19.5 Configuring a Keyboard
Windows
9X/2000/XP allows you to customize some aspects of keyboard behavior.
To do so, run the Keyboard applet (Start Settings
Control Panel Keyboard) to
display the Keyboard Properties dialog, which includes the following
pages:
- Speed (Windows 9X/2000/XP)
Includes settings for how long a key must be held down before it
begins repeating and for how quickly it repeats. Also allows setting
cursor blink rate, which controls how fast the virtual cursor blinks
in Windows applications. Change any of these settings by dragging the
associated slider. Changes take effect immediately when you click
Apply or OK.
- Language (Windows 9X) or Input Locales (Windows 2000/XP)
These pages are nearly identical except for their names. They are
used to install additional keyboard languages and layouts. Windows 9X
allows specifying a key sequence (either Left Alt-Shift or
Ctrl-Shift) to rotate through available languages from the keyboard.
Windows 2000/XP provides the same choices, and adds an optional
second key sequence to jump directly to the default language using
the same key sequences listed for Windows 9X, with the addition of
one character, 0 through 9, tilde, or grave accent. Windows 2000/XP
also allows specifying the method used to turn off Caps Lock, either
by pressing the Caps Lock key or by pressing the Shift key.
- Hardware (Windows 2000/XP)
This page displays the type of keyboard installed. It provides a
Troubleshoot button, which invokes the Keyboard Troubleshooter
Wizard, and a Properties button, which simply displays Device Manager
properties for the keyboard.
Installing a programmable keyboard and driver may install a separate
management application, or may simply add pages and options to the
standard Keyboard Properties dialog. For example, Figure 19-3 shows the additional page of the extended
Keyboard Properties dialog that results from installing the Microsoft
IntelliType Pro driver under Windows 2000. If you install a
programmable keyboard, make sure to locate and explore the options
its driver provides. The default driver installation for some
programmable keyboards leaves some very useful options disabled or
set to less-than-optimum values.
Finally, do not overlook the Accessibility Options dialog, shown in
Figure 19-4 (Start Settings
Control Panel Accessibility
Options). This dialog is available in both Windows 9X and Windows
2000/XP. Although intended primarily to aid people with various
disabilities, some options available here may be useful to anyone. In
particular, anyone who has accidentally toggled Caps Lock on will
appreciate the audible warning provided by ToggleKeys.
Linux also provides comprehensive keyboard configuration options via
the configuration utilities included with the Gnome and KDE desktop
environments. Figure 19-5, for example, shows the
Red Hat 8.X Gnome Keyboard Accessibility Configuration dialog, which
can be accessed by running
gnome-keyboard-properties from the command line or
by clicking Preferences Keyboard
Accessibility from the Start menu.
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