSK..
Excellent!

 

[Stan Brown]

I bought an Ativa illuminated keyboard made for and sold by Office Depot (Ativa
item #:617-593). In order to turn the illumination on or off you are supposed
to toggle the Scroll-Lock key. This works fine with one HUGE exception.
Pushing the Scroll-Lock key to change the illumination also changes the
Scroll-Lock! I am looking for a way to change one but not the other. I
realize
that most functions of this type are usually handled by an FN key to push in
conjunction with the Scroll-Lock. This keyboard has no FN key. I have tried
every combination with ALT, CTRL, TAB, etc. keys that I can think of and none
work. I've called both Office Depot and Ativa and neither could supply any
support for this keyboard. Can anyone help?

You might try Autohotkey. Set it up to make the ScrollLock key do
nothing. Then (if you're lucky), ScrollLock on the keyboard will turn
the illumination on or off, but won't get passed through to Windows.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>, agunat

item #:617-593). In order to turn the illumination on or off you are
supposed
to toggle the Scroll-Lock key. This works fine with one HUGE

(How did you discover that - or did the packaging or instructions tell
you?)

exception.
Pushing the Scroll-Lock key to change the illumination also changes
the
Scroll-Lock! I am looking for a way to change one but not the other. []
work. I've called both Office Depot and Ativa and neither could
supply any
support for this keyboard. Can anyone help?

[]
Seems "not fit for purpose", so you should be entitled to your money
back - but I understand you can't get anything else as good for the
price anyway.

I gather you've solved the problem anyway (someone's suggestion of the
on-screen keyboard), but I have to ask: was it only as a matter of
principle, or do you have something in which the condition of the scroll
lock toggle actually matters? I can't remember when I last used anything
which actually used the scroll lock key: I think it was in DOS days when
an imitation virus (I think it was the one that made all the letters on
the screen slowly fall to the bottom) was restored with the SL key.

 

[Bob I]

In message <[email protected]>, agunat

item #:617-593). In order to turn the illumination on or off you are
supposed
to toggle the Scroll-Lock key. This works fine with one HUGE

(How did you discover that - or did the packaging or instructions tell
you?)

exception.
Pushing the Scroll-Lock key to change the illumination also changes the
Scroll-Lock! I am looking for a way to change one but not the other. []
work. I've called both Office Depot and Ativa and neither could supply
any
support for this keyboard. Can anyone help?

[]
Seems "not fit for purpose", so you should be entitled to your money
back - but I understand you can't get anything else as good for the
price anyway.

I gather you've solved the problem anyway (someone's suggestion of the
on-screen keyboard), but I have to ask: was it only as a matter of
principle, or do you have something in which the condition of the scroll
lock toggle actually matters? I can't remember when I last used anything
which actually used the scroll lock key: I think it was in DOS days when
an imitation virus (I think it was the one that made all the letters on
the screen slowly fall to the bottom) was restored with the SL key.

Try Microsoft Office Excel. It uses Scroll Lock switch to "Scroll
Worksheet" instead of "Move from cell to cell" with arrow keys.

 

[Stan Brown]

I gather you've solved the problem anyway (someone's suggestion of the
on-screen keyboard), but I have to ask: was it only as a matter of
principle, or do you have something in which the condition of the scroll
lock toggle actually matters?

In Excel, for one. With scroll lock engaged, when I hit the arrow
keys the worksheet moves, but ficus stays in the same cell (even
after that cell has been shifted out of the visible area).

I had to use OSK to try that, because neither my laptop keyboard nor
my Logitech illuminated keyboard has a scroll lock key. I'm not
surprised by the laptop, which also lacks a Break key; but until now
I thought my Logitech keyboard had everything.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In Excel, for one. With scroll lock engaged, when I hit the arrow
keys the worksheet moves, but ficus stays in the same cell (even
after that cell has been shifted out of the visible area).

Thanks (and to Bob I) for that info.; nice to know that a mostly-disused
key _is_ being used for something (and which actually bears some
relation to its name).

I had to use OSK to try that, because neither my laptop keyboard nor
my Logitech illuminated keyboard has a scroll lock key. I'm not
surprised by the laptop, which also lacks a Break key; but until now
I thought my Logitech keyboard had everything.

Hmm. Are you sure they're not there in semi-invisible blue? On this
netbook (Samsung NC20), Fn-F11 is Num Lock, Fn-F12 is scroll lock, and
Fn-Insert is Pause/Brk. Scroll Lock even has a light (on the edge of the
case, with the other two locks), and makes the appropriate beep if you
have them turned on. (I have those beeps turned on - they're under the
accessibility thing in Control Panel under XP [called toggle keys IIRR],
don't know for 7, but I find it useful as a way of telling myself if I
accidentally catch the caps lock key.)

 

[Stan Brown]

In message <[email protected]>, Stan Brown

Hmm. Are you sure they're not there in semi-invisible blue?

Yes, I'm sure. I examined both keyboards in a strong light.

But following your article I experimented and found that on my Dell
laptop keyboard Fn-Insert is Pause and Ctrl-Fn-Delete is Break.

Scroll Lock even has a light (on the edge of the
case, with the other two locks), and makes the appropriate beep if you
have them turned on.

There are no indicator lights for Caps Lock, Scroll Lock, or Num Lock
on my Dell laptop's keyboard (Inspiron 1784), a really stupid design
decision that must have saved them a whole dollar per unit. My USB
keyboard *does* have such indicators, though as I mentioned it
doesn't actually have a Scroll Lock key. If there's an undocumented
key combination to turn on scroll lock, I haven't been able to find
it -- though I wouldn't have any occasion to use it if I did.

(I have those beeps turned on - they're under the
accessibility thing in Control Panel under XP [called toggle keys IIRR],
don't know for 7, but I find it useful as a way of telling myself if I
accidentally catch the caps lock key.)

I use Autohotkey to remap CapsLock to Shift. I strongly recommend
Autohotkey (free and open source), but you can also do it in Win 7 or
Win XP via a Registry edit:

http://oakroadsystems.com/tech/winxptip.htm#MiscCapslock

and

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/disable-caps-lock-key-
in-windows-vista/

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>, Stan Brown

There are no indicator lights for Caps Lock, Scroll Lock, or Num Lock
on my Dell laptop's keyboard (Inspiron 1784), a really stupid design
decision that must have saved them a whole dollar per unit. My USB

That is weird, especially for caps lock. (I've seen some systems where
they're a light in the key itself.)

If they really aren't, I think I have seen utilities that show their
state on-screen (sometimes in the tray area). Yes, here's one:
http://www.georgejopling.co.uk/capslock/capslock.html or change
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Widcomm\BTConfig\General\KeyIndication from
0 to 1`and reboot, or
http://www.softpedia.com/get/PORTABLE-SOFTWARE/System/System-Info/Portable-TrayStatus.shtml
or
http://www.mydigitallife.info/trays...ock-status-and-hard-drive-readwrite-activity/
(includes hard disc access indicator too)

keyboard *does* have such indicators, though as I mentioned it
doesn't actually have a Scroll Lock key. If there's an undocumented
key combination to turn on scroll lock, I haven't been able to find
it -- though I wouldn't have any occasion to use it if I did.

(I have those beeps turned on - they're under the
accessibility thing in Control Panel under XP [called toggle keys IIRR],
don't know for 7, but I find it useful as a way of telling myself if I
accidentally catch the caps lock key.)

I use Autohotkey to remap CapsLock to Shift. I strongly recommend
Autohotkey (free and open source), but you can also do it in Win 7 or
Win XP via a Registry edit:

[]
I do occasionally use Caps Lock.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

There are no indicator lights for Caps Lock, Scroll Lock, or Num Lock
on my Dell laptop's keyboard (Inspiron 1784), a really stupid design
decision that must have saved them a whole dollar per unit.

I use a program called TrayStatus that displays the lock key statuses in
the System Tray/Notification Area. If you don't like that one, there are
many other such programs.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

I use a program called TrayStatus that displays the lock key statuses in
the System Tray/Notification Area. If you don't like that one, there are
many other such programs.

Since I was inattentive & didn't read J.P Gilliver's post first, I was a
bit redundant - but now you have two choices of programs to try

 

[Stan Brown]

I use a program called TrayStatus that displays the lock key statuses in
the System Tray/Notification Area. If you don't like that one, there are
many other such programs.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I actually get along well without it.
I occasionally hit the NumLock key by accident, but I realize it in
pretty short order. I don't have a ScrollLock key, so it can't be
kit accidentally. And I hit CapsLock accidentally many, many times a
day, but it's mapped to Shift so that's not a problem either.

 

[Ken Blake]

I use a program called TrayStatus that displays the lock key statuses in
the System Tray/Notification Area. If you don't like that one, there are
many other such programs.

Interesting. I have Num Lock permanently turned on (I use the other
arrow keys). I have Caps Lock permanently turned off and the key's
function disabled (I don't ever want to hit it by accident and not
realize it, since as a non-typist, I look at the keys, not the
screen). And I don't worry about the Scroll Lock key at all, since its
location is such that the risk of accidentally hitting it is so
slight.

So I'm not interested in seeing their status displayed.