[HN Gopher] Secrets of the Fn Key
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Secrets of the Fn Key
Author : alwillis
Score : 49 points
Date : 2023-12-04 06:56 UTC (16 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (tidbits.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (tidbits.com)
| turtleyacht wrote:
| hidden*
| rplnt wrote:
| It's in a reference to the article, where the shortcuts are
| hidden at the very end of the long-winded text.
| gorgoiler wrote:
| Well well, Fn-C that!
| temp0826 wrote:
| Fn-A, Peter
| polonbike wrote:
| Not even mentioning that (some) non Mac keyboards have an Fn key
| too (Thinkpads do for instance). But no secrets are re veiled for
| those
| rf15 wrote:
| I think that's covered by "[...] and has become a fixture in
| the lower-left corner of laptop keyboards ever since." ? But
| yes, it seems fairly Mac-centric.
| sbuk wrote:
| TidBITS has been only about Apple since it's inception 33
| years ago.
| Jendrej wrote:
| If you read it this way, it would seem like the PowerBook
| from 1998 was the first laptop to have an Fn key. But from
| what I managed to find, ThinkPads for example have had a
| function key even before then (although it was labeled Func).
| See ThinkPad 500 from 1993: https://laptop.pics/ibm-
| thinkpad-500/
| Aachen wrote:
| Pretty sure was Lenovo laptop which has a menu button but
| stopped labeling it on the keyboard at some point. If you know
| where it's supposed to be, it still works. Either that or I
| found a hidden Fn mapping on a Dell laptop.
|
| I ought to write a blog about secrets of the Fn key and omit
| which hardware it's about to get clicks from everyone (spoiler
| for those reading the comments first: the article is
| exclusively about Apple and reveals no secrets)
| csdvrx wrote:
| On my thinkpad (which has PageUp and PageDown around the Up
| arrow), I've remapped Fn to provide direct access to a spare Page
| Up key: this way, I can read content (mostly paging down with the
| space bar, and eventually going up) from either side of the
| keyboard!
|
| It's handy when flinging an arm over the back of the chair or
| holding a mug.
| TMWNN wrote:
| >mostly paging down with the space bar
|
| Shift-Space also works as PageUp.
| jaegrqualm wrote:
| Unfortunately, that's not standard everywhere. I've found
| that some CLI applications go the route of space and B being
| the pager buttons, but I haven't found keybinds for paging in
| a bare TTY.
| csdvrx wrote:
| That requires 2 fingers, which is too complicated when I'm
| deep into reading something.
|
| But TBH I've previously remapped the shift keys as extra page
| up, since when pressed and released they do nothing which is
| a waste for such a big key that's so easy to reach!
| gertlex wrote:
| Yes! Someone else talking about this computer use scenario!
|
| In my case, I put an apple magic mouse scrollball between Esc
| and F1 on a keyboard a decade ago, and still use this. (google
| `apple scroll ball keyboard` if interested)
|
| (A recent oddity I noticed is that Firefox ignores up/down
| scroll if mouse isn't over the window, but side-to-side scroll
| still works.)
| csdvrx wrote:
| > Yes! Someone else talking about this computer use scenario!
|
| When I was using a surface that didn't even have 1 page up
| key on the bottom row, I was also remapping the unchorded
| shift keys, and created a chorded mapping for enter so
| essentially: - caps lock is Esc when alone, Control_L when
| chorded - enter is Enter when alone, Control_R when chorded -
| shift_l is Page Up when alone, Shift_L when chorded - shift_r
| is Page Down when alone, Shift_L when chorded
|
| It was very efficient: doing Control L with one hand was much
| easier from the right hand side
| LAC-Tech wrote:
| I have a kensington expert mouse (big finger operated
| trackball), and I find the scroll ring very enjoyable for that.
| d-lisp wrote:
| Ha ! I personally use the trackpoint from my lenovo laptop
| (mouse buttons are over the trackpad). Index and thumb.
| ggm wrote:
| We got Emacs style text edit on all web type in boxes on unix
| because the x11 text element used in the browser had that wired
| in.
|
| I wish we'd got the same for Fn key interactions over view
| yonran wrote:
| > As an aside, standard search engines were no help in my
| research into the Fn key's first appearance. ChatGPT scored a
| win, however, by identifying the PowerBook G3 Series on its first
| try--yes, I confirmed it with keyboard photos
|
| Alas, now that I ask ChatGPT with GPT-4 ("With DALL*E, browsing
| and analysis" as that is my only GPT-4 option now) "Which Mac
| first had a Fn key? Please provide a source", this blog post
| itself is the source that it recursively cites. I wonder how it
| knew that information before.
| webstrand wrote:
| In the "Explore" menu you can select "ChatGPT Classic" which
| removes the web browsing features (slow and useless features
| imo). Trying your prompt, it suggests https://apple-history.com
| is the source of its info. (Which seems to be incorrect)
| KolmogorovComp wrote:
| The most useful (and quite hidden) behavior of the Fn key for me,
| is using it in a tmux screen with mouse-mode activated, as it
| allows you to select and copy text through the system text
| selection.
| LAC-Tech wrote:
| Question for mac users.. how would you do the shortcut
| "Ctrl+shift+r" (refresh page and clear cache)?
|
| On a standard keyboard, for me, it's:
|
| - left hand little finger on left ctrl
|
| - left hand ring finger on shift, to the right of little finger
|
| - left hand index finger on r
|
| But with ctrl moved one place in, that doesn't work
|
| Maybe right hand ctrl shift, left hand r?
| Etheryte wrote:
| The shortcut is different on macOS, hence your confusion. The
| combination is Cmd+Shift+R which is very close to where your
| fingers are in their resting state. On macOS you generally use
| Cmd everywhere where you would use Ctrl on Windows.
| LAC-Tech wrote:
| huh that looks even more awkward.
|
| - left hand little finger on shift
|
| - left hand thumb (??) on command
|
| - left hand index finger on R
| geepytee wrote:
| I think I know what the problem is. Can we see a pic of
| your hand?
| 9dev wrote:
| With the added benefit that CMD+C (copy) and CTRL+C (abort)
| don't conflict in a terminal emulator!
| brianpan wrote:
| My answer to the question is thumb, pinkie, index.
|
| Thumb (cmd, near spacebar), pinkie (shift), index (r).
|
| And this particular key combo is quite comfortable.
| Liquix wrote:
| not a mac user, but on macs ctrl in shortcuts is replaced with
| command. guessing it's
|
| - left thumb on command
|
| - pinky on shift
|
| - index finger on R
|
| ...which IMO is more ergonomic and less annoying than the
| equivalent PC shortcut.
| system2 wrote:
| Secrets of the FN key for average mac users*
| staplung wrote:
| I have a bone to pick with the use of Fn-F to go full-screen in
| TV.app, Quicktime etc.: it's a stupid shortcut. For years, the
| built-in video apps used Cmd-F...i.e. using the same modifier
| they continue to use for _all other shortcuts_. I can 't
| understand why Apple changed it. It's inconsistent both compared
| to long-established convention and compared to all other
| shortcuts. And it relies on a key that your keyboard might not
| even have.
|
| Now if you're using an external keyboard that doesn't have a Fn
| key built by Apple, there's no way to go fullscreen from the
| keyboard (until you add the shortcut in the Keyboard section of
| System Settings).
|
| At least VLC knows the score and keeps Full Screen mapped to
| Cmd-F. Sadly, iTerm now uses the new convention.
| JonathonW wrote:
| A handful of these have been present for years (they weren't new
| in Monterey)-- specifically the ones replicating keys that are
| not present on Apple's laptop keyboards (Fn+Delete for forward
| delete, Fn+Up for page up, Fn+Right for Home, etc.).
|
| The ones that map to OS functionality (rather than to other
| keyboard keys) are definitely new-ish, though-- like Fn+H to show
| desktop, or Fn+M for the Apple menu.
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(page generated 2023-12-04 23:00 UTC)