The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Thinkpad BIOS hacked to allow switch of Fn and Ctrl keys!

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by qweewq11, Mar 14, 2010.

  1. qweewq11

    qweewq11 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    51
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    I haven't actually tried this, but it seems that someone on the Lenovo forums hacked the BIOS to allow the Fn and Ctrl keys to be switched.

    Lenovo has said they would not release a fix for existing models.

    http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T5...hinkPad-T400-T500-keyboard-SOLVED/td-p/199662

    Has anyone used this? I'm a bit wary about using a hacked BIOS, although I do wish I could switch my Fn and Ctrl keys since the my laptop and desktop keyboards have the keys switched.
     
    qweewq11, Mar 14, 2010
    #1
  2. lead_org

    lead_org Purveyor of Truth

    Reputations:
    1,571
    Messages:
    8,107
    Likes Received:
    126
    Trophy Points:
    231
    try at your own peril.
     
    lead_org, Mar 14, 2010
    #2
  3. qweewq11

    qweewq11 Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    5
    Messages:
    51
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    I think what's particularly remarkable about this is that Lenovo has been insisting that they can't do it because it's a hardware issue.

    Then some dude on the internet does it in his spare time.

    So what's the deal, Lenovo? People on the internet have literally been asking for the option to switch the keys for YEARS (google "Fn Ctrl Thinkpad") with no response. Quite disappointing.
     
    qweewq11, Mar 14, 2010
    #3
  4. pstrisik

    pstrisik Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    81
    Messages:
    324
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I just received a new T510 and there is an option in the factory bios to swap Fn & Ctrl keys. May not help with earlier models, but maybe it will with future bios revisions.

    I haven't tried it yet since I use a utility to swap my CapsLock / Alt / Ctrl keys. I like my Ctrl key next to the A key like it used to be until IBM screwed it up about 20 years ago. I don't know if I can do that double swap or not. It would be nice to have Ctrl Shift Alt in a stack like the old days. [​IMG]
    .
     
    pstrisik, Mar 17, 2010
    #4