[haiku-bugs] Re: [Haiku] #6442: AltGr should have a separate keycode
- From: "pulkomandy" <trac@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 14:01:40 -0000
#6442: AltGr should have a separate keycode
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Reporter: rq | Owner: pulkomandy
Type: enhancement | Status: assigned
Priority: normal | Milestone: R1
Component: Drivers/Keyboard | Version:
Resolution: | Keywords:
Blocked By: | Has a Patch: 0
Platform: All | Blocking:
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Comment (by pulkomandy):
That would definitely be wrong.
We use Alt Gr as a level 3 shift, and it should stay that way.
We use Alt (in the default settings) as Option to trigger the shortcuts,
and it should stay that way too.
That's just how a keyboard is meant to work.
The AltGr key is meissing from american keyboards, but they don't use it.
They have two Alt key instead, and our americal keyboard reflects that.
What happens is actually that BeOS never used the "Win" key. It happens to
be mapped as a level 3 shift for now, and that's what should be changed,
freeing that key for other uses (no one uses it as lelvel3 shift anywhere,
anyway).
There is no way Alt and AltGr doing the same is ever goig to work. Some
people use keyboards that don't have the windows key (mmu_man still has
his IBM Model M keyboard, for example). The win-key is a key you are
allowed to move and do anything with.
Making alt and alt-gr do the same thing would get everyone lost. Not only
BeOS users, but also every azerty user. It's just plain logical that altgr
is the level 3 shift and alt trigger keyboard shortcuts. Don't create
problems where there isn't any.
The win key should be assigned some meaning that is both useful (because
we want to use it) and not vital (because it's missing on some keyboards).
That's the only thing to do, no need to mix up everything else and get
everyone unable to type under BeOS. You were annoyed by ctrl and alt being
swapped wrt to Windows, and that's ok, but it only affects power users
that use keyboard shortcuts at all. Changing the meaning of AltGr
basically prevents reaching 1/3 of the characters on an Azerty keyboard.
People are going to be lost, and this will affect 2-finger typers as well
as profesionnal 10-fingers-or-more ones.
AltGr is the level3 shift (or "option" in the current terminology).
Alt is the command key.
Ctrl is the control key.
These are the 3 mandatory keys to use a keyboard and they are always there
when needed.
Old macintosh keyboard don't have AltGr (even today), but they don't need
it either : their azerty is slightly different (called French (Mac) in
Haiku), and it uses alt+shift+key for the extra chars, placing them
elsewhere on the keyboard. This is also the layout used on the amiga and
similar to the azerty layout of other machines (Amstrad CPC...).
Now, there is an extra key, that happens to be on most modern Pc keyboards
: the Win key. Despite being mapped to 'something' in the current keymaps,
this key has absolutely no use as of now. As this key is available on
*most* keyboards, but not *all*, you can't rely on it. So you can't make
it the only option key available, nor the only command key : that would
just make most BeOS apps shortcuts unuseable for some people. It can't be
assigned to WM actions like stack-and-tile, because these aren't even
reachable with only the mouse. As we didn't find an use for this key, we
mapped it in a way that could be useful to some people. In American keymap
it is the level3 shift, actually not doing anything ; for others, the
level 3 shift was already mapped to AltGr, so the left Win was mapped to
level3, while the right Win was mapped to Option. This is the only choice
that can be played with. Moving any of the other keys would prevent use of
some part of Haiku for some people.
--
Ticket URL: <http://dev.haiku-os.org/ticket/6442#comment:9>
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