Apple keyboard on my x86?

jadyyr · n00b Joined: 12 Jun 2002 Posts: 6

Right now I have a normal athlon system, etc, and I need to buy a new keyboard for it, and what i'm wondering is, is it possible to use one of those nice looking mac keyboards (You know the type, the colorful ones that come with iMacs and things like that) on my PC. If it is possible (anyone out there with a mac that can test and see if it works fine?), would it require any major keyboard mapping or something along those lines?

Thanks

Mpemba Effect · Apprentice Joined: 18 Sep 2002 Posts: 156

Lots of people do this already on the OcUK forums, although so far i've seen only on windows machines. Since the keyboard works on x86 I don't see any reason it won't work in Linux, it should work as a normal USB keyboard. I'd say all the keys will work for you with the exceptions of maybe the "extra" or funky apple keys ... which I'm sure can be mapped to anything thing you like

krt · Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2002 10:39 am Post subject:

jadyyr, you're quite correct... I've been doing this for a while (I liked the "MAC" keyboards better than the PC keyboards.. and they were cheaper at the time anyways!). You do get some extra keys that can be remapped... but all pc/apple keyboards need caps lock remapped to control anyways :-)

[/quote]

zhenlin · Veteran Joined: 09 Nov 2002 Posts: 1361

Huh? Caps lock -> Control? I suppose I could use that to teach my friend the wonders of Shift...

Anyway, I would never dream of mixing Apple hardware with my PCs... what if they have firmware which systematically removes x86 OS kernels and replace them with code which forces you to buy an Apple?

I have an LCD iMac, when booting Gentoo for PowerPC, it says that the Keyboard is a Toshiba, or was it a Sony, or was it something else? I'll check...

Yup, Mitsumi Apple Extended Keyboard and Fujitsu Apple Component Optical Mouse.

squanto · Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2002 3:56 pm Post subject:

Craigo · Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2002 8:03 pm Post subject:

Not too sure about this but I swear I saw Apple Keyboard module in the kernel? I can't seem to find it but I swear it is in there!!

-/Craigo/-

Mandr4ke · Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2002 11:48 pm Post subject:

could you just plug the keyboard in and say it's standard??

zhenlin · Veteran Joined: 09 Nov 2002 Posts: 1361

People on the PPC board usually say things like the keyboard layout for Apple Keyboards is "mac-us" and not "us". So there might be that problem, and if your input system is not working, it would be hard to fix...

squanto · Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2002 2:39 pm Post subject:

I think as long as you have usb keyboard support in the kernel, I believe that the mac-us keyboard layout is standard in Xfree, regardless of the platform you are using.

MBCook · Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2002 5:11 pm Post subject:

USB is USB is USB. Trying to get an old ADB keyboard to work would be a major pain, considering you'd need to find a way to attach it. But USB doesn't care what platform it's on. A USB keyboard will work on a Mac, a PC, or anything else with USB that can support keyboards (like the Sony PS2). You have nothing to worry about. It should work perfectly.
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