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1. #FUNCTION KEYS ON MAC KEYBOARD ON WINDOWS FULL#
2. #FUNCTION KEYS ON MAC KEYBOARD ON WINDOWS PRO#
3. #FUNCTION KEYS ON MAC KEYBOARD ON WINDOWS SOFTWARE#
4. #FUNCTION KEYS ON MAC KEYBOARD ON WINDOWS SERIES#

IBM Model F keyboard with two rows of 12 function keys at the top. It wasn’t until 1984 that 12 function keys became the standard when IBM introduced the Model M keyboard, a legend of its kind.

#FUNCTION KEYS ON MAC KEYBOARD ON WINDOWS FULL#

Eventually, it was updated with two full rows of 12 function keys at the top-24 in total. While the 2201 had its function keys on the right side of the keyboard, the original IBM Model F keyboard from 1981 took a different approach and put 10 function keys off to the left in two columns of five keys. In other words, even on a proto-computer that didn’t have a screen, function keys could do weird, efficient stuff with ink and punch tape. The program that links the function keys and electronic tab stops to behaviors is a plugboard with a maze of wires from input pins that are triggered by keyboard keys (both function keys and others like return and shift) and by electronic tabs, to output pins that evoke behaviors like the actual return, tab, tape reader on, tape punch on, auxiliary reader on, auxiliary punch on, auxiliary search for mark, etc.” “It was programmable, with a tab bar you could swap out…with mechanical tab stops on the front of the tab bar and electronic stops on the back. The functions keys were programmable via a plugboard on the back of the machine, as Jones explains:

#FUNCTION KEYS ON MAC KEYBOARD ON WINDOWS SERIES#

“But indeed, as far as I can tell, the 22xx series of Programmatic Flexowriters were the first to have programmable function keys.” “It’s not a computer, but a stand-alone word processor that could be hooked up as a computer terminal,” says Doug Jones, a computer science associate professor at the University of Iowa. The keyboard on the Model 2201 Progammatic Flexowriter, with the function keys on the left side. Except, it wasn’t necessarily a computer.

It had 13 function keys off to the right, located where the number pad would be on modern keyboards. One of the earliest examples of function keys were those found on the Model 2201 Programmatic Flexowriter from Friden in 1965. And in cases where you had lots of different options to choose from on the screen (like in Lotus 1-2-3), you could use function keys to quickly select something, instead of repeatedly pressing arrow keys. They functioned much like how they function today, performing common commands with just the press of a button.įor instance, in the command-line-centered MS-DOS, F1, F2, and F3 provided quick ways to copy and edit previous commands. And function keys were really nice to have. Thus, function keys were born.īack in the early days of computing, when GUIs didn’t yet exist, people typed into command prompts. Where Did Function Keys Come From?Īs typewriters faded out and more complex personal computers took their place, more keys had to be added to the keyboard to handle all of the added functionality.

#FUNCTION KEYS ON MAC KEYBOARD ON WINDOWS SOFTWARE#

On some keyboards, you can use Function Lock to switch the top row between special keys and Function keys, or often change a software or BIOS setting to pick either one. Other times, function keys can be combined with other modifier keys (Control, Alt, Shift, etc.) to perform even more actions-like Alt+F4 for quitting a program in Windows. For example, the F5 key on a MacBook is designated as a brightness adjustment key for the keyboard’s backlight-it isn’t until you hold down the “Fn” key and press F5 that it will perform its in-app function (like reloading a web page in your browser). Most keyboards have function keys, but sometimes the keys are mapped to other actions by default and can only be used as actual function keys if you press a dedicated “Fn” modifier key on the keyboard first. Some function keys are more universal, like F1 to open a help window in most apps.

In a web browser, F5 refreshes the current web page, but in PowerPoint, it starts your slideshow. These keys perform shortcuts to certain functions (hence their name), and they have different actions assigned to them depending on what app you’re using. What Are Function Keys, Anyways?įunction keys are the top row of keys on your keyboard, and they’re easily identified by an “F” and a number (F1, F2, F3, and so on). In fact, function keys have been around since the earliest days of personal computing. If this is indeed the end of function keys on MacBooks, they had a good run.

#FUNCTION KEYS ON MAC KEYBOARD ON WINDOWS PRO#

Apple officially did away with function keys on the MacBook Pro for its mid-2019 refresh, going all-in on the Touch Bar instead.