[ddots-l] Re: cake-talking and laptop

Hi there to all,

I'm also using a laptop with Sonar and CT7, and here are a few 
pointers if you want to use the laptop's built-in keyboard, as opposed 
to dragging another keypad or QWERTY keyboard along if you're going 
somewhere with it.  As I was taking a bus to class this past semester, 
and  using my cane in my right hand, bringing small computer bag, tote 
bag, and either guitar or flutes, I figured the less stuff I had to 
carry, the better!

Granted, for Sonar and CT, for anything being performed live, by all 
means, please disregard the rest of this post and go get an external 
typing keyboard!  Otherwise, if time is not as critical a factor, 
using the num pad emulation  makes things  a little awkward at times, 
since unless you have a really long right thumb, or above average 
dexterity, you really need both hands to emulate the key pad 
comfortably.  If you're wanting to quickly and frequently shift a lot 
between the music keyboard and the typing keyboard, you might want a 
couple extra measures of starting clicks while recording.  Well, I 
suppose there are always tradeoffs somewhere, eh?

So, if you've read this far, and are really interested in knowing how 
to access the keypad keys with your laptop keyboard, here you go:

Not to be confused with the F1 through F12 function keys typically 
across the very top of the typing keyboard, the key you'll want to 
locate first and foremost is usually labeled as the FN (function) key 
(usually in the bottom lefthand corner of the laptop keyboard, 
somewhere down by the Control, LeftWindows, and Alt keys.

This will help you when emulating num pad keys with the right hand.

I don't know about *all* laptops, but the ones I've worked with have 
the m as Insert, jkl as 123/end/down arrow/page down keys, u i o as 
456 or left arrow, 5 key, and right arrow, and then 789 work as the 
789 or home/up arrow/page up keys.

 With the numlock turned off, for instance, say you want to do an 
Insert key pad 1, the command to decrease a value just a tad.  You'd 
press and hold down the FN key with your left thumb, and then use your 
right thumb tip to press and gently hold the m/Insert.  Then, you'd 
use your right index finger to tap the J for 1.  It actually sounds a 
lot more complicated written out here than it typically is in reality. 
Plus, one slight advantage here is that you don't need to lift your 
right hand from the typing keyboard.

As for the num pad plus and minus keys, and the slash and star for 
clicking, laptops seem to vary just slightly depending on the make and 
model, but they'd generally be mapped to the slash, semi colon, p, and 
0 keys, in some particular order.

For example, my keys on this HP are

FN with numbers row 0 does the left click;
FN with p does the right click;
FN with semi colon turns on the Jaws cursor;
FN with slash turns on the PC cursor.

If you at times need one-hand access to the number pad  keys, there's 
usually a way, (something like FN with the numlock key for instance), 
to tell the computer to toggle those righthand embedded keys and have 
them act like the num pad keys, as opposed to the usual typing keys.

The middle section keys referred to in the CT documentation, are the 
arrows, typically in the bottom righthand corner of the laptop 
keyboard, along with the traditional six-pack keys going up the 
righthand side for the home, end, page up and page down.  The middle 
insert and delete keys are usually at the very upper righthand corner, 
or might be down at the bottom and to the right of the space bar, 
depending on where the Start menu/left windows, and application/right 
window keys have been placed.

If you have questions, feel free to ask either on or off-list, and 
I'll do my best to help you sort things out, if you want to learn to 
run things from your laptop keyboard alone, without an external keypad 
or typing keyboard.

As a side note, I could definitely see how an external keypad would be 
cool, particularly since it could be moved away from the laptop, more 
toward the music keyboard.  Just a thought or few, anyway.

Hope this is helpful to someone somewhere out there, *smile*


Tina Ektermanis
Greeley, Colorado, USA

Please feel free to visit my blog,
Tina's Virtual BackPack:
http://tvbp.wordpress.com
tina-e@xxxxxxxxx

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