Skip to content


Remapping the Dell Mini 9 (inspiron 910) Keyboard

View Comments

As I’ve said in my last few posts about my new Dell Mini 9 I was frustrated with the keyboard layout. The ‘apostrophe/quotation mark’ key was moved down to next to the left arrow key. This just wasn’t cutting it for me. 

The semicolon/colon is still where it is supposed to be and it got me to thinking… I don’t really use the semicolon key much. Really, I barely use it at all. I do however use the apostrophe key all the damn time. Who doesn’t use contractions all the time? Seriuosly, I’m just a readneck medic and I don’t do proper grammar….
So, I began looking for my options. As it turns out, Microsoft has a program just for this. Microsoft Keyboard Layout creator. Version 1.3 works on XP and older, 1.4 with Vista. The problem is there really are no instructions on how to use it. So I figured it out all by myself!
It is pretty damn simple though… 
Simply install the program and then follow these steps.
Once you’ve finished running the program setup open it up from the start menu. Next click on File and then “load existing keyboard”. This will pull your existing keyboard up on the screen. 
A screen pops up asking you to select which keyboard you want to load, choose the US keyboard.
Now, find the key you want to remap. It won’t look exactly like yours on screen. I just push the key that I want to change. Then click on it, and on the right press ALL. I decided that I wanted to change the semicolon key to the apostrophy key, and vice versa. You will have to fill in the second box to fill it in for the Shift+ key as well.  It will autofill the unicode in where you type the normal key. Just type the key you used and it will show up, then be replaced by unicode.
Then click ok. Next go to FILE and push SAVE Source file. Once you’ve done that go to the Project tab on the top menu bar. Click BUILD DLL AND SETUP PACKAGE. It will take a minute and you will see a menu asking if you would like to see the files. Click yes. 
Next, find the icon that describes your computer. For standard Intel processors Use the i386. Click to open. It may take a minute to get it complete.
After this it was a little confusing for me. Basically you have two keyboards installed now(or I did something wrong). I thought nothing had changed. So I did a quick RESTART and still no change. Then I noticed the Language bar was on the bottom toolbark, with a keyboard Icon. I clicked it and the option for my US CUSTOM keyboard. Select that. Then click settings. Go into settings and remove the old keyboard that you aren’t using anymore. 
You will have to restart for this to take effect. Upon restart you should be where you want to be! You can use this to remap any key. You can get rid of CAPS lock(make it another shift key), etc.
Once you’ve done all of this you can even pop the keys off and put them where you have remapped them to be. I haven’t done this yet but it looks pretty standard like most laptops. 
This took me all of 7 minutes to do–and that was while I was figuring it out!
Any questions: medicthree@gmail.com

Also on MedicThree …

Share and Enjoy:
  • Print
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Twitter
  • FriendFeed
  • email
  • LinkedIn
  • MySpace

View Comments

  1. Evil Transport Lady says

    Wow you can do that?? That is so cool! Hope it works out for you:)

    on October 3, 2008 @ 1:15 pm.
  2. MedicThree says

    Yup. It is working great so far! I am getting the hang of it… now I keep missing the semicolon key!

    on October 4, 2008 @ 1:05 am.
  3. Evil Transport Lady says

    Hahahahaha!, that tiny keyboard would drive me to drink!

    on October 4, 2008 @ 10:48 am.
  4. Anonymous says

    Holy crap what a stupid design.Don’t expect to do any programming on that stupid computer.Good find though ;) I probably would have used this joke program I have that switches keys. :P

    on October 6, 2008 @ 5:25 pm.
  5. Anonymous says

    Out of interest, would this utility allow you to remap fn-T and fn-Y to become F11 and F12 keys? This is my personal biggest gripe about the Dell Mini :)

    on October 7, 2008 @ 3:42 am.
  6. MedicThree says

    My understanding is that yes, you can. You need to look up the unicode for those keys, and manually enter them, as where normally you can just press the key you want and it will automatically enter the unicode for you.

    on October 7, 2008 @ 3:51 am.
  7. Devin says

    This is great info. I'm curious to hear how you get used to it. I was seriously considering purchasing one of these but as an occasional writer of fiction, I use the ' & " quite a bit. I was quite disappointed once I took a closer look at the keyboard layout.

    on October 27, 2008 @ 7:17 pm.
  8. Anonymous says

    sweet walkthrough! I’ve been wondering how to do this… tks bunches!

    on December 16, 2008 @ 3:35 am.
  9. MedicThree says

    Glad it helped. Not sure what the hell happened to the pics though!

    on December 17, 2008 @ 7:23 am.
  10. Anonymous says

    on the latest BIOS update, fn+Z = F11 and fn+X = F12, so no need to remap for those. Thanks for finding this program, it will come in handy :-)

    on December 30, 2008 @ 8:06 am.
  11. Anonymous says

    An nice addition to this is downloading the microsoft intellipoint drivers package.It gives you on screen indication for caps lock and audio mute/up/down[i]Note: If you use this.. Don’t change the actual driver during in installation.otherwise your netbooks’ keyboard and mouse will stop working and force you to use an external one to fix it.[/i]After it is installed…. run the program called “microsoft keyboard” and select “Wireless Keyboard 2000″Don’t change the actual driver, just change the configuration.You will now have OSD !

    on March 17, 2009 @ 4:15 pm.
  12. md683 says

    OK- there were some leaps of faith involved but I’ve done it! Thanks for the directions. I even switched the keys (same complaint as you with the apostrophe and semi-colon) and I feel complete now…

    on May 6, 2009 @ 2:53 am.
  13. alicialse says

    kuywgf fafhdkaushgdfkuhalf lasfglagflagldf alhsgflasgofhgalsgf alisfglaisgfl alsidfglaisgf
    http://kahfkaghkfkaufuyrfgy.com

    on August 15, 2010 @ 6:38 pm.
  14. AuropicaGT says

    teen nude art pre view
    pre teen nn model free pics
    sandra teen model sex
    teen hairy pussy sex
    teen free nude video
    hungarian czech teens nude pussy
    pics of teens raped
    tight teens with big tits
    free non nude teen picks
    sexy teens anal

    video teens

    on August 16, 2010 @ 10:45 pm.
  15. Undopaymymn says

    In young or immature tsetse, the energy obtained from .Age alone is not a good predictor of driving safety.
    Porno

    on August 18, 2010 @ 11:23 am.
  16. Zorieliedly says

    Delete plz.... Sorry

    on August 23, 2010 @ 11:51 am.
  17. cashcompounder says

    Sick to death of blowing money on notorious “Forex bots” which promise “no losses” and end up raping your account of thousands? Learn the secret that finally turned the Forex market into my own private cash machine completely on AUTOPILOT… No matter what your experience, this will work for YOU! ava auto trader Come to smartforexsignal.com

    on August 28, 2010 @ 5:23 pm.
  18. janetBrooklynWh says

    Awesome post, I will be sure to recommend to friends!

    on September 1, 2010 @ 10:11 am.
  19. teaxtawimiTen says

    Hello.
    Do you understand me?
    putana-cz-cz.ru

    on September 2, 2010 @ 12:35 am.

Some HTML is OK

or, reply to this post via trackback.

blog comments powered by Disqus