Characters

[Miles]

Using Win7,64 on an HP laptop that doesn't have the number pad which
with XP I use with a combination of character to enter various
characters.

Can't make it work with my keyboard. For example to insert the cent
sign it reads Alt+0162 which is what I used in XP with the numeric
keypad. It doesn't work here!

It also reads U+OOA2 (have tried both two zeros & two letter O's).
Still nothing. Have also added the fn key or the Windows key, still
nothing. Not certain what is meant by "U+" for if U is held down it
repeats.

I know characters can be inserted for it can be copied from the
character map window. But need a shortcut method and certain it must
somehow work, but how?
Miles

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Using Win7,64 on an HP laptop that doesn't have the number pad which
with XP I use with a combination of character to enter various
characters.

Can't make it work with my keyboard. For example to insert the cent
sign it reads Alt+0162 which is what I used in XP with the numeric
keypad. It doesn't work here!

It also reads U+OOA2 (have tried both two zeros & two letter O's).

They are zeroes.

Still nothing. Have also added the fn key or the Windows key, still
nothing. Not certain what is meant by "U+" for if U is held down it
repeats.

U+ means something like you (by that I mean you, Miles) are supposed to
interpret the next four characters as the Unicode for the character.

I know characters can be inserted for it can be copied from the
character map window. But need a shortcut method and certain it must
somehow work, but how?
Miles

Have you tried the key that enables the right end of your keyboard to
act like a number pad? It's probably near the left-hand control key and
probably has the letters 'fn' on it. On the nearest laptop to me, the
'fn' is inside a little square, and a lot of the keys on the right side
of the keyboard have extra marks inside little squares just like that
one. Most of those characters are *numbers*.

 

[Miles]

* Gene E. Bloch wrote, On 30-Aug-11 16:02:

They are zeroes.


U+ means something like you (by that I mean you, Miles) are supposed to
interpret the next four characters as the Unicode for the character.


Have you tried the key that enables the right end of your keyboard to
act like a number pad? It's probably near the left-hand control key and
probably has the letters 'fn' on it. On the nearest laptop to me, the
'fn' is inside a little square, and a lot of the keys on the right side
of the keyboard have extra marks inside little squares just like that
one. Most of those characters are *numbers*.

Thanks, Gene, but that doesn't work. As I wrote at the outset I tried
the "fn" key to no avail. And there are no extra marks other than
those on the F keys which perform a different function.

I've tried to input 00A2 into open office. Even closed and restarted
it, but only see the same entry 00A2.

Perhaps someone who is familiar with HP will jump in -- I've given up
on their tech service which is negative to say the least.

 

[Paul]

* Gene E. Bloch wrote, On 30-Aug-11 16:02:

Thanks, Gene, but that doesn't work. As I wrote at the outset I tried
the "fn" key to no avail. And there are no extra marks other than those
on the F keys which perform a different function.

I've tried to input 00A2 into open office. Even closed and restarted
it, but only see the same entry 00A2.

Perhaps someone who is familiar with HP will jump in -- I've given up on
their tech service which is negative to say the least.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/Windows7/Type-without-using-the-keyboard-On-Screen-Keyboard

"Open On-Screen Keyboard by clicking the Start button Picture of the
Start button, clicking All Programs, clicking Accessories, clicking
Ease of Access, and then clicking On-Screen Keyboard"

Would the On-Screen Keyboard be able to generate the key sequence you want ?

You have to go into Options, and enable Numeric keypad, to get extra stuff
on the right hand side.

Now, I tried it, and you have to click "Alt" with your mouse, then
click the numeric keypad on the appropriate key, then click "Alt" again
then enter your second number and so on. I got some oddball characters that way,
so I suppose it's working. I used Notepad, while typing on the virtual keyboard,
to test what would show up. I understand Notepad understand Unicode, which
is why I used it for testing, on the theory it would handle more than plain
ASCII.

Paul

 

[KCB]

Using Win7,64 on an HP laptop that doesn't have the number pad which with
XP I use with a combination of character to enter various characters.

Can't make it work with my keyboard. For example to insert the cent sign
it reads Alt+0162 which is what I used in XP with the numeric keypad. It
doesn't work here!

It also reads U+OOA2 (have tried both two zeros & two letter O's). Still
nothing. Have also added the fn key or the Windows key, still nothing.
Not certain what is meant by "U+" for if U is held down it repeats.

I know characters can be inserted for it can be copied from the character
map window. But need a shortcut method and certain it must somehow work,
but how?
Miles

Use the fn key to enable the numeric keypad (numpad) on your keyboard. This
won't be a separate numpad, like a full size keyboard, but you should see
some keys that have numbers indicated on them, in a different color/font
than the standard key indicators. Once you've used your fn key to enable
these, you use them the same way you used the numpad in WinXP.

What you are doing by entering Alt+0162 is using ASCII code (Google it) to
generate plain-text characters. If you tell us which laptop you have, we
may be able to tell you exactly which keys to use, or you could look in the
manual that (hopefully) came with the computer.

If your computer doesn't have the numpad capability with the fn key, you can
get a separate USB numpad fairly cheap, or even try plugging in a full size
USB keyboard.

 

[Andy Burns]

Have you tried the key that enables the right end of your keyboard to
act like a number pad? It's probably near the left-hand control key and
probably has the letters 'fn' on it.

Laptops are now starting to appear which have no way to enter "numeric
pad" keys at all, eg. my Lenovo Ideapad S205 (and I think the HP DM1z)
I've installed the UK extended keyboard which gives me a handful more
accented characters via the alt-Gr key, but I still can't enter other
chars without resorting to the character map utility ... bring back the
DEC VTxxx compose key ...

 

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/Windows7/Type-without-using-the-keyboard-On-Screen-Keyboard



"Open On-Screen Keyboard by clicking the Start button Picture of the
Start button, clicking All Programs, clicking Accessories, clicking
Ease of Access, and then clicking On-Screen Keyboard"

Would the On-Screen Keyboard be able to generate the key sequence you
want ?

You have to go into Options, and enable Numeric keypad, to get extra
stuff on the right hand side.

Now, I tried it, and you have to click "Alt" with your mouse, then
click the numeric keypad on the appropriate key, then click "Alt"
again then enter your second number and so on. I got some oddball
characters that way, so I suppose it's working. I used Notepad, while
typing on the virtual keyboard, to test what would show up. I
understand Notepad understand Unicode, which is why I used it for
testing, on the theory it would handle more than plain ASCII.

I can't get the on screen keyboard to create extended characters, but I
discovered that the on screen keyboard can be used in conjunction with
the regular keyboard. The Alt key can be held down on the regular
keyboard while clicking the on screen numpad.

 

[Jeff Layman]

* Gene E. Bloch wrote, On 30-Aug-11 16:02:

Thanks, Gene, but that doesn't work. As I wrote at the outset I tried
the "fn" key to no avail. And there are no extra marks other than
those on the F keys which perform a different function.

It's not quite clear from your post, but did you hold down the fn and
ALT keys while pressing the number keys?

Your problem led me to experiment a bit with my HP laptop (G61) which
does have a keypad. Using ALT + nnn I can generate characters as
expected. I thought that by turning off numlock that would not allow
use of ALT + nnn, but it makes no difference. The other strange thing
is that using the inbuilt calculator (calc.exe) number entry can be from
the virtual keyboard, keys 0 - 9 along the top, or the numeric keypad.
So if calc.exe recognises keys 0 - 9, why can't the character generator?
FWIW, I also can't get the keys 0 - 9 row to generate characters using
ALT - only the number pad.

I wondered if there was a way of remapping the number pad keys 0 - 9 to
the row on the keyboard. That might work, but you might also lose the
shifted characters on those remapped keys!

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Thanks, Gene, but that doesn't work. As I wrote at the outset I tried
the "fn" key to no avail. And there are no extra marks other than
those on the F keys which perform a different function.

Your original post did not mention the fn key...

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

If your computer doesn't have the numpad capability with the fn key, you can
get a separate USB numpad fairly cheap, or even try plugging in a full size
USB keyboard.

These look to me like the best suggestions yet in this thread...

 

[Jeff Layman]

Your original post did not mention the fn key...

Fourth paragraph, second sentence "Have also added the fn key or the
Windows key, still
nothing."

Took me some time to find it, too!

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Fourth paragraph, second sentence "Have also added the fn key or the
Windows key, still
nothing."

Took me some time to find it, too!

Thanks, Jeff.

Would you like to be my optometrist?

And apologies to Miles. Sorry about my carelessness...

 

[Miles]

* Gene E. Bloch wrote, On 31-Aug-11 11:07:

Your original post did not mention the fn key...

It most certainly does, Gene, the 2nd line of the 3rd paragraph.
Miles

 

[Miles]

* Gene E. Bloch wrote, On 31-Aug-11 15:34:

Thanks, Jeff.

Would you like to be my optometrist?

And apologies to Miles. Sorry about my carelessness...

Me thinks you both need an ophthalmologist!
Miles

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

* Gene E. Bloch wrote, On 31-Aug-11 11:07:

It most certainly does, Gene, the 2nd line of the 3rd paragraph.
Miles

Squints, then apologizes...

Re your remark about an ophthalmologist: actually, it *is* time for my
biennial eye appointment

 

[Miles]

* KCB wrote, On 30-Aug-11 20:05:

Use the fn key to enable the numeric keypad (numpad) on your keyboard. This
won't be a separate numpad, like a full size keyboard, but you should see
some keys that have numbers indicated on them, in a different color/font
than the standard key indicators. Once you've used your fn key to enable
these, you use them the same way you used the numpad in WinXP.

What you are doing by entering Alt+0162 is using ASCII code (Google it) to
generate plain-text characters. If you tell us which laptop you have, we
may be able to tell you exactly which keys to use, or you could look in the
manual that (hopefully) came with the computer.

If your computer doesn't have the numpad capability with the fn key, you can
get a separate USB numpad fairly cheap, or even try plugging in a full size
USB keyboard.

It would appear that my only choice is to buy a separate USB numpad --
only trouble is I'm also out of USB ports, so also need to buy a USB pad!

The laptop is an HP DM4-1060us. And no it doesn't have keys with
numpad designations, and of course there's no instruction book with it
except a small brochure to set it up. Have checked HP help and
haven't found mention of it. One would think that if it didn't have a
keyboard method, they would include an on-line keyboard that would
open for touch or at least advise which keys do what -- but guess no
keys do anything!
Miles

 

[thanatoid]

<snip>

I love all these posts about how wondeful Win7 is.

Anyway, have you tried this page?

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/manualCategory?document=%
26product%3D4221598%26lc%3Den

It has 4 things to DL - and I would DL the service guide as
well, because very often you can find stuff there that they
think anyone else is just too stupid to understand. ATST, it is
often ASTOUNDING how simple the stuff in the service manual is.

Anyway...

 

[thanatoid]

<snip>

Also, as much as I hate to mention this, next time you're buying
a laptop, you might want to research things a little...

While they quote HP saying:

"...fuses fashion with efficiency to offer a stylish notebook PC
that meets the personal computing and entertainment needs of
every consumer."

/They/ say:

"75%: This rating is bad. Most notebooks are better rated. This
is not a recommendation for purchase."

That's from:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/HP-Pavilion-dm4-1060us.33408.0.html

Of, course, you can probably find ten other sites that will
claim this is the best notebook ever, and I am too lazy to read
the thread so I don't know if YOU have had any problems with the
touchpad (it was mentioned on all 3 pages I actually looked at),
but...

 

[KCB]

* KCB wrote, On 30-Aug-11 20:05:

It would appear that my only choice is to buy a separate USB numpad --
only trouble is I'm also out of USB ports, so also need to buy a USB pad!

The laptop is an HP DM4-1060us. And no it doesn't have keys with numpad
designations, and of course there's no instruction book with it except a
small brochure to set it up. Have checked HP help and haven't found
mention of it. One would think that if it didn't have a keyboard method,
they would include an on-line keyboard that would open for touch or at
least advise which keys do what -- but guess no keys do anything!
Miles

Sorry to hear your laptop won't do what you want. On the bright side, USB
hubs and numpads are relatively cheap accessories. I recommend newegg.com.
Good luck.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

Sorry to hear your laptop won't do what you want. On the bright side,
USB hubs and numpads are relatively cheap accessories. I recommend
newegg.com. Good luck.

Not only that, but quite a lot of USB keyboards have at least one USB
port, some two, i. e. they include a hub anyway.

On the depressing side, my experience (in XP) of using a numpad with a
netbook, especially to generate special characters, hasn't been great. I
can't specifically remember what problems I had, but I definitely had
some, and usually just end up using charmap.