Using the AnyKey Keyboard

IMPORTANT: If the model number on the underside of your keyboard matches either of the two listed below, hold down the Ctrl key while pressing the Program Macro key to start a macro. The Remapping and Repeat Rate keys, and keyboards with any other model number do not require the Ctrl key.

• You can program macros for any key on the keyboard, except: Shift, Num Lock, Print Scrn, Scroll Lock, Pause, Program Macro, Suspend Macro, Repeat Rate, and Remap.

• You can use Shift, Ctrl, and Alt as modifiers for the key you want to program the macro for. For example, in addition to programming a macro for the F1 key, you can program Alt+F1, Shift+F1, and Ctrl+F1

• You cannot program keys by using two or three modifiers at once. For example, if you try Alt+Ctrl+F1, you get Alt+F1.

• If the PROGRAM light on the keyboard is solid green, this indicates that the keyboard contains one or more macros. If the light is blinking, the keyboard is in one of the programming modes.

To create a macro:

(If your keyboard has either model number mentioned above, hold down the Ctrl key while you press the Program Macro key.)

1. Press the Program Macro key. The PROGRAM light begins flashing. (A flashing light always indicates that you are in one of the keyboard programming modes.)
2. Press the key that you want to program the macro for. For example, press F1. (For another example, hold down the Alt key and press F1.) This keystroke is stored within the keyboard. Nothing appears on the computer screen.
3. Type the sequence of keystrokes to store in the key you selected. These keystrokes are sent to the computer and stored in the keyboard simultaneously. Thus, you can create a macro containing commands from within any program as you execute those commands.
4. When you finish entering the keystrokes to be stored in the macro, press the Program Macro key again. The Program LED stops flashing and glows steadily, indicating that you are back in the normal keyboard mode with a stored macro.

A macro programming example:

1. At the DOS prompt, press the Program Macro key. The Program light starts blinking. (Remember: if you have a keyboard with either of the previously mentioned model numbers, press Ctrl+Program Macro.)
2. Press the F1 key.
3. Type:

   dir/w

   and press the Enter key. "dir/w" shows on the screen.
4. Press the Program Macro key again. The program light glows steadily.
5. Now, test your new macro by pressing F1, and see what happens.

To erase an existing macro:

1. Press the Program Macro key.
2. Press the key or combination of keys to erase. For example, if the macro you want to get rid of is in F1, press F1.
3. Press the Program Macro key. In effect, you are recording a macro that has nothing in it.
   This restores the key to normal operations, as if it never had a macro. This doesn't erase any macros stored with a key+modifier, only the key or key with modifier you specified. For example, it does not erase the macro in Alt+F1 when you erase the macro in F1.

To write over an existing macro:

You do not have to erase a macro before programming a new macro into a key. If you want to put a new macro into a key, simply program it. If a previous macro existed, it gets erased automatically. (This does not change macros with different Shift, Ctrl, or Alt modifiers attached to the same key.)

Shift Key Precedence

You may program up to four macros into any key. They are the unmodified key, and the key modified by the Shift, Ctrl, or Alt keys.

The Alt key always takes precedence over Ctrl and Shift, and Ctrl always takes precedence over Shift. For example, if you tried to program a macro Ctrl+Alt+F1, it would be the same as Alt+F1 and it would replace any macro already stored in Alt+F1.

To play back a macro:

To play a macro back, press the programmed key, using any necessary Shift, Ctrl, or Alt modifiers any time the keyboard is in normal mode. Normal mode is when the Program LED is on but not flashing. Instead of sending the usual keystroke, the programmed key sends the sequence of keystrokes programmed into it.

Remapping keys

If you don't like where a particular key on the keyboard has been placed, you can move it somewhere else. For example, you can swap the Ctrl and Caps Lock keys.

NOTE: You can remap any key on the keyboard except Program Macro, Suspend Macro, Repeat Rate, and Remap, and you cannot remap modified keys. (For example, you cannot remap Shift+period or the punctuation marks above the number keys.)

To remap a key:

1. Press the Remap key once. The Program LED begins flashing, indicating that you are in remap mode.
2. Press the key you want to move, and then press the key you want to move it to. The program LED stops flashing for a moment to indicate that the key was successfully remapped.
3. At this point you can either remap another key (repeat step 2), or you can exit remap mode by pressing the Remap key again.

When you exit remap mode, the Program LED stops flashing and the remapped keys take their new values.

Gateway 2000 does not recommend that you change the plastic keycaps themselves. They are not glued in place but they can break very easily if you try to move them.

A remapping example:

1. Press the Remap key. The program light starts blinking.
2. Press the Caps Lock key, then the Ctrl key. In effect, you now have two caps lock keys.
3. Now press the Ctrl key, then the Caps Lock key. this maps the Ctrl key to the Caps Lock.
4. Press the Remap Key. The blinking stops and the light glows steadily.
5. Test your remap. Pressing the old Ctrl key makes your keyboard type all capital letters, and holding down the old Caps Lock key gives you control-key commands.

To restore a key to its original value:

1. Press the Remap key. The Program LED begins flashing.
2. Press the key you wish to restore, then press it again. This remaps the key to itself.
3. Press the Remap key again. The Program LED stops flashing and the key has its original value.

Macros and remapping

While in Remap mode, keys return to their original, unprogrammed, unremapped state. Thus, macros and previous remaps do not move with a key when it is remapped. For example, suppose "Sincerely yours" is a macro programmed into the X key. If you then remap X into Z, the Z key sends X to the computer when pressed and not the macro. The X key still sends the macro.

Repeat rates

The AnyKey keyboard lets you select how fast keys repeat when held down. You may choose any of eight rates, ranging from 2 to 30 characters per second.

To set a repeat rate:

1. Press the Repeat Rate key. The Program LED begins to flash.
2. Press the function key that produces the desired rate. The function keys F1 through F8 on top of the keyboard produce the rates shown in the table below:
3. Press the Repeat Rate key again. The Program LED stops flashing.

Function Key	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5	F6	F7	F8
Repeat Rate	2cps	3cps	5cps	7cps	10cps	15cps	20cps	30cps

The AnyKey upload/download utility program

The AnyKey keyboard lets you save all remaps and macros in a file (called a personality file) on your hard drive. Later, you can upload the file to the keyboard to restore the previously saved configuration. This makes it possible to create different keyboard configurations for different application programs, or to share a single keyboard with several users, allowing users to have their own keyboard configurations.

The utility that allows you to do this is the AnyKey utility and is located in the AnyKey directory on your hard drive. The executable program for this utility has changed over the years. Depending on when you received your computer, the executable file name could be any of these:

anykey.exe
anykey20.exe
anykey30.exe

In order to determine what to type in the steps listed below, you need to know what the program name is. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Change to the AnyKey directory by typing:

   cd\anykey

   and press enter.

2. When you are at the AnyKey directory, type:

   
   dir

   
   and press enter.

Look at the files in this directory and find one matching the list above. If your executable is either AnyKey20 or AnyKey30, replace the word anykey with your file name when performing any of the steps listed below.

You can use the AnyKey utility as an interactive program that displays menus and requests user input to perform each of its functions, or run it with command-line parameters.

To use interactive mode:

1. Exit Windows and go to the DOS prompt.
2. Change to the ANYKEY directory on your hard disk.
3. Type:

   anykey

   and press Enter. A menu pops up, from which you can choose one of the following options:
   • Upload personality file from keyboard.
   • Download personality file to keyboard.
   • Verify keyboard personality file.

4. Use an arrow key to highlight the desired option and press Enter.
5. Type the desired personality filename and press Enter.

To use command line mode:

1. At the DOS prompt, type

   anykey

   and press the spacebar

2. Type one of the following letters:
   

   u (upload to disk)
   d (download to keyboard)
   v (verify)
   t (terminate)
   a (activate).

3. Press the spacebar again, type a personality file name, then press Enter. For example, if you type:

anykey u standard.kbd

and press the Enter key, the AnyKey program saves the current keyboard configuration in the file STANDARD.KBD on your disk.

To disable the keyboard's special features:

This shuts off the ability of the keyboard to program macros, replay macros, and remap keys.

1. At the command line, or in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file type a command like the following:

   c:\anykey\anykey t anykey

   (Since you aren't working with a personality file, you must substitute "anykey" for a filename.)

2. Reboot.

To re-enable the keyboard:

1. Take the command out of the AUTOEXEC.BAT, change to the ANYKEY directory, and type:

   anykey a anykey

   (Since you aren't working with a personality file, you must substitute "anykey" for a filename.)

   and press Enter. The keyboard returns to normal.

Additional References:

The Keyboard Section of the Gateway 2000 Users Guide; or document # 1052.

The information in these articles is provided "as-is" without warranty of any kind, and all warranties are hereby disclaimed, whether express or implied, including, without limitation, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Gateway 2000 will not be liable for any damages whatsoever, whether direct, special, indirect, incidental, or consequential (including, without limitation, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or any other pecuniary loss) arising out of, or related to your use of, or inability to use the information in any such article, even if advised of the possibility of such damages. Because some states and jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitation may not apply to you. You may not further distribute, reproduce, rent, sell, transfer or license these articles.

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