Replacing Scroll Lock and Pause / Break

Learning and discussion Key layouts
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Greetings! This is the official Kono Store account. We have a question for you (making this an ambitious first post).

Which keys would you replace Scroll Lock and Pause / Break with?

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Scroll Lock and Pause / Break are extant keys with antediluvian origins. They can be reprogrammed, but that doesn’t save them from being utterly useless to most people in base keyboard configurations. We want to find out which keys / base layer assignments would best replace them. This would mean new legends on most of our keyboards at some point in the future.

Our media key concept (pictured above for roasting) would leave Print Screen as-is (it still has some use), but we’re not opposed to placing it on the function layer by default. The Previous Track function is rarely used, so it wasn’t prioritized. Play / Pause would replace Scroll Lock and Next Track would replace Pause / Break on the base layer.

We’re not concerned about the rest of the function layer, or keyboards with additional dedicated media keys, as all of that will change on a keyboard-to-keyboard basis. This is primarily a way to make “dead” keys useful without reprogramming (while maintaining backwards compatibility with things like Excel) in standard full size / TKL keyboards.

That said, what do you think?

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Media keys would be a pretty good replacement, or RGB toggle/mode

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We’re thinking about something that would play nice with non-RGB models as well, but that makes sense.

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Media keys: Volume Up, Down and Mute is what I’d use them for.

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We considered volume up / down and mute as well — there’s a couple situations in which those controls aren’t as useful.

  • External audio controls, such as a headphone amps / studio monitors / surround systems.
  • Incoming VOIP calls / Discord comms while music is playing.

Volume keys also tend to be a very personal keybind. I see people placing them on Fn + Page Up / Down, [ and ], the arrow keys, and a bunch of other spots.

Still very open to the volume key idea though!

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Maybe if you want to appeal for wider gamer audiences, you could do Windows-key lock on one of them?

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That’s a firmware-side thing — the best way to do that on a WhiteFox / one of our programmables would be a dedicated gaming layer.

We’ll definitely keep that feature in mind going forward, though. Particularly as we work with Hexgears.

It’s likely that the feature would receive its own Fn + key combo or a hold to activate function (hold Win down for 3 seconds to lock / unlock).

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Posted it on GH too, but I think you should go for full media keys and ditch the print screen.

Something like this maybe?
media

Really looking forward to the RE:Type, btw.

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I replied over there as well. Pure media keys would kill some functionality that people still might need in Excel, command lines, etc.

Mute ^ Print Screen, Play / Pause ^ Scroll Lock, and Next Track ^ Pause / Break could be interesting though.

Admittedly, the volume keys are prettiest out of the options.

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We’re likely going to use Print Screen, Vol -, and Vol +. Those seem to be the most-demanded options from each forum.

They’re also the best options in terms of cross-OS compatibility.

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The very first mech I had, a Ducky, had a few dedicated keys above the numpad to launch the calculator and to open file explorer/My computer. I still miss those

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I like this

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I would love for the keys to be F13-15. Or any other, bindable keys for gaming, that aren’t dedicated to a media function or – as they currently are – not bindable and useless.

I’m left-handed. So I game with my right hand using Delete/End/Page Down as “home row”. This turns the right side of my keyboard into an effective “gaming pad”. I pull the Numlock key for the problems it causes. Re-map the “enter/return” key for chat windows to F9. And viola! I have a ton of bindable keys in a hand-friendly layout.

Shift- and control- are both an easier reach with the thumb, than using standard home positions, and a pinky-reach for shift in QWERTY mode. The ONLY drawback, are those 3 deadweight keys above Insert, Home and Page Up…i.e. the 3 your question is about.

So my two cents, on this old question, is F13-F15. i.e.let the user decide.

If those are not an option, my basic suggestion would be “let the user program them”, don’t give them dedicated functions. A keyboard that shipped with them would have built in versatility, instead of the dead weight of the current keys (I’d let “printscreen” be an OPTION the user can choose, but not forced upon them).

There’s my 2 cents :stuck_out_tongue:

[Edit: I’ve uses #sharpkeys to regedit the two I could…PrntScrn and ScrollLock I think it was – so I definitely know I like this option for a left-handed-mouser and right-handed keyboard for gaming!]

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