Keyboard Remapping / Using 680e keyboard on a 720

Howdy folks,
I just upgraded from a J680e to a J720, and swapped the keyboards 'cause I looove having the '?' key in the right place. Turns out the 720 not only maps the keyboard as if it were the old 720 one (puts the '?' key on (alt-gr)), it doesn't recognize the physical '?' key at all!

Basically, the european keyboard has an extra key on each row, going "},]" "|,\" "?,/" from top to bottom. None of them give any characters at all on the 720.

Does anyone know a way to remap/use these keys? I would love my beloved '?' key back in its proper place.

I tried KeyHook to see what it would return, and it recognizes they are being pressed, but gives no codes that correspond with them.

I tried Language Extender, but couldn't get the CharMap program to run.

I tried ArtSKey, but there's no way to put keys in the .ini file if the 720 doesn't see those keys.

you mean you're trying to use an european english keyboard on a US (or UK) j720?

i never thought it would be easy to do but someone else did it on the forum iirc..

what the hell is charmap? use the hpc pro version of language extender, click layouts and see what it can do for you.

Correct!

Actually, what happens when I install a demo version of LEng (from <a href="http://wince-software.penreader.com/Language_Extender/articles/Download_area_for_LE.html"> here</a> is I get a program called LEAgent, which leaves an icon in the taskbar, and my keyboard stops working. No characters, no hotkeys, nothing. I only got rid of it with a hard reset. I tried several different languages, so charmap might have been from a different version...

Edited by gorgon5 2005-12-21 1:39 PM

leagent? that would be the hpc2000 version. try the hpc pro version... maybe that would work...?

Well, the good news is the HP Pro version worked, the bad news is it still doesn't see the keys to let me change them. You can just pick from a list of characters that will be substituted for other characters. I think I'd need something that could actually read the output coming from the keyboard...

maybe you need an ABB rom... dunno... may be a silly idea

He is actually using one of the ABA Jornada 728 boards that I have been selling. He traded me a 680e for the board, but wanted to keep the 680e's keyboard for some reason, so he gave me the keyboard from his 720. The 680e's keyboard works fine in the J720 (now 728), but it is treating it like a US keyboard (not surprising). The european keyboard has a few punctuation characters in different locations than on the US keyboard and also has an extra key on the far right side of the three letter rows.

Have you tried Mike's key remapper over at hpcnec? It looks like it scans the raw codes from the keyhook application. It is tailored to a specific use, but the source code is posted right on the page, so you can probably just swap in the appropriate keycodes and keys you want remapped.

http://www.hpcnec.com/mikes.htm

Well, my programming knowledge begins and ends with "Hello, Word!", but despite that the keyhook application doesn't return keycodes for these buttons. It shows WM_KEYDOWN, WM_KEYUP, but that's it. Frustrating!

Although, if you *do* come across an ABB ROM, let me know...

Sorry, but there will be no ABB roms. I examined all the roms this evening through their anti-static bags and they all are marked ABA, which is US English. If you get too frustrated with trying to do keyboard remapping, come to Hacknight next week and I will swap you keyboards again.

the wParam and lParam should contain the keycode for the key that is pressed down and released.

Here's the log from when I press the 'alt-gr' key, which it maps as the '?,/' key, followed by the actual '?,/' key:

WM_KEYDOWN ﾿ 191 0 0
WM_KEYUP ﾿ 191 0 0
WM_KEYDOWN
WM_KEYUP

It knows I pressed the key, but doesn't return a keycode for it. Any ideas?

hmmm ... I presume its 0, 0 for both wparm, and lparam?

I don't know what those are, but it doesn't even return a 0 for the value. It's just blank..

WM_KEYDOWN
WM_KEYUP