Functional Keys
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Brynjar Saunes Bye M.D. |
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Mednotes.net |
Still rocking classic Mac OS every chance you get? Still catching yourself reaching for the function keys on your keyboard to change the sound volume or the music track, only to realize that classic Mac OS doesn't work that way? Well, now it does!
Functional Keys for Classic Mac OS is a brand new collection of utilities finally making the function keys on your keyboard in classic Mac OS functional.
Simply assign each of the utilities to their respective function keys with the included control panel, and changing sound volume, color depth, screen resolution and music track will be at the mercy of your fingertips. Functional Keys even unleashes the power of Exposé on classic Mac OS, giving you complete system-wide control from your keyboard.
Functional Keys is inspired by both Apple Inc.'s implementation of the function keys in Mac OS X, as well as Apple Inc.'s very own Eject Extras utilities for Mac OS 9. Functional Keys is heavily reliant on both Jon Pugh's awesome Jon's Commands AppleScript additions and Satoshi Hasumi's awesome KeyboardLauncher control panel. Due to these dependencies, both of the aforementioned are included on the Functional Keys disk image. Also included on the Functional Keys disk image is James Walker's awesome OtherMenu for access to Functional Keys from the menu bar.
Functional Keys 1.9 is a 68K Binary, and is compatible with Mac OS 8 or newer. Functional Keys works with almost all known hot key macro engines and menu bar application launchers for classic Mac OS, if any of those are preferred to the included KeyboardLauncher/OtherMenu. Functional Keys itself is open-source, and is published under a 'Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License'.
CompatibilityArchitecture: 68k PPC
Version History:
Version 1.9:
- Added custom skin to KeyboardLauncher.
- Added custom skin to OtherMenu.
Version 1.8:
- Added Eject-function (Thanks to Apple Inc. and their awesome Eject Extras).
- Added Volume Increment-function exclusive to the menu bar (Thanks to James Walker and his awesome OtherMenu Externals).
- Added Exposé Windows-function exclusive to the menu bar (Once again thanks to James Walker and his awesome OtherMenu Externals).
- Changed installation procedure for easier installation.
Version 1.7:
- Added support for OtherMenu and other menu bar application launchers.
- Changed color scheme of custom icons for better visual contrast when used with menu bar application launchers.
- Changed names of the Functional Keys utilities for a cleaner appearance when used with menu bar application launchers.
- Changed order of the Functional Keys utilities for a more natural progression.
Version 1.6:
- Added compatibility with almost all known classic Mac OS emulators for modern systems.
- Fixed bug that caused Exposé-function for bringing running applications to the foreground to freeze.
- Fixed bug that caused Exposé-function for bringing running applications to the foreground to bring the first application opened frontmost instead of the last application used frontmost.
- Fixed bug that prevented Exposé-function for bringing Finder to the foreground from hiding the frontmost application.
Version 1.5:
- Added compatibility with Mac OS 7.1 or newer.
- Added compatibility with full screen applications.
- Functional Keys now no longer brings Finder to the foreground when activated.
- Optimized Exposé-function for bringing running applications to the foreground.
Version 1.4:
- Added controls for Exposé.
- Fixed sound feedback for upper sound volume extreme.
Version 1.3:
- Added controls for iTunes.
- Added custom icons.
Version 1.2:
- Added limits for upper and lower sound volume extremes.
- Removed interface feedback sounds for color depth and screen resolution due to sound looping on some systems.
Version 1.1:
- Functional Keys now run as background processes.
- Added optional interface feedback sounds.
Version 1.0:
- Initial release.
Comments
Merry Christmas, my friend
Oh man, that sucks!
So in other words I need someone to beta version 1.9 on BOTH OS 8 and OS 8.5 before I release version 2.0. Anyone up for the task?
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Bry!
I don't have my Basilisk II running on my Chromebook yet ( and I forgot it at my friend's house last time I traveled ), but just remember that while Mac OS 8 was indeed a jump for Mac OS, it and 7.6 both share more similarities to Mac OS 7. It wasn't until OS 8.5 that the OS really changed. Most software during those periods was split between 7-8.1 and 8.5-9.22, especially any system extensions and utilities like these.
Hopefully someone can test the latest version and confirm this. A very few pieces of software that I remember worked between 8.0 and 8.5 or 8.6, but I figure a lot of debugging went into those since each OS update always had a ( bad ) habit of breaking something
And speaking of beta-ing. Is someone able and willing to beta version 1.9 on OS 8?
Would be really nice to know for certain that OS 8 plays ball with background only-processes before version 2.0 goes to press...
Good idea, Idéfix! Just updated a separate set of core Functional Keys utilities for OS 7, and have verified it working FLAWLESSLY on OS 7.5! I'll add it as an install option in the upcoming version 2.0
PS: +1 on the Astérix reference in your nick
"Do we want to keep Functional Keys working completely transparently on OS 8 and 9, or do we want OS 7 compatibility..."
Why not two versions developped simultaneously, at least for a while? One version for System 7 and one version for MacOS 8/9. If the code is mostly the same between them and time needed to build the apps is relatively short, it won't be a problem.
Just beta-ed version 1.9 on OS 7.5, and Bolkonskij is right: Functional Keys DOES freeze the system
Pinpointed the problem to Functional Keys running as background-only processes in a non-multitasking environment. It's REALLY easy to fix, but the question remaining then is: Do we want to keep Functional Keys working completely transparently on OS 8 and 9, or do we want OS 7 compatibility...