The MacBook Neo’s Carefully Considered Compromises

[aforkosh (Alan Forkosh)]

@trilo

The keyboard is annoyingly different to my MBP. I use the # key a lot and it’s not shift-3, it has to be fn->3 (shift-3 is now a pound sign). It may not sound like much, but my muscle memory is locked in and it’s annoying as hell. I’ll see if it’s possible to change but I suspect I’m stuck with it.

The keycaps correspond to a British Keyboard. If you change your default keyboard seetting to ABC or US, you should restore the shift-3 to # (not £).

[trilo]

@aforkosh

ABC or US, you should restore the shift-3 to # (not £).

The keyboard was set to Australian (where I am), but you did point me in the right direction. The Text Input was set to British - in fact it was the only option - so I had to manually add the Australian option and select it - which resolved the problem.

Seems an odd behaviour given English (Australian) was chosen during setup

[lowengard (Benjamin Lowengard)]

Reading all this Neo Stuff reminded to check on my 2008 OLPC. Not only does it boot up to Sugar OS or Fedora - I always do a browser check. ( i was a big eMate user about few years earlier) - OLPC was built for kids to use in order to help level the Tech playing field in poorer countries (and there’s a much larger story in how Intel and MS perceived this “threat”) anyhow, battery charges up- some keys have fallen off but work, and i have to reseat the video camera, wifi includes Mesh -so kids could collaborate on projects! I know some of the folks who built this thing and as much as I appreciate technology in general - this still amazes me!

[tommy (Tommy Weir)]

We have such a mix of US and Ire/UK in our house I’ve resorted to a keyboard substitution htg will produce a # on pretty well every device here.

[tom3 (Tom Gewecke)]

@trilo

• The left hand shift key is TINY - and it’s the one I use most. It’s very easy to miss
• The return key is an odd portrait shape, totally different to the panoramic landscape key on the MBP - again, very easy to miss hit.

I think you ordered the wrong keyboard. It’s the British ISO type, used in Europe, and you probably want the US English ANSI type, used in the US and Asia. You might want to return and reorder if possible.

Apple Hardware Keyboard Language Customiz… - Apple Community

[trilo]

@tom3

I think you ordered the wrong keyboard. It’s the British ISO type, used in Europe, and you probably want the US English ANSI type, used in the US and Asia

Bugger, you’re right. I had no idea the keyboards were different but seem to have chosen British because that more closely aligns to Australia than the US.

I’ll return it, but it’s a little annoying given I wanted to travel with it next week. I’ll check with a local store to see if they have any in stock which could be swapped.

Thanks for pointing this out, I totally missed it.

[trilo]

A quick trip to the Apple store today saw the machine replaced with the ‘correct’ one. Before going I spoke to our Business contact and she was able to arrange an exchange machine before we even arrived. Took all of 10 minutes.

I have to admit their return system is pretty good.