KeyRemap4MacBook

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Tue, 16 Aug 2011 03:50:01 GMT <== Lisp ==>

I spend most of my days in Emacs, writing Lisp. So I use the "control" and "meta" keys all the time. I map meta to the Mac "command" key with a setting in my "~/.emacs" file:

  (setq mac-command-modifier 'meta
        mac-option-modifier nil)

My new Apple wireless keyboard has a "fn" key in the lower left-hand corner of the keyboard, with the "control" key next to it. Most distressing, since my left pinky is accustomed to finding the "control" key in the lower left-hand corner. I knew this before I got this keyboard, and would have gotten the wired keyboard with the numeric keypad had I not had a solution in mind. Enter KeyRemap4MacBook, a System Preferences panel that allows you to remap just about any key to just about any other key. It has a setting that maps "fn" to "control" only when a letter is pressed. This allows "fn" to be used normally on the top row of keys, but makes it function fine as emacs "control" when you need it. Almost. The one problem with the built-in key mapping is that it doesn't map <fn>-space to <control>-space. I type that pretty often, and moving my pinky over to the "control" key to do so is a real pain. Fortunately, KeyRemap4MacBook is open source, and you can customize it by adding XML to "~/Library/Application Support/KeyRemap4MacBook/private.xml". I found the source for the built-in XML settings, looked through that for "Fn+letter to Control_L+letter", add a setting to private.xml containing a single key mapping:

          --KeyToKey-- KeyCode::SPACE, ModifierFlag::FN, KeyCode::SPACE, ModifierFlag::CONTROL_L

Presto, <fn>-space sets the mark.

Here's my private.xml. To use it, install KeyRemap4MacBook, which requires a restart of your computer. save the file as "~/Library/Application Support/KeyRemap4MacBook/private.xml", in the KeyRemap4MacBook preference pane, press the "ReloadXML" button, then check "Fn+space+ to Control_L+space+".

KeyRemap4MacBook settings

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Comments (3):

I changed my private.xml

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Tue, 16 Aug 2011 10:38:09 GMT

I changed my private.xml to contain only the single fn+space to control-L+space mapping, and use the built-in fn+letter to control-L+letter with it. File at link updated and screen shot added.

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fn key

Submitted by Underground Carpenter on Tue, 16 Aug 2011 10:42:37 GMT

Hi Bill,

I've been using a Mac since the mid 80's. I bought one of the first "Fat Macs", with an astounding 500k of RAM. The world was mine and I was drunk with power!

I never noticed when Apple first put that "fn" key on the keyboard, but I'm looking at it now and wondering what the hell it does. So I'm off to discover new worlds.

I like your Captcha. It's much easier than the distorted word verifications everybody else has. (Damn! Is that a "z" or a "j"?)

Dave

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So far, the new captcha

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Tue, 16 Aug 2011 10:59:10 GMT

So far, the new captcha has stopped more spam than the old one ever did. I'm getting a trickle, but I used to get 10-20 spams a day. I've also gotten a couple of spam registrations. If these increase, I'll have to moderate registration, too. Hope it isn't necessary.

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Government doesn't work. Never did. Never will. Can't. But there are lots of good people. Love them.

-- Bill St. Clair

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Every man, woman, and responsible child has an unalienable individual, civil, Constitutional, and human right to obtain, own, and carry, openly or concealed, any weapon -- rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- any time, any place, without asking anyone's permission.

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Reread that pesky first clause of the Second Amendment. It doesn't say what any of us thought it said. What it says is that infringing the right of the people to keep and bear arms is treason. What else do you call an act that endangers "the security of a free state"? And if it's treason, then it's punishable by death. I suggest due process, speedy trials, and public hangings.

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Any official, appointed or elected, at any level of government, who attempts, through legislative act or other means, to nullify, evade, or avoid the provisions of the first ten amendments to this Constitution, or of the Thirteenth Amendment, shall be summarily removed from office, and, upon conviction, deprived of all pay and benefits including pension, and sentenced to imprisonment for life.

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Based on 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, and some of its own empirical work, the panel couldn't identify a single gun control regulation that reduced violent crime, suicide or accidents.

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Zero Aggression Principle ("Zap")

"A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim."

-- L. Neil Smith

(Formerly called the "Non-Aggression Principle", or "NAP")

Why Did It Have to be... Guns?

Make no mistake: all politicians -- even those ostensibly on the side of guns and gun ownership -- hate the issue and anyone, like me, who insists on bringing it up. They hate it because it's an X-ray machine. It's a Vulcan mind-meld. It's the ultimate test to which any politician -- or political philosophy -- can be put.

If a politician isn't perfectly comfortable with the idea of his average constituent, any man, woman, or responsible child, walking into a hardware store and paying cash -- for any rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- without producing ID or signing one scrap of paper, he isn't your friend no matter what he tells you.

If he isn't genuinely enthusiastic about his average constituent stuffing that weapon into a purse or pocket or tucking it under a coat and walking home without asking anybody's permission, he's a four-flusher, no matter what he claims.

What his attitude -- toward your ownership and use of weapons -- conveys is his real attitude about you. And if he doesn't trust you, then why in the name of John Moses Browning should you trust him?

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"Tell me," I was once asked, "What do you think about gun control? Give me the short answer." To which I replied, "If you try to take our firearms we will kill you."

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Also from The Atlanta Declaration:

... like going to the bathroom, breathing, eating, sleeping, or making love, it turns out that self-defense is a bodily function one cannot safely or effectively delegate to a second party.

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This does not mean that "Marijuana should be available by prescription." It means that morphine sulfate should be available in five pound bags at the supermarket for a couple of bucks, like sugar... but probably in a different aisle, to avoid confusion.

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If you refuse to pay unjust taxes, your property will be confiscated. If you attempt to defend your property, you will be arrested. If you resist arrest, you will be clubbed. If you defend yourself against clubbing, you will be shot dead. These procedures are known as the Rule of Law.

-- Edward Abbey

The state can only survive as long as a majority is programmed to believe that theft isn't wrong if it's called taxation or asset forfeiture or eminent domain, that assault and kidnapping isn't wrong if it's called arrest, that mass murder isn't wrong if it's called war.

-- Bill St. Clair