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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Way to supress num lock on MM+ boot-up?
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| MMAndy Regular Member  Joined: 16/07/2015 Location: United StatesPosts: 91 |
Is there a way to supress num lock on MM+ boot-up? Our particular mini keyboard (MC-SAITE PS2/USB) always boots up with the num lock on and interferes with data entry. Is there an easy way to disable the num lock on boot-up/power-on-reset/reset? Firmware change needed?  |
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Grogster Admin Group  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 9610 |
Hmmmmmmmm. That start-up state of the keyboard, is set by the keyboard itself, and if it chooses to enable num-lock, I don't THINK there is any easy way to stop that, other then pressing num-lock to disable that once the power has been applied. ...i may be wrong here, I am just going on what other keyboards do. I have a couple of laptop-type keyboards, and they too enable num-lock at power-up. I'm not sure if there is even a firmware hack that would get you around this - I think, as with the likes of CAPS LOCK, you have to press the key on the actual keyboard to enable/disable those features - not sure any commands can be sent to the keyboard to do the same job. ...again - only my 2c, and I may well be wrong. I am no keyboard protocol expert!  Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops! |
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| robert.rozee Guru  Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 2442 |
from the deep dark past... i seem to remember that you can remotely turn numlock on/off, but how to do it from a micromite is another matter. in fact, all the status LEDs can be controlled (numlock, capslock, scroll lock), and i believe that (at least under DOS and Windows) the state of the LED is reflected by the functioning of the keyboard. another memory - in some PC BIOSes there used to be a setting for the bootup state of numlock. cheers, rob :-) |
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TassyJim Guru Joined: 07/08/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 6283 |
Keyboards send keycodes, the state of numlock etc is a function of the PC. The numlock key is just another key. The PC also controls the indicator LED's. Sending a numlock keycode by stuffing the keyboard buffer with the appropriate code should do the job. I have never played with the keyboard buffers but I think it could be done on the Maximite. Not so confident with the Micromite. This is assuming that the keyboard buffer is keycodes, not ASCII. Jim VK7JH MMedit |
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| WhiteWizzard Guru Joined: 05/04/2013 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2944 |
Part of correct initialisation between keyboard and 'device' includes 'startup' states. These are initiated by the device and are sent as key codes. All keyboards should be interrogated continually by a device, the device being able to detect when it is plugged in. As soon as the device detects a keyboard, there is a time-critical exchange of information. Part of this is the state of the LEDs. Google will reveal all at whatever detail required . . . |
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| Greg Fordyce Senior Member  Joined: 16/09/2011 Location: United KingdomPosts: 153 |
http://www.computer-engineering.org/ps2keyboard/ has a list of codes you need to send to the keyboard to control numlock. Maybe you can write a CFunction to send the codes at startup? Or it might be easier to press the NumLock key.  |
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| matherp Guru Joined: 11/12/2012 Location: United KingdomPosts: 10315 |
Not possible with a CFunction as the in-built code uses interrupts to sense the clock pulses from the keyboard and there is no way to link into these with a CFunction. The MM+ initialisation code sets: caps lock off num lock on scroll lock off which is probably the normal thing to want on a full keyboard including a separate number pad. To make this flexible Geoff would need to include another OPTION to change the initialisation condition. You can always ask.......
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| MMAndy Regular Member Joined: 16/07/2015 Location: United StatesPosts: 91 |
On our mini 78 key keyboard there is no keypad but by using the num lock "alternative keys" can be used as a numeric keypad. We chose this special keyboard for portable laptop operation due to its small foot print and PS2/USB operation. |
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