How unfortunately. though awkward, there are times when it does things I cannot do any other way like mouse keys.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Esther" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac OS X by theblind" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2008 7:25 PM Subject: MacBook numeric keypad, Num Lock going the way of the dodo [was Re:numpad commander on a notebook:] Hi Tim, You wrote back in response to my question asking whether FN+F6 might be needed to turn num lock on and use the numpad on a recent MacBook: >TK: Just bonks at me when I press f6 or fn-f6. I'm pretty sure that >it did work for me on the MacBooks that I purchased for the school >back in August as well. No biggy to me anyway, I didn't use that >functionality very often. Looks like you're right, I just did a google search on "new Macbooks num lock key" and got an Ars Technica article titled: "MacBook numeric keypad, Num Lock going the way of the dodo" Here's the rest of the article courtesy of copy and paste from the printable link to this page: <begin article> By Justin Berka | Published: January 09, 2008 - 03:31PM CT One "feature" of the new Apple Wireless Keyboard that people noticed quickly is the lack of the familiar numeric keypad and associated Num Lock key. A lot of users liked the change, but of course some weren't so happy, mourning the loss of the spare set of numbers. But like it or not, the numeric keypad isn't coming back. In fact, the Num Lock key and its ilk may be disappearing from even more Apple products, according to a recent piece by the New York Times' David Pogue. One of Pogue's readers e-mailed him to say that their recently-ordered MacBook had arrived sans Num Lock-enabled numeric keypad. After checking with Apple's PR department, Pogue confirmed that the MacBook has indeed lost its numeric keypad and Num Lock key for good. The reason? Those shiny new Apple Wireless Keyboards, of course. More specifically, Apple apparently wanted to standardize the appearance of the two products, necessitating the keypad's removal. I personally don't use the numeric keypad very much, so the change sounds pretty reasonable to me, especially since it frees up an extra function key that Apple can use for cooler things. It may also eliminate a bit of confusion for some users, since it's no longer possible to accidentally hit the Num Lock key and confuse yourself for five minutes or so. Then again, it may not matter a few days (or more probably, years) down the road, since we'll all be using multi- touch keyboards anyway. In the meantime, don't freak out of your new MacBook is short a Num Lock key and a few numbers on the key caps. Everything will be fine. Just breathe. <end article> So, Richie and I won't have to worry about whether VoiceOver isn't working any more because someone accidentally hit the num lock key after turning it off. Cheers, Esther
