Just when you think that laptop manufacturers couldn't go any farther off the rails, Lenovo has apparently decided that physical keyboard status LEDs are just too darn expensive.
Does anyone know of a keyboard LED applet/widget that can be used with KDE? (An actual Plasma widget is obviously preferred, but I'll take anything that can run in the system tray.)
Thanks!
On 04/19/2013 12:04 AM, Ian Pilcher wrote:
Just when you think that laptop manufacturers couldn't go any farther off the rails, Lenovo has apparently decided that physical keyboard status LEDs are just too darn expensive.
if you consider the oem cost for an led and associated circuit cost $0.10 and they build runs of 10,000 of said laptop, they would save $1,000 per run.
could be they figured that i one is typing and letters change to upper case, one should realize that <caps lock> was pressed instead of <tab>. ;-)
Does anyone know of a keyboard LED applet/widget that can be used with KDE? (An actual Plasma widget is obviously preferred, but I'll take anything that can run in the system tray.)
if you do not notice change in typing, would you see it in system tray? ;;-)
on serious side, if you know any c/c++ or basic [yuck], or al [yea], or someone who does, you/they can capture key being pressed and 'ring a bell' to notify of such.
as for an applet/widget, nay.
On 04/19/2013 11:14 AM, g wrote:
On 04/19/2013 12:04 AM, Ian Pilcher wrote:
Just when you think that laptop manufacturers couldn't go any farther off the rails, Lenovo has apparently decided that physical keyboard status LEDs are just too darn expensive.
if you consider the oem cost for an led and associated circuit cost $0.10 and they build runs of 10,000 of said laptop, they would save $1,000 per run.
could be they figured that i one is typing and letters change to upper case, one should realize that <caps lock> was pressed instead of <tab>. ;-)
Does anyone know of a keyboard LED applet/widget that can be used with KDE? (An actual Plasma widget is obviously preferred, but I'll take anything that can run in the system tray.)
You could try out the 'keyboard indicator' available with 'cairo-dock'
if you do not notice change in typing, would you see it in system tray? ;;-)
on serious side, if you know any c/c++ or basic [yuck], or al [yea], or someone who does, you/they can capture key being pressed and 'ring a bell' to notify of such.
as for an applet/widget, nay.
Ian Pilcher:
Just when you think that laptop manufacturers couldn't go any farther off the rails, Lenovo has apparently decided that physical keyboard status LEDs are just too darn expensive.
g:
if you consider the oem cost for an led and associated circuit cost $0.10 and they build runs of 10,000 of said laptop, they would save $1,000 per run.
I'd rather my laptop cost 10 cents more and had useful LEDs.
In fact, I'd rather that *all* keyboards had useful LEDs. Put the damn caps lock LED next to the caps lock key, or preferably in it (as my old Amiga did). Likewise, for num lock.
On 04/21/2013 12:52 PM, Tim wrote:
In fact, I'd rather that *all* keyboards had useful LEDs. Put the damn caps lock LED next to the caps lock key, or preferably in it (as my old Amiga did). Likewise, for num lock.
My previous laptop (ThinkPad T510) had the caps lock LED embedded in the key, and I hate that location. I can't see it when my hands are on the darn keyboard!
Tim:
In fact, I'd rather that *all* keyboards had useful LEDs. Put the damn caps lock LED next to the caps lock key, or preferably in it (as my old Amiga did). Likewise, for num lock.
Ian Pilcher:
My previous laptop (ThinkPad T510) had the caps lock LED embedded in the key, and I hate that location. I can't see it when my hands are on the darn keyboard!
I never had that problem with it in the key. Usually, you know when you've pressed the caps lock key, the LED is more useful for when you've gone between things, and you can see it before you touch the keyboard. Having the LED in the key, or nearby it, is very intuitive. And in my case, it's in the top right corner of the key, and not usually covered by a finger.
But having it across the other side of the keyboard, in a group of LEDs where all you can see is three LEDs, with not much of an identifying symbol, isn't very helpful, at all. I certainly don't recall which LED is left, centre, or right, and on some keyboards you can't see the off LEDs to work out which is LED is on. My laptop has the LEDs buried in the grille, they're deep, you can only see a pinprick of the light, and the symbol is indented in black plastic, into black plastic.
Hi Ian,
On Friday 19 Apr 2013 00:04:50 Ian Pilcher wrote:
Just when you think that laptop manufacturers couldn't go any farther off the rails, Lenovo has apparently decided that physical keyboard status LEDs are just too darn expensive.
Does anyone know of a keyboard LED applet/widget that can be used with KDE? (An actual Plasma widget is obviously preferred, but I'll take anything that can run in the system tray.)
Use the "add widgets" option to download new widgets and do a search for "lock keys" of which there are two available, both work very well.
HTH
Colin
On 04/19/2013 11:00 AM, Colin J Thomson wrote:
Use the "add widgets" option to download new widgets and do a search for "lock keys" of which there are two available, both work very well.
Excellent! (I couldn't figure out the correct search term.)
Thank you!
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Colin J Thomson -
g -
Ian Pilcher -
Rejy M Cyriac -
Tim