How can you fake the missing <insert> key?
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Eru Ithildur
Forum Maven
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)
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)
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).
I don't know whether any of this helps
(pun intended).AlanH said: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
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.
Revitonamac
Bit poster
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!!!AlanH said: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
Cheers!
Hugh Watkins
Forum Maven
chabig said:
it is a left over from dos and terminal days
Hugh W
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.
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.
AlanH said:
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" ...
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?
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.
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.
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
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
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