Keyboard conundrum

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Rickles

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#195517 22-Apr-2016 14:10

Just got a call from a friend who says the program they are using asks for him to press Fn-F4 to bring up some sort of menu.

His keyboard is a Genius KB-110, which apparently doesn't have a Function key, so how does one overcome this problem? New keyboard?

richms

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#1538136 22-Apr-2016 14:14

Function is not part of a standard keyboard, it is used on small ones to act as a modifier in the keyboard for keys that are not physically there, the operating system doesnt see a function key being pressed, it will just see the resulting modified key. On my razer gaming keyboards there is nothing on F4, but Fn F1 thru to F3 are for volume keys, pressing them makes windows act as if the volume key was pressed. Fn F4 does nothing.

Chances are its a key used on a laptop that the software was specified for inorder to switch the display or similar thing.

Richard rich.ms

trig42

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#1538188 22-Apr-2016 15:12

On my (laptop) keyboard Fn-F4 is Mute.

Not likely that this software will be looking for the fn key to be pressed. Have they tried simply pushing F4?

MadEngineer

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#1538205 22-Apr-2016 15:47

Mac?

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Rickles

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#1538224 22-Apr-2016 16:23

Not a Mac

Most keyboards I've seen with a Function key usually have the Function "function" indicated in a different colour and smaller characters ... mostly laptops too. However, my spare Dell desktop keyboard contains a Function key and corresponding icons on the F keys, so they do exist .... might have to sell it at exorbitant profit to my friend

As Rich said, maybe the software was expecting a different hardware setup ... I'll enquire over the weekend anyway.

JWR

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#1538450 22-Apr-2016 22:17

Rickles:

Just got a call from a friend who says the program they are using asks for him to press Fn-F4 to bring up some sort of menu.

His keyboard is a Genius KB-110, which apparently doesn't have a Function key, so how does one overcome this problem? New keyboard?

It seems to have standard function keys.

http://www.engadget.com/products/genius/kb-110/

raytaylor

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#1545027 1-May-2016 20:58

Most laptops now have the feature key as default and you need to press Fn to use the F1-F12 key.

So i think you can just press F4

Ray Taylor

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#1553717 16-May-2016 21:12

Those “Fn-Fn” keystrokes are indeed laptop-specific in my experience. They generate special ACPI events, rather than normal input events, so I don’t think they can even be typed on a keyboard connected only via USB.