Disabling the HELP key

StompinSteve · 22 January 2024, 11:20

Hi Folks,

Is there a way to disable the HELP key with a piece of software so that when I press it, nothing happens. As if the key does not exist.

Reason:
I use my Bridgeboard (BB) a lot and for some reason (my brain being wired the wrong way?

), I keep pressing the HELP key when my brain wants to press "page up" (which ofcourse , is not there) in Norton Commander for example.

The problem is, that when pressing the HELP key, while having PCwindow as the active window in Workbench (pcwindow is the program from the Janus suite that enables keyboard control to the BB), a little Help windows (from PCwindow) opens up and move keyboard control back to the Amiga side

I have to switch my Monitor back to Amiga, close that little help windows, click inside "pcwindow" (make it active) to move keyboard control back to the BB and switch the monitor back to the BB.

hooverphonique · 22 January 2024, 11:56

Presuming Janus uses intuition or input.device to receive keystrokes, you are looking for a piece of software that will allow you to install an input.device handler that filters out specific keys. If Janus uses keyboard.device, this won't work though.

StompinSteve · 22 January 2024, 12:03

Isn't there a piece of software that allows the user to "simply" remap keys in general? Like Karabiner-Elements on modern MacOS for example.

hooverphonique · 22 January 2024, 13:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by StompinSteve

Isn't there a piece of software that allows the user to "simply" remap keys in general? Like Karabiner-Elements on modern MacOS for example.

Yes, there are keymap editors available (which were heavily used for assigning cli commands to function keys on packdisks back in the day), but I doubt that it'll work in this case - they most likely are detecting the raw keycode for the help key explicitly as it doesn't default to any printable character.

StompinSteve · 22 January 2024, 20:42

I solved it

Thanks to your hint about keymap editors, I tried "EditKeys v1.63" from Aminet.

I use a German keyboard so my system uses the file "Devs/Keymaps/d" which is the actual German keymap file.
I made a backup copy of "d" and edited it with EditKeys.
I selected the Help key and deleted it's contents. Just emptied it out.
Then I saved the file and rebooted the Amiga.

In DOPUS, pressing Help still works as it always has. So I thought "bugger, it didn't work".
Then I started the BridgeBoard and "pcwindow" and low and behold, the Help key does nothing. Absolutely nothing. Dead as a doornail, just as I had hoped. The Help-windows does not popup anymore and keyboard control remains with the BridgeBoard. This is great

So I guess Janus PCwindow uses the keymap (i'm sure there is a more technical term for that) and DOPUS works with raw keystrokes.

22 January 2024, 11:20	#1
StompinSteve Village idiot Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: Switzerland Posts: 267	Disabling the HELP key Hi Folks, Is there a way to disable the HELP key with a piece of software so that when I press it, nothing happens. As if the key does not exist. Reason: I use my Bridgeboard (BB) a lot and for some reason (my brain being wired the wrong way? ), I keep pressing the HELP key when my brain wants to press "page up" (which ofcourse , is not there) in Norton Commander for example. The problem is, that when pressing the HELP key, while having PCwindow as the active window in Workbench (pcwindow is the program from the Janus suite that enables keyboard control to the BB), a little Help windows (from PCwindow) opens up and move keyboard control back to the Amiga side I have to switch my Monitor back to Amiga, close that little help windows, click inside "pcwindow" (make it active) to move keyboard control back to the BB and switch the monitor back to the BB.

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22 January 2024, 11:56	#2
hooverphonique ex. demoscener "Bigmama" Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Fyn / Denmark Posts: 1,635	Presuming Janus uses intuition or input.device to receive keystrokes, you are looking for a piece of software that will allow you to install an input.device handler that filters out specific keys. If Janus uses keyboard.device, this won't work though.

22 January 2024, 12:03	#3
StompinSteve Village idiot Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: Switzerland Posts: 267	Isn't there a piece of software that allows the user to "simply" remap keys in general? Like Karabiner-Elements on modern MacOS for example.

22 January 2024, 20:42	#5
StompinSteve Village idiot Join Date: Jun 2021 Location: Switzerland Posts: 267	I solved it Thanks to your hint about keymap editors, I tried "EditKeys v1.63" from Aminet. I use a German keyboard so my system uses the file "Devs/Keymaps/d" which is the actual German keymap file. I made a backup copy of "d" and edited it with EditKeys. I selected the Help key and deleted it's contents. Just emptied it out. Then I saved the file and rebooted the Amiga. In DOPUS, pressing Help still works as it always has. So I thought "bugger, it didn't work". Then I started the BridgeBoard and "pcwindow" and low and behold, the Help key does nothing. Absolutely nothing. Dead as a doornail, just as I had hoped. The Help-windows does not popup anymore and keyboard control remains with the BridgeBoard. This is great So I guess Janus PCwindow uses the keymap (i'm sure there is a more technical term for that) and DOPUS works with raw keystrokes.

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