[X4U] Making a Wintel box pretend to be a Mac...?

[Ryan Duff]

Found on annoyances.org
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win2000/1018043899

[quote]

The following works in XP, should work in win2k as well:

----------------------------------------------------------
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout];
"Scancode
Map"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,05,00,00,00,1D,00,38,00,38,00,1D,00,1D,E0,3
8,E0,38,E0,1D,E0,00,00,00,00
----------------------------------------------------------

Copy this to a text file and save it as "swapkeys.reg". 
Doubleclick to open it and confirm that you want to 
insert the contents in your registry. 
Reboot, and your Ctrl and Alt keys will be swapped.

The idea is to create a "Scancode Map" key in 
"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Keyboard Layout". 
This should contain a series of hex codes on which keys to exchange 
(boy, do I ever miss the key remap program in the Win95 kernel toys. 
Or even Xmodmap under Unix!).

Details of how this works can be found at

http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,65157,pg,3,00.asp

and

http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/tech/input/w2kscan-map.asp

The above article notes the shortcomings of this method: 
it applies to all users and all keyboards and requires rebooting. 
I'd appreciate information on a more elegant freeware or shareware solution.

A caveat with regard to the above registry hack: it swaps Ctrl and Alt, 
but the distinction between right and left Ctrl and Alt is lost 
(specifically, the lefthand Ctrl and Alt are recognized as 
the righthand Crlt and Alt). 
Usually no problem except perhaps for some games. 
Suggestions are of course welcome. 

Hope this helps,
John Hendrickx
(formerly Mad Mackx)

[/quote]

Good luck and always remember to back up your registry before working on it.
Ryan Duff




-----Original Message-----
From: Mac OS X for Users [mailto:x4u at lists.themacintoshguy.com] On Behalf Of
Sheldon Brown
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2004 8:51 PM
To: Mac OS X for Users
Subject: [X4U] Making a Wintel box pretend to be a Mac...?

I've been cursed with a second computer on my desk, a Wintel box.

The most aggravating thing about going back and forth betwixt it and my
Powerbook is that the position of the "Control" and "Alt" keys is reversed.

Is there some not too intense way to re-map the keyboard on the Wintel
machine (Windows 2000) to make the "Control" and "Alt" keys change places so
they match my Mac?

Sheldon "Kicking And Screaming" Brown
Newtonville, Massachusetts
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
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