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101251
January 12th, 2004 11:00
Foreign keyboards
I am a freelance translator and am looking to replace my current notebook. As I frequently write in a foreign language I desperately need a keyboard with accented letters. The problem is that Dell notebooks sold in the US have a standard US keyboard. I know on Dell's foreign sites it is possible to chose the keyboard style when you personalise your machine. For obvious reasons an external keyboard defeats the purpose of buying a notebook (i.e. lack of portability) Why is this option not available in the US?
Is there any way of getting a Dell notebook with a foreign keyboard without buying it outside the US?
Thank you, Triskele
Is there any way of getting a Dell notebook with a foreign keyboard without buying it outside the US?
Thank you, Triskele
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DELL-BobT
3.1K Posts
0
January 12th, 2004 12:00
triskele,
Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.
At this time, Dell US sells only US keyboards. It is possible to make your keyboard emulate that of another language keyboard. You can change the keyboard driver in the Keyboard entry in the Device Manager. In Windows XP, click [Start] | Control Panel | Regional and Language Options | Languages tab | [Details] button | Advanced tab.
Bearw
136 Posts
0
January 16th, 2004 07:00
US International Keyboard
It is a common misconception that a normal US keyboard would be somehow unsuitable for typing accented characters and one would absolutely need a foreign keyboard to type in certain language. For occasional needs, there are some widely known, but tedious, methods to type accented characters like Alt-Numeric keypad method or use of Character Map application with copy and paste.
For someone who needs to type in English and other West- European languages regularly, the most comfortable solution is to use the driver for US International keyboard layout with the standard US keyboard. This driver is part of Windows operating system. Typing in French, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish and in many other languages is very easy with this keyboard layout to the extent that many whose first language is not English, prefer to use US International keyboard instead the standard localized keyboard of their country. US keyboards are available in many countries in addition to the localized keyboard versions.
With US International layout, keyboard keys are not in conflict with the kay legends of a regular US kayboard. This is equally true with US laptop and desktop keyboards. It is important to keep in mind that the US International keyboard driver is not suitable for any other physical keyboard types, not even for those from other English-speaking countries like Canada or the United Kingdom. To use US International keyboard driver, a regular US keyboard is required.
Dead-key method
The principle of US International keyboard is simple. Accented characters are "built" using a separate accent symbol that precedes a letter. The US International keyboard contains 5 "dead" keys which are used to enter accents. These keys are apostrophe ('), grave accent (`), double quotation ("), tilde (~) and circumflex (^) accent. When any of these is pressed, nothing appears on the screen until a second key is pressed. If the second key pressed is one of the letters that can receive an accent mark an accented letter will appear on the screen. Otherwise two characters, the corresponding symbol and the second character, will appear. An exception to this is the case when the second character is space, in which case only the accent character will appear alone. The reason for this is to allow typing characters on dead keys alone when needed.
For instance, to type an a-umlaut (ä), double quote (") is entered first followed by letter 'a'. ( " + a = ä ); the accented character is "built" of two components.
The five dead keys represent the following accent marks:
Right Alt-method
In addition to the accented characters, some other special characters are needed when typing in other languages. US International keyboard addresses this problem by modifying the behavior of the right Alt-key on regular US-keyboard. When the [Right Alt] or [Right Alt][Shift] is used in combination with other keys, many special symbols/characters can be created. Most of these are easy to remember and logical like, for instance, the combination of [Right Alt] and letter 's' which gives a German sharp-s symbol (ß). Some of the accented characters can also be typed this way in addition to the dead key metho
Switching to US International keyboard
Asmodean
1 Message
0
January 27th, 2004 14:00
Hi!
Thanks for the information. Since I am moving to Germany is it possible to purchase an additional German keyboard (for an Inspiron 8600) there and replace the old one by myself? Is that easy and what about the warranty?
Mark