What is this bluetooth keyboard and how can I make its Escape and F-keys work?
I recently found this keyboard in hard rubbish. I really like the feel! I've had a lot of trouble finding a bluetooth keyboard that I like, so I'm motivated to try to make this one work.
There are absolutely no hints who the manufacturer is, what model it is, etc. It comes up in the Bluetooth settings as just "Bluetooth keyboard". It is powered by two AAA batteries. There is a battery/bluetooth indicator above the F11 key that goes green when turned on, and flashes green when pairing.
Underneath there is an on-off switch and a "connect" button. There is a very generic FCC compliance notice, and space for a serial number, but no serial number.
There are two major problems:
- the escape key (marked as a rounded rectangle symbol) does nothing unless the Fn key is held down
- the F keys all perform their second function (volume up/down etc), even when the Fn key is down.
And some real quirks with the F keys:
| Key | Without Fn | With Fn |
|---|---|---|
| F1-F2 | Screen brightness up/down | Same |
| F3 (magnifying glass) | Nothing | Mission Control |
| F4 (flower in a box) | Short press: nothing. Medium press: screen goes blank. Long press: prompt to shut down computer (!) | Nothing |
| F5 "keyboard symbol". | Nothing. | F5 |
| F6 (no symbol) | F6 | F6 |
| F7-F12. | Music controls, volume controls, etc. | Same. |
| Lock key | Lock | Del. |
So:
- what keyboard is this? (EDIT Looks very similar to this )
- how can I make the Escape key work even without Fn? (Showstopper...)
- is there a way to fix the issue with the Fn key not providing access to the F keys?
Worst comes to worst, I'd probably be happy to buy a very similar keyboard to this one if it had the same feel but without the quirks. It feels like maybe this is a knock-off of some well-known brand, but it's actually pretty good (quirks aside).
By using the Key Codes app, I can see that no key events are generated when pressing F1-F12 (other than F6, or Fn+F5 and Fn+F6), or when pressing Esc. So it seems unlikely any software solution can fix this?
The best workaround seems to be remapping Capslock to Esc as suggested here.
Bizarrely, the description on Amazon says:
P.S.1: There is no Escape key for Macbook. P.S.2: This keyboard may not compatible well with the Windows 10, Mac mini, Macbook Pro, Moto RAZR or iPad Pro 10.5 2017
(My emphasis)
This is a keyboard designed for use with Macs (it has the control/alt/command keys etc), and yet it "may not compatible well with...Mac mini, Macbook Pro". What are they even saying, it only works well with iMac and Macbook Air? Crazy. Why would that even be the case?