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MacBook Keyboard Mapping Issues

The Darwin64 releases work great on a MacBook Pro, however there are some keyboard mapping issues. Keys which have normal significance to Xic, such as Home, Page Up and Page Down, and the numeric keypad plus and minus keys are nowhere to be found. Yet, all functionality is present, but maps to alternative key combinations. One can run the Key Map command in the Attributes Menu if another mapping is needed.

The table below describes the default mapping.

MacBook Pro Normal keyboard
Delete Backspace
The key labeled ``Delete'' actually sends a backspace character.
fn-Delete Delete
Press the fn key with Delete to get a real delete character.
fn-Left Home
Press the fn key with the left arrow for the center-full-view function in Xic.
fn-Up Page Up
Press the fn key with up arrow to get a page up code, used in Xic for displaying DRC errors.
fn-Down Page Down
Press the fn key with down arrow to get a page down code, used in Xic for displaying DRC errors.
These mappings are set in Apple releases only.
fn-Enter KeyPad Enter
Press the fn key with Enter to get the numeric keypad enter code. This is mapped to the zoom-in action, as for Numeric Plus.
fn-Right End
Press the fn key with the right arrow to get the end key code. This is mapped to the zoom-out action, as for Numeric Minus.

Note that if you use a ``normal'' keyboard with your Apple computer, the two new mappings will be in addition to the normmal mappings.

The ``secondary press'' mentioned in Apple documents is button 3 (the right mouse button on a three-button mouse). You should probably change the track-pad settings in the Preferences to enable this. There is no button 2 (middle mouse button). You'll have to live without it, or get a three-button pointing device.


next up previous contents index
Next: The Alt Key Issue Up: Apple OS X Notes Previous: Running the Applications   Contents   Index
Stephen R. Whiteley 2022-05-28