Numlock - great when you have to type numbers!

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The translation I'm working on has long columns of numbers. I usually totally neglect NumLock, but it really is faster sometimes.

Discuss.

― Maria :D (Maria :D), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:04 (seventeen years ago) link

is there really a lot to discuss here?

― a mediocre black-and-white cookie in a cellophane wrapper (hanks1ockli), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:06 (seventeen years ago) link

What does it do actually? I've never used it.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:06 (seventeen years ago) link

omg waht does scroll lock do PLEEEASE

― unfished business (Scourage), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:07 (seventeen years ago) link

I have it on now, and nothing's different.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:07 (seventeen years ago) link

543532465426246265573254234

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:07 (seventeen years ago) link

What's the hook?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:07 (seventeen years ago) link

― resumo impetus (blueski), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:08 (seventeen years ago) link

NUMLOCK makes the 10-key pad type numbers instead of being directional, etc.

― Metrosexual Healing (crunkleJ), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:08 (seventeen years ago) link

Numlock < Hemlock < Warlock < Grimlock

― resumo impetus (blueski), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:08 (seventeen years ago) link

Wow, now I see! What does scroll lock do then?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:09 (seventeen years ago) link

it's so good! my gf sometimes says "you numbskull" when I won't shut up about numlock!

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:10 (seventeen years ago) link

Or pause/break? There's so many buttons in the keyboard I've never used!

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:10 (seventeen years ago) link

Ronan you should kick her ass

― resumo impetus (blueski), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:10 (seventeen years ago) link

Wow, now I see! What does scroll lock do then?

Makes the scroll lock led light up.

― Captain Purple Items (nu_onimo), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:11 (seventeen years ago) link

scroll lock does nothing, apparently.

― unfished business (Scourage), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:11 (seventeen years ago) link

There also appears to be a button with the Windows symbol and a button with an arrow pointing at document(?) between "alt gr" and "ctrl"... I'll experiment on those.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:12 (seventeen years ago) link

press the Home key to return home

"where's my waiter with that Tab?"

― resumo impetus (blueski), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:13 (seventeen years ago) link

Wow! They did something! Are they supposed to be used in the case you don't have a mouse?

(x-post)

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:13 (seventeen years ago) link

the windows button is the same as hitting the 'start' button on your taskbar if you're running windows. not sure what it does if you're not using windows.

― chicago kevin cleaned a lot of plates in memphis (chicago kevin), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:14 (seventeen years ago) link

I want a keyboard with all the numbers on the left instead.

― Maria :D (Maria :D), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:15 (seventeen years ago) link

Let me try to formulate a theory: if I use these two buttons, the arrow buttons, tab, space and enter, I won't need a mouse at all! What's the point of having that in the first place?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:16 (seventeen years ago) link

ahh scroll lock, you used to be useful.

― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:16 (seventeen years ago) link

Or if you don't want to take your hands off the keyboard - it makes things quicker (xpost xpost)

I have a KVM switch somewhere, which is activated by the scroll lock key - the keystroke to flip the switch is scroll lock, scroll lock, up.

At work I regularly - about every two or three months - get a call from one particular manager: "My keyboard's broken! I'm trying to type a spreadsheet and it's not doing anything". The answer is always "Press the Num Lock key"

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:16 (seventeen years ago) link

I still don't know what scroll lock does.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:17 (seventeen years ago) link

Think of it like the appendix of keyboards.

― Captain Purple Items (nu_onimo), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:18 (seventeen years ago) link

What about "Prt sc/Sys rq"?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:19 (seventeen years ago) link

I never ever use F1, F2, etc. Not sure what they do.

― Maria :D (Maria :D), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:19 (seventeen years ago) link

I remember there was an ILE thread about those. They did all sorts of neat tricks.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:20 (seventeen years ago) link

On Windows, Prt Scr prts your scr to the clipboard. Alt+Prt Scr prts the active window.

Fn depends on your software. Most Windows programs bind F5 to Refresh (apart from Lotus Notes) and F1 to Help. Alt+F4 is "close window".

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:22 (seventeen years ago) link

1) hit prt sc
2) open up ms paint
3) hit ctrl+v

― ledge (ledge), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:22 (seventeen years ago) link

Bosskey

― Captain Purple Items (nu_onimo), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:22 (seventeen years ago) link

4) lean back as yr puny little mind is BLOWN

― David RER (Frank Fiore), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:22 (seventeen years ago) link

Okay, I've tried "Home" and "End" now. They appear to be useful with long threads.

(x-post)

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:22 (seventeen years ago) link

I wish you could reverse the number pad though so it was exactly like the numbers on a phone, sometimes when I'm in a hurry I will dial on a phone like it is the numpad.

― nklshs (nklshs), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:23 (seventeen years ago) link

when I sit down at a keyboard (full-size) and num lock isn't already turned on, I get annoyed.

when I have to help somebody with a laptop who is freaking out because they turned on num lock and didn't realize it, I am amused.

num lock.

― TOMB07 (trm), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:23 (seventeen years ago) link

What about "Esc"? I remember you had to use it on those old types of computers when they got jammed, but I've never had to use it on these new PC's.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:23 (seventeen years ago) link

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0009RWS2M.01-A169ZHKGOM78DI._AA280_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
They should call this a right-handed keyboard, cuz if the number keypad is on the left, you can have your mouse closer at hand on the right side.

― Maria :D (Maria :D), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:24 (seventeen years ago) link

Favourite key: the context menu one (on the right of the space bar between ctrl and the other windows key)

― ledge (ledge), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:25 (seventeen years ago) link

control + end + escape = compputer farts

― unfished business (Scourage), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:25 (seventeen years ago) link

(xxxxxxxxxxxxpost)

What about "Prt sc/Sys rq"?

Print Screen. Saves your desktop to the clipboard. Hit it, open Paint, hit paste.

F1: usually help.

Scroll Lock: a dead button. Few program use it. It used to make the screen move w/ the arrow keys instead of the cursor. I think the mouse made it outdated?

F2 I think is different for most programs.

Pause/Break: form the olden days too. When you needed to pause or break a program. Haven't seen a use for it forever.

― Will M. (Will M.), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:25 (seventeen years ago) link

oh and btw since Print Screen was brought up, why the fuck do people pay for screenshot grabbers when alt+print scr is on every windows box already, and paint.NET is fucking free?

a: idiots exist ok nevermind

― TOMB07 (trm), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:25 (seventeen years ago) link

"Esc" switches out of full screen mode with most media players.

― Captain Purple Items (nu_onimo), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:26 (seventeen years ago) link

Ok, apparently ctrl + esc does the same thing as the button next to the Windows button.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:27 (seventeen years ago) link

Can you screen print from DVDs with alt-print-screen? On a Mac?

Not that I have, uuhhh, any reason for wanting to do this.

― in the case of masonic attack (kate), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:27 (seventeen years ago) link

Press Alt Gr for Rapping Hongro

― resumo impetus (blueski), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:27 (seventeen years ago) link

xxxxxpost... god i fail that this

Maria: as a lefty, I think I'd prefer that keyboard too. We should all switch to that... like a baby step before going to chording keyboards in the future when we have space cars and stuff

― Will M. (Will M.), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:28 (seventeen years ago) link

Why do modern computers have these outdated buttons? Like, what's the point of having two sets of arrow buttons?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:28 (seventeen years ago) link

Your continued donations keep Wikipedia running!
Scroll lock
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Scroll lock is a key (with an associated status light) on most modern computer keyboards. The behavior of the key depends on the particular software in use.

The Scroll Lock key is a remnant from the original IBM PC keyboard. In the original design, Scroll Lock was intended to modify the behavior of the arrow keys. When the scroll lock mode was on, the arrow keys would scroll the contents of a text window instead of moving the cursor. In this usage, Scroll Lock is a modifier key like Alt and Shift (which modify the function of other keys) and, more specifically, a toggling lock key like Num Lock or Caps Lock, which have a state that persists after the key is released. Today, this particular use of Scroll Lock is rare. Only a few modern programs still honor this behavior, such as Microsoft Excel (in the behavior of arrows — when Scroll Lock is on, the selection does not move), Lotus Notes and Forté Agent. In modern GUI environments, scrolling is usually accomplished using newer means such as scrollbars or scroll wheels. Therefore Scroll Lock can be regarded as a defunct feature in almost all modern programs and operating systems.

― a mediocre black-and-white cookie in a cellophane wrapper (hanks1ockli), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:28 (seventeen years ago) link

A looooooooooong time ago I temped for £3.50 an hour at Securicor doing date entry, eight hours a day of doing nothing apart from typing in numbers. This would have been hell without the numeric keypad. Actually it wasn't much fun anyway.

― Teh HoBBx (HoBB), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:28 (seventeen years ago) link

Skipping 7 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Wow! Could I map Scroll Lock to contact me directly to ILX without having to do anything else?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:33 (seventeen years ago) link

My keyboard also has buttons for volume control, media player, "Internet", "Close Program", and some "Hotkeys". They do fuck all.

― ledge (ledge), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:34 (seventeen years ago) link

My new keyboard has a special button to activate the calculator. I like that.

― Maria :D (Maria :D), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:34 (seventeen years ago) link

Why don't they teach basic stuff like this at the computer class in school? Or maybe they did, and I've just forgotten about it.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:35 (seventeen years ago) link

I like to repeatedly hit caps lock+scroll lock+num lock all together and get a funky lightshow goin' on.

― ledge (ledge), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:36 (seventeen years ago) link

My elementary school was so poor we didn't even have Windows. Then again, this was in the early nineties.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:36 (seventeen years ago) link

Your continued donations keep Wikipedia running!

― Del Monte Young (ex machina), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:37 (seventeen years ago) link

My elementary school was so poor we didn't even have Windows. Then again, this was in the early nineties.

Wasn't worth having

― Del Monte Young (ex machina), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:37 (seventeen years ago) link

My elementary school was so poor we didn't even have Windows.

OMG no wonder Finlanders are so pale.

― nklshs (nklshs), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:39 (seventeen years ago) link

That joke was paneful.

― Maria :D (Maria :D), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:43 (seventeen years ago) link

I wish you could reverse the number pad though so it was exactly like the numbers on a phone, sometimes when I'm in a hurry I will dial on a phone like it is the numpad.

But the numbers are laid out like a regular 10 key calculator so that you can touch type numbers.

There was a Straight Dope article about this in which the reader wondered if telephones were laid out differently so that the user would be forced to dial slower.

― Metrosexual Healing (crunkleJ), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 18:53 (seventeen years ago) link

But the numbers are laid out like a regular 10 key calculator so that you can touch type numbers.

If you're doing data input it works better with the keypad. Three big fingers cover the numbers (one column each), thumb does the zero, little finger hits enter, and your left hand hits the tab key to take you to the next box while you go into a trance.

― Teh HoBBx (HoBB), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:02 (seventeen years ago) link

I wish you could reverse the number pad though so it was exactly like the numbers on a phone, sometimes when I'm in a hurry I will dial on a phone like it is the numpad.

I use a computer keyboard and monitor as a phone during the radio show I produce. I answer the lines by pressing the corresponding Function key, and I make outgoing calls by using the numeric keypad.

With regular numbers that I call, it's actually a minor challenge sometimes to call them from a regular telephone instead of the keypad because the numbers are arranged differently. There have been times when I've hit the keys in the same rhythm I always do only to get a completely different number on the line because I've forgotten where I was. Frustrating.

I also work with an idiot savant who likes to turn off the numlock button at the end of the day. Pretty frustrating to dial 15013768111,,8923 only to find that Rain Man's been in the studio and none of your digits were entered.

― PPlains (PPlains), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:20 (seventeen years ago) link

I answer the lines by pressing the corresponding Function key, and I make outgoing calls by using the numeric keypad.

DO ~~NOT~~ WANT

― nklshs (nklshs), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:21 (seventeen years ago) link

yup, I worked for a telephone company in high school and did 10-key entry for hours and hours every day. Trance is right.

― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:27 (seventeen years ago) link

Unless it's a laptop(all I have right now) it's always on. it's DEFAULT that way, isn't it?

― Moisture G Mess (The GZeus), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:28 (seventeen years ago) link

I have a confession -- I turn off the numlock key! I think it was habit so I could do diagonal movement easily in civ or something.

― Del Monte Young (ex machina), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:29 (seventeen years ago) link

We're agreeing, right?

― Metrosexual Healing (crunkleJ), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:31 (seventeen years ago) link

Alt+Prt Scr prts the active window.

OMG I DID NOT KNOW THIS!!!!!

― step hen faps (Curt1s Stephens), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:32 (seventeen years ago) link

I always turn NumLock off because I'm usually typing over a Dutch document and am constantly turning the Ins button on and off. When NumLock is on, it makes my Ins a 0. No good.

― Maria :D (Maria :D), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:33 (seventeen years ago) link

Wow! Could I map Scroll Lock to contact me directly to ILX without having to do anything else?

Look up "macro recorder"

there are programs out there that will do this hell of easily.

― Will M. (Will M.), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:34 (seventeen years ago) link

Not that I'd know how to do it without the programs I already have running (Launchy makes it so you can open things with Ctrl+Space and then typing in the name... so i would set it to do [Ctrl+space, f, i, r, e, enter, i, l, x, ., p, 3, r, ., n, e, t, enter]. Now I want to do this...

― Will M. (Will M.), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:37 (seventeen years ago) link

I have to turn off NUMLOCK when I'm working on my work laptop from home, because I have a keyboard & monitor hooked up to it in the office. When I just use the laptop, the keypad is actually laid over some of the alpha keys, which SUCKS when I'm trying to type something, and P is replaced with 9.

― David RER (Frank Fiore), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:41 (seventeen years ago) link

OMG that is 1337.

― nklshs (nklshs), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:42 (seventeen years ago) link

To use the mouse even less, try holding down shift while you press home, end, page up, page down, the arrow keys, and the arrow keys while you hold down control.

On a Mac, it works mostly the same, but you use option instead of control.

Not all applications respond the same, and you usually need some text to select for this to be interesting.

Also, scroll lock is useful on the console of a unix PC, and pause/break can be used to send a break to a serial terminal.

― The danger of opposite of transparent aluminum foil. (goodbra), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:43 (seventeen years ago) link

On my HHK keyboard, the pause/break key is "pus/brk". In case you need a break from the pus.

― The danger of opposite of transparent aluminum foil. (goodbra), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:45 (seventeen years ago) link

OMG guys w/ mouses with the scrolling dial thing, hold down shift while you scroll! GET READY FOR A WILD RIDE!

― nklshs (nklshs), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:46 (seventeen years ago) link

Oh, and control-insert will copy text on a PC, while shift-insert will paste it. In case you don't like ^V/^C.

― The danger of opposite of transparent aluminum foil. (goodbra), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:46 (seventeen years ago) link

on mac hold control and scroll a mouse wheel

― Del Monte Young (ex machina), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:47 (seventeen years ago) link

If we have computers in the future, I want a keyboard with a milkshake key. And a long straw that pops up.

― Maria :D (Maria :D), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:49 (seventeen years ago) link

I know there are two shift & ctrl keys on opposite ends of the keyboard, but for some reason I only ever use the ones on the left side! Even when it means two-fingering it with one hand and leaving the other floating (sometimes I will throw the horns).

― nklshs (nklshs), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:50 (seventeen years ago) link

OMG guys w/ mouses with the scrolling dial thing, hold down shift while you scroll! GET READY FOR A WILD RIDE!

Whoa!

Is there are website or something that would list all these secret functions?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:55 (seventeen years ago) link

Google.com

― David RER (Frank Fiore), Tuesday, 20 February 2007 19:56 (seventeen years ago) link

This may be the most important thread I have ever read.
I was kinda familiar with certain keyboard commands from using a lawyer billing program that was completely reliant on keyboard (because the lawyer was too cheap to upgrade, and was the boss, so I had to do it).
F2, F12 are not unknown to me...i can't remember the name of the software, but maybe, Timeslips? i ended up getting offered a position with the wandering Timeslips people (I believe that was the company), because I kept on finding ways to change the actual timeslips/billing to meet our needs, which didn't work well for the actual program. Or the lawyer.
because i was basically embezzling - but not really! - I was just changing certain things to get the numbers I needed for my job! Plus, i thought i was really NOT doing anything but working with a very simple program, and trying to get the bills out on time. I only manipulated a few things to get my math to work out. The fact that the bills came out wrong was a sad coda to my manipulation of the program.
But the Timeslips folks were impressed with my backdoor hijinks! They basically said that anyone who could manipulate the program as well as I had done SHOULD be working for them.
That was also 1996. I have been confused more recently.
But this thread explains so much that was a mystery!
The reproductive health clinic I work at is DOS - all keyboard, all the time.
i am better with the blue screen with the yellow letters than i am in this more modern format!
I F10 and F12 all of the time. i am proud to use Esc. However, I have learned so much today, from this thread.
Thank you.

― aimurchie (aimurchie), Wednesday, 21 February 2007 04:05 (seventeen years ago) link

I know a guy who mapped insert to do timestamps or something.

But how is he going to acidentally type over his own work?

― naus (naus), Wednesday, 21 February 2007 06:16 (seventeen years ago) link

Also, what is the Windows equiv. of the Mac's "Enter" key? I use it for renaming files all the time.

― naus (naus), Wednesday, 21 February 2007 06:22 (seventeen years ago) link

It's great when you can learn stuff like this on ILX. Like, I'm having a compulsory computer course at the uni (one I should've done years ago), and one thing we have to do there is to create your own homepage in HTML, and when I was learning to do that I realized I already knew some of the commands (like "img src" and "a href=") because I've learned to use them here.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 21 February 2007 07:14 (seventeen years ago) link

f2 renames stuff xpost

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Wednesday, 21 February 2007 07:22 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah but what if you want to rename it to something more informative than xpost?

― sterl clover (s_clover), Wednesday, 21 February 2007 07:38 (seventeen years ago) link

Wow, ILE is populated by many copies of my mom.

― Jesus Dan (dan perry), Wednesday, 21 February 2007 13:21 (seventeen years ago) link

Why are you so rude to us then, young man?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 21 February 2007 13:22 (seventeen years ago) link

what the fuck, i didn't even realize this worked on mac. hah! i just tried on this laptop and it works! christ...

― nathalie (stevienixed), Wednesday, 21 February 2007 13:25 (seventeen years ago) link

My keyboard also has buttons for volume control, media player, "Internet", "Close Program", and some "Hotkeys". They do fuck all.

i've appropriately configured all my hotkeys to bring up various photos of myself.

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 21 February 2007 16:01 (seventeen years ago) link

don't press the Delete and Internet buttons at the same time

― resumo impetus (blueski), Wednesday, 21 February 2007 16:03 (seventeen years ago) link

or Break and Enter, you go to jail for that.

― Captain Purple Items (nu_onimo), Wednesday, 21 February 2007 16:10 (seventeen years ago) link

one thing we have to do there is to create your own homepage in HTML

-- Tuomas (lixnix...) (webmail), February 21st, 2007 7:14 AM. (Tuomas) (later) (link)

please to post url of tuomas homepage when it is completed

― trainwrecked (sanskrit), Wednesday, 21 February 2007 16:13 (seventeen years ago) link

dying

― Del Monte Young (ex machina), Wednesday, 21 February 2007 16:16 (seventeen years ago) link

Oh, it is done already. Since I don't see much point in learning HTML, I only made it to fit their minimum requirements.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 21 February 2007 17:07 (seventeen years ago) link

noobs.

But seriously, I think I use pretty much all of these regularly except for scroll lock and that button that simulates a right click. There's an entire set of commands that the Windows key can be used in conjunction with that are really useful:
(using wk for Windows key)
wk+r: Run dialog
wk+e: New windows explorer window
wk+pause: System Properties

and those are just a few of the amazing things you can do with a modern keyboard. Next week, I'll explore the mythical "apple" key on Macs.

― mh (mike h.), Wednesday, 21 February 2007 18:50 (seventeen years ago) link

This started as a parody of the banalness of recent threads and became a thing of instructive beauty. wk+e has made this all worth it. Thank you, sandbox.

― Maria :D (Maria :D), Wednesday, 21 February 2007 20:05 (seventeen years ago) link

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