How can you fake the missing <insert> key?

Discussion in 'Parallels Desktop for Mac' started by warp4, Apr 4, 2007.

  1. warp4

    warp4 Member

    Messages:
    23
    In Warp, I use the <insert> key all the time, usually with <shift> or <control>, but the Mac keyboard does not have such a key. How do I fake it in the VM?
     
  2. Eru Ithildur

    Eru Ithildur Forum Maven

    Messages:
    1,954
    I forget off the top of my head which key it is on the Mac as I am on a Mac laptop.

    Get a Windows keyboard and a Mac keyboard, set them side by side and see which button is on the Mac is on the same spot as the Insert key on the Windows. That is what it will be... (e.g. Clear = Number Lock)
     
  3. warp4

    warp4 Member

    Messages:
    23
    I am, in fact, using a MacBook for all this.
     
  4. AlanH

    AlanH Pro

    Messages:
    316
    On a full size Apple keyboard the Help key performs the same function as a Windows Insert key when in Parallels. I don't have a MacBook to compare, but on the smaller Apple desktop keyboards without cursor key clusters, Help is a small key at the top, to the right of F12.

    I don't know whether any of this helps ;) (pun intended).
     
  5. warp4

    warp4 Member

    Messages:
    23
    On the MacBook, to the right of the F12 key is the CD eject key ...

    I've tried to go through key combinations systematically, but so far, have found nothing that acts as an <insert> key. You'd think Parallels would have provided a key remapping for this!?!

    OT, one of my few gripes about OSX is the lack of <insert>; I really _like_ to be able to switch between insert and overwrite in an editor, or Terminal.
     
  6. AlanH

    AlanH Pro

    Messages:
    316
    Is there no key named Help on a MacBook keyboard?

    Interesting that you like Insert. Personally, I find it a PITA in Windows, comparable to Caps Lock and Num Lock. Keys that toggle keyboard modes really annoy me. But then ... I'm a rubbish typist.
     
  7. chabig

    chabig Hunter

    Messages:
    133
    What is the point of overtype mode?
     
  8. Revitonamac

    Revitonamac Bit poster

    Messages:
    2
    Well it helped me a lot thanks... no longer any need to reboot windows whenever I accidentally hit the ins/help key and don't know what to hit to toggle it off again!!!

    Cheers! :D
     
  9. Hugh Watkins

    Hugh Watkins Forum Maven

    Messages:
    943
    it is a left over from dos and terminal days

    Hugh W
     
  10. chabig

    chabig Hunter

    Messages:
    133
    Right. So does it have any useful purpose on today's computers?
     
  11. lithe951

    lithe951 Member

    Messages:
    90
    Insert is a big deal for some people and has nothing to do with overtyping. I manage large projects all the time and use MS Project. The insert key allows me to quickly add task lines to the project, like a single-key "add row" instead of digging through a menu. The section of a PC keyboard with arrows and the six editing keys is so important to me I went and bought a PC keyboard that I use with the Macbook and it's great. Insert/Delete/Home/End/Pageup/Pagedown, I use constantly, along with the arrows.
     
  12. lithe951

    lithe951 Member

    Messages:
    90
    Insert is a big deal for some people and has nothing to do with overtyping. I manage large projects all the time and use MS Project. The insert key allows me to quickly add task lines to the project, like a single-key "add row" instead of digging through a menu. The section of a PC keyboard with arrows and the six editing keys is so important to me I went and bought a PC keyboard that I use with the Macbook and it's great. Insert/Delete/Home/End/Pageup/Pagedown, I use constantly, along with the arrows.
     
  13. warp4

    warp4 Member

    Messages:
    23
    Depends on whether or not you think Terminal serves a useful purpose ...
     
  14. warp4

    warp4 Member

    Messages:
    23
    OK, I tested this, with a fullsized Mac keyboard, and the Help key works as the Insert key in Warp, DOS.

    However, I have no plans to carry an extra keyboard around with the MacBook ... and there seems to be no equivalent [mapped to Insert] key combination on the MacBook that I've been able to find.

    <Fn> + arrow maps to <Home>, <Page Up>, <Down>, <End>, as the case may be,
    <Fn> + <delete> maps to Delete right.

    If something on the MacBook keyboard mapped to Apple <Help>, then perhaps that key combo would map to <Insert> in the Warp VM.

    You'd think someone from Parallels might moderate, and either say "do such and such" or else "we're going to add this" ...
     
  15. AlanH

    AlanH Pro

    Messages:
    316
    I don't know if this will help, but I found this article about remapping keys for Gentoo on a MacBook, including setting Shift/Delete to work as Insert. I realise that is Linux, but the article emphasises doing the remapping in OS X so that there's less to do in Xwindows, so maybe the technique they use would also apply to sending Insert to a Parallels VM?
     
  16. warp4

    warp4 Member

    Messages:
    23
    Thanks, I looked at that, but the guy was setting up a MacBook to run Linux only. [Don't know why, OSX is not exactly lacking in *nix dimensions!].
     
  17. Lioncourt

    Lioncourt Bit poster

    Messages:
    5
    Not sure if this will help, but the numeric zero key maps in Windows to insert when num lock is on. Hitting FN+M gives you the insert in Windows, so it's possible that may help you out in the OS you're using, which I don't have firsthand experience with. If that OS uses the clear key as num lock at all, FN+6 should toggle it, and give you insert on FN+M. :) I think that was a PC based OS, IIRC, so this seems logical.

    As for uses for Insert...I'm a visually impaired computer user. Most Windows screen readers use the Insert key as an additional modifier key, to offer additional keyboard access to the OS.
     
  18. dags

    dags Bit poster

    Messages:
    1
    Thalatta!

    Dear Lioncourt,

    I'm running -- or was trying to run -- TACT (Text Analysis Computing Tools) under DOSBox on a Pismo, which won't work at all without "insert". Found your hint after a solid hour of search (and in a state of increasing despair).

    Thanks a million

    dags
     
    Last edited: May 17, 2007

Share This Page