AUGUST 28, 2007 // LUKE
APPLE KEYBOARD 'FUNCTION KEYS' FIX

So i actually got myself one of those nice and shiny little pieces recently introduced by my favourite company (puuh, that was tough, but it's out now, and i *really* feel relieved), which are often boringly referred to as "keyboards" in computer terms.

I think after slowly unpackig it and placing it on my desk, i couldn't help but staring at it for a little while...

As everyone i was pretty psyched seeing all those nice little function keys, which even do some nice things, when you press them. Could it get any better? Or could it.

Unfortunately, our beloved apple products tend to suffer a lot from teething problems, and this one is no exception.

On my first try to trigger the F3 (for Exposé) i was pretty surprised at what happened: NOTHING! so i immediately tried the F4 (Dashboard) and again... NOTHING!

First thing i could think of, trying a fresh new start with a restart (i know, we mac users, are not really used to that concept, but hey, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do).

But no, the reboot, didn't resolve the problem. So next step, common sense, check google and my usual sources for this kind of problems, my daily mac source and of course my nr 1 place for apple problems.

Soon i learned that the problem was 'caused by a not properly updated Dock.app. (For the techies, the commands issued by the keyboard are not received by the Dock.app since the old Dock.app isn't listening for these new commands).

As bad as this may sound, there seems to be an easy fix (it isn't all that easy if you have to do the whole procedure as there's a lot of weird updating of system core files involved, using tools like Pacifist - yeah, this tool might have a friendly name, but you better not wanna mess with it).

I ended up following the instruction of the guys over at tuaw, but that one accidentally broke my Dashboard.app. As at this point i couldn't break more, i decided to give the method on macfixit a try, which i suppose is the very one discovered by this fella, Joe Mullins. And yes, his steps totally did the trick for me, so he's the one to be credited and thanked for for the solution of this problem. Thank you Joe! I don't know you, but you really made my day!

To make the life easier for everyone with my same problems, and yes, believe me, you don't wanna go through all the updating trouble yourself, i updated my Dock.app and stuffed it into an Apple Package, which can be downloaded beyond. The Package also includes support for all languages, so everyone who's been having problems with, there Dock.app suddenly speaking english.

You shall fear no longer, help is here.

Download Apple Keyboard Function Keys Fix

Apple Keyboard "Function Keys" Fix This software is supposed to fix the problem of the non working function keys, some people experienced with the new Apple Keyboard. © 2007 Lukas Pitschl, lukas@endian.it

ATTENTION: This software messes with some very important system files, meaning that it could definitely damage your system. It didn't for the author of this package, but there's no warranty what so ever that this method will work. Download at your own risk. The author cannot be held responsible for any damage 'caused to your system.

august 28, 2007 // 17:16 // 101 comment // post comment