Hi All, I was in the Apple Store today trying out MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops and I found that I could get some of the number pad functions to work even though these laptops (since December 2007) have been made without the num lock function of the F6 key. Specifically, if I turned on mouse keys, then FN+i worked like a mouse click just as if I had pressed "5" on the number pad of a full keyboard, or tried this on the number pad area of my own laptop. Someone who is familiar with Numpad Commander in Leopard can check whether other commands work on these laptops when you use this mode.
Here's the background. One of the questions that repeatedly gets asked on this list is how to download MP3 files or PDF files that get played or displayed within the browser when you press (VO-keys+space) on a web page link in Safari. There is a menu for such links that includes the option to "Download linked file", but the normal VoiceOver command sequence for displaying a contextual menu (VO-keys+shift-m) doesn't work for links in Safari. Instead, you have to "control-click" with your mouse cursor positioned on the link to bring up the menu. This means that first, you have to position your mouse cursor over the link by routing your mouse cursor to your VoiceOver cursor with VO-keys-Command-F5 (or maybe VO-keys-Fn-Command-F5 on a laptop, depending on your settings) unless you already have your mouse cursor tracking your VoiceOver cursor. Secondly, you need to hold down the control key while you either click your mouse or trackpad key, or else hold down the control key and press "5" on the number pad of your keyboard. You have to either do a "physical click" on your laptop trackpad button or on the button of an attached mouse or else you need to press the number "5" on the number pad of your keyboard instead of clicking. Most laptop users will just click the trackpad key. Desktop users with a full keyboard will probably find it most convenient to press the number "5" on the numeric keypad. VoiceOver's simulated mouse clicks (VO-keys shift-space) do not work as a "click" in this instance. However, laptop users - certainly anyone with a laptop made before Apple removed the num lock key (F6) around late November/early December 2007 - can also use the right side of their keyboard as a number pad, just as though the num lock key were activated, if they press the FN key together with the key in question. (The way to verify this is to turn on VoiceOver keyboard practice mode with VO-keys+k. If you toggle on the num lock (F6) key, assuming that your laptop has a num lock key, then you'll only hear responses from the right side of your keyboard. Pressing "7, 8, 9" will sound like "7, 8, 9"; "u, i, o" will sound like "4, 5, 6"; "j, k, l" will sound like "1, 2, 3", etc. and you will not be able to escape from keyboard practice mode by pressing the escape key until you toggle the num lock key off. However, you will hear the same number pad numbers if you press the Fn key together with keys on the right hand of the keyboard, even with the num lock key toggled off: Fn+i will sound like "5", etc., there will be no sudden silence when you press keys on the left side of the keyboard, and the escape key will work to stop keyboard practice mode. So, the new discovery is that Fn+i works like a pressing the "5" key on the number pad of a full keyboard to act as a key click on any Mac laptop (with or without the num lock key) PROVIDED that you have turned on Mouse Keys. This leads me to wonder how many of the Numpad Commander features (if any) will work on the new MacBooks using the right hand keyboad keys under Mouse Keys. In any case, I find that I can go to a link on a web page and bring up the contextual menu using either "control-click" (where I use a physical click on the laptop trackpad key while I hold down the control key) or where I turn on Mouse Keys and press Control-Fn-i -- and this works on the new MacBooks and MacBook Pro laptops (without num lock keys) just as well as it does on the older laptops. Here's more background for new Mac users about Mouse Keys. The Mac's Universal Access setup menu provides a Mouse & TrackPad setting for users who have difficulty controlling mouse movement. When you select the radio button to turn Mouse Keys on, you use the numeric keypad in place of the mouse to control mouse motions. In particular, "8" becomes movement up by one screen coordinate unit, "2" becomes movement down (where fn+k is equivalent to "2"), "4" becomes movement left (where fn+u is equivalent o "4"), etc. There's also a checkbox to toggle Mouse Keys on or off by pressing the option key 5 times quickly in succession. On a laptop the only way to provide numeric keypad control under Mouse Keys is to use the right hand side of the keyboard that was activated by the Num Lock key. This leads me to wonder how many of the Numpad Commander control sequences can be used if we turn on Mouse Keys. Somebody who is familiar with both the old and new laptops (Tim?) and is running Leopard can probably experiment with this and report back. Maybe those VoiceOver users who have new MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops don't have to buy an auxiliary number pad to access these functions! Another point: I heard that a lot of Fusion users were upset because there wasn't an easy way to get the Insert key working when the num lock function went away on the new MacBooks. (They were used to using the "m" key on the simulated number pad). I wonder whether Fn+m under Mouse Keys will work for this? Cheers, Esther
