Leave it to Apple to do things different. I swear a lot of their changes make no sense, but they do them anyway just to be different. If you have a MacBook and have no need for OS X (like myself), then you have already installed some flavor of Linux. Just use Gentoo, it just makes sense.
However, the 13″ MacBook doesn’t have Page Up, Page Down, Home, or End keys. Apple uses the Up, Down, Left, and Right Arrows in conjunction with their Function (fn) key. To me, that’s all worthless. Something as fundamental as Page Up and Down. Install xmodmap and put this in your config file:
keycode 108 = Delete
keycode 75 = Home
keycode 76 = End
keycode 95 = Page_Up
keycode 96 = Page_Down
Run xmodmap xmodmap.conf and you are all set. This will remap F11 to Page Up, F12 to Page Down, F9 to Home, and F10 to End. The first one will also remap the smaller enter key near the arrow keys to be a Delete key, since the MacBook doesn’t have that either.
But 2 enter keys. That sounds like a good idea…
I bought my first Mac a few weeks ago, and I’m already feeling the pain of Apple’s coolness (they don’t care about functionality at all). In every application I run, I miss dearly my PgUp, PgDn, Home, End, Delete and PrintScreen keys. While these are keys that I utilize with every document I create, my Mac has several pre-programmed keys that I never need to press, like F1 and F2 for the brightness of the screen (which you set up once and then forget about forever), F3 for organizing the windows and F4 for opening the Dashboard (which can easily be opened from the desktop with one click if necessary).
Thank God I haven’t used the Mac for a business presentation, because I don’t see the button for sending the image to the projector either. My impression after three weeks of having a Mac is that these computers are for kids who want to show off, and not for serious professionals.
I wholeheartedly agree. However, that’s why I dumped OSX and loaded Gentoo within the first hour of opening the box!
I am a recent convert too, and as with any major migration in UI, learning an OS’s quirks can be painful. I am a developer myself, and that is one the main reasons I want to move to a Mac and trust me a developer will definitely want to learn the new keyboard shortcuts instead of moving away from a platform.
I find that using fn+arrows are much more efficient it terms of moving my hands, and after a few usages is more comfortable to use. The same is true if you move from windows to gnome. All of a sudden all the keyboard shortcuts you’ve learned over the last decade are obselete. That is pretty frustrating, for me, if that is the price I have to pay to move to a more stable usuable system, so be it.
I wholeheartedly agree. I am always amazed what I can get used to when I give things a little time. Although I think I am just TOO used to my Linux desktop using Fluxbox as the window manager. It has one of the smallest footprints of any WM out there, and I really love it for the simplicity. I just can’t say the same about OSX!
I just have a few questions about this little blurb you’ve written.
“Leave it to Apple to do things different.”
Different than what? Windows? Linux? It is its own OS and it was developed the way it was because that’s how apple wanted it to be. Your problem with it seems to be that it isn’t like the OS you used before but it isn’t trying to be that OS.
“I swear a lot of their changes make no sense, but they do them anyway just to be different.”
Make no sense as in there is no logical explanation for the operation being programed a certain way or it doesn’t work the same way as your previous OS?
“If you have a MacBook and have no need for OS X (like myself), then you have already installed some flavor of Linux”
Why did you buy a MacBook if you didn’t want OS X? There are plenty of cheaper laptops that would run Linux just fine. It isn’t like the MacBook has spectacular hardware. The only reason i could see for buying an apple product would be to use OS X on native hardware. That’s the one thing mentioned here that really doesn’t make sense.
Overall, it seems that you have a general aversion to the ideas Apple has about what constitutes functionality. It’s probably because you expect it to be like the OS/computer you were using before you tried OS X/MacBook. You’re comparing lemons and apples™ and claiming the apple is bad because it’s not as sour as the lemon (the ™ was meant as a joke just like the lemon reference so please don’t think i’m trying to bash your chosen set-up. i really have no problem with linux distros or Windows i just prefer OS X.)
The reason I have a Macbook is because my work gave it to me for free. It’s hard to argue with free. I understand it seems I just dislike things that are different. I can agree with that completely. Some of the things that I have used with both Windows and Linux are completely hardwired into my brain and I am just too used to them.
I have tried a few times to really use OS X at home and work, and it just seems to get in my way. That is, however, just my opinion!
cheap notebook life is so short, macbooks are cheaper than an high notebook price, are compact and with well known hardware. Linux runs spettaculary on a Macbook.
Oh it works great on mine, I just wouldn’t personally shell out the cost for it. I don’t honestly think the “stuff” inside it is any better or worse then any other laptop. Work has several (100+) HP and/or Dell laptops that were in the $800 range and work just as well.
Macbook pro, 17 inch with linux fc10 runs great and the mouse actually moves faster then on the osx side. I have to move my arm 3 feet to get the mouse to the other side of the screen using osx and the dam speed is all the way up. They guy at the mac store says in order to move the mouse faster you have to kind of flick it with your hand. I tried and tried and gave up mayby im mising something. Mine was free from work as well.
Wow, I’ve never heard of that. Of course, I only have a lowly Macbook, not the Pro…
Took a 15 min break from work and came across your blog, I like your pespective on things! I can’t say agree with everything, but it is fun to read :)
I got here because I searched for “pg up”+MacBook as I am a recent convert and I’ve been with windows since 3.11. I am still bumping up against differences between XP and Leopard. But fn+down arrow is fine with me and I love the non crowded keyboard layout.
I won’t repeat what’s all ready been said in this v.civilised thread but there’s one thing missing from as far as I can see and it’s a hardware comment. I have the new alu MacBook and I never expected a track pad could so revoutionise the way I use a laptop. I’ve always hated the trackpad on every laptop I’ve used or owned, always used small wireless mouses, not anymore.
The one, two and three fingered gestures, the click anywhere, the pinch, are all fantastic and most of the time you don’t need page down because the two fingers on the trackpad gives you much more precision and gets you to the bottom of a long doc in a jiffy.
I reckon I’ll need about 6 months to me able to make 2 lists; things that annoyed the hell out of me in XP and things that annoy the hell out of me in Leopard, and then see which list is longer.
Linux has all of those gestures except for the pinch, so I guess I agree with you there. I have no idea about Windows, I so very rarely use it.
I recently purchased a white Macbook and out of the box I use “fn” up/down arrow key combinations for page up/page down.
Do they work in a Linux distro?
It looks like that as of 2.6.28, the FN key combinations are fully supported. IT seemed to me that they were a bit buggy, and now are MUCH better in 2.6.29. Gentoo kernels of course!
Macs are for people that want performance without the hackery of linux. When we feel like getting down and dirty we have our cute little terminal to screw around with and pass the time. Sure we don’t get quite the direct access to hardware that linux people do.
Anyway… yeah try using fn+up/down arrow for your page up/page down woes…
I like getting my hands dirty!
the macbook has incredible awesome gestures on the trackpad to make all those functions. Besides most of laptops have the function key when they don’t add the numberic pad which is useless most of the time. Take a little time and learn OSX is just the best os out there.
That is certainly your opinion. I just prefer another Linux distro with more options and less bloat.
I’ve had my MacBook for about a month now and the PgUp and PgDn always worked, without having to use the Fn key. As of today, that doesn’t work anymore. If you combine the Fn key with the up arrow and down arrow, you move down and up a lot, which isn’t handy if you’re reading something. Sometimes the down arrow works when I press only that, but VERY slowly… anyone any tips?
Your story makes no sense at all.
In my opinion Apple made me pay way too much for my MacBook, but to me it is worth it so I can use OSX (okay and 2 finger scroll). But you buy this over expensive piece of hardware to put on LInux? And this when you get a more powerful machine for half the price?
And then you have to tell the world how crap your computer is for not having page up/page down keys, when you are supposed to use fn+up arrow/fn+down arrow. If you really can’t get over the loss, then buy a fucking Windows USB keyboard and you’ll have all the keys you are missing so much. But please stop crying over things you don’t seem to have a clue about.
To me there is no better system for production than OSX. Everything works straight out of the box and if you DO take the time to learn the philosophy and shortcuts it is a real GEM.
Now who is the kid trying to show off? You’re definitely not the professional you are claiming to be.
Heh, thanks for your comments. Get out much?
I’m glad you like OSX. Stick with it. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t run on OSX. As much as I am sure you wish it would, it doesn’t. Period. I need Windows and I need Linux. I am more productive with Linux. I may be the only one in the world where that is true, but for me, it is. I tried OSX in my professional and personal life for 3 months. It wasn’t for me. I can do more and get more done in Linux.
I’m not showing off anything, I’m just saying that I prefer Linux and it makes me more productive, and I still prefer a single key for Page Up and/or Down.
Work bought me my Macbook. I don’t argue with free.
Besides, this is my blog, if I want to cry, I can and will. You don’t like it? Suck it and leave.