After I finished the tedious process of making a QuicKeys keyset to re-map my PowerBook keyboard into a numeric keypad, I began wondering why Apple did not just supply a KCHR that does it. After a while of wondering about that, I decided it would be easier to just do it myself. It took about 15 seconds, using the great KCHR editor in ResEdit.
(The big advantage a KCHR has over a QuicKeys keyset is that you can use the Key Caps DA to view the keyboard.)
Since I assume that such a thing might be useful to other PowerBook users, I have uploaded a pair of keyboard layout (kfil) files containing keyboard layouts called "U.S. (PowerBook)" and "Dvorak (PowerBook)," which the System 7 Finder will allow you to drag into your System file. Then you can use the Keyboard control panel to activate the one you want. And then, by holding down the option and ctrl keys, you will have a numeric keypad on your PowerBook.
Here is the key mapping I used, It assumes that the option and ctrl modifier keys are down. The layout is based on the standard Calculator DA:
KEYBOARD CHARACTER
8 9 0 = / *
U I O P 7 8 9 -
J K L : 4 5 6 +
M , . / 1 2 3 =
space enter 0 .
As I mentioned above, you can always use the Key Caps DA to review the keyboard layout. Just remember to press option-ctrl.
A nice complement would be to have QuicKeys do an Edit-menu Clear on the option-ctrl-7 keystroke.
I hope this little addition proves useful to others.
