Macos – How to swap the usage of the ‘fn’ key for the Razer Blackwidow on OSX

driversmacosrazer-keyboard

I just bought the Razer Blackwidow 2013 keyboard, and after installing drivers (Synapse 2.0) I run into a strange issue:

My function keys started to work very strange. They started to use their "shortcuts" (not sure how to properly name it) without the need to tap fn key + function key.

For example: F9 starts Macro recording instead of MissionControl. And now to achieve default behavior I need to press fn key with function keys.

Without drivers, function keys work fine (F9 for MissionControl etc). Also I can tap fn key + a function key to use a shortcut: turn sound on/off, stop/play music etc. But without drivers I can't use on the fly macro recording, which is why I decided to install Synapse.

If I turn on "Gaming Mode" everything works as expected. Functional keys behavior is default. And if I tap fn + function key shortcuts works fine.

My question is: is there a workaround to get default functionality without the need to use "Gaming Mode"? Because for now everything seems to work "inside out".

Best Answer

I have the same issue on OSX. I think the problem isn't related to the keyboard or synapse but to OSX. Indeed, on a MAC functions keys use the "shortcuts" (lights, volume) without fn pressed. You should try to go in System Settings, keyboard and then select "Use F1, F2 as standard function key"

Related Solutions

Macos – OSX drivers for Razer Blackwidow Keyboard

There are no official Razer drivers available on their site. It seems they announced drivers 6 months ago though.

YYYYYEEESSS!!!! "There will be a fully Mac-compatible driver for the Razer BlackWidow"

(user comment on a Razer facebook page)

Try using USB Overdrive, a commercial third-party USB device utility.

The USB Overdrive is a device driver for Mac OS X that handles any USB mouse / trackball / joystick / gamepad / media keyboard and any Bluetooth mouse from any manufacturer and lets you configure them either globally or on a per-application, per-device basis.

(emphasis by me)

Linux – Get Macro Keys from Razer BlackWidow to Work

M1-M5 are in fact regular keys - they just need to be specifically enabled before pressing them will generate a scancode. tux_mark_5 developed a small Haskell program which sends the correct SET_REPORT message to Razer keyboards to enable these keys, and ex-parrot ported the same code to Python.

On Arch Linux systems the Python port has been packaged and is available from https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=60518.

On Debian or Ubuntu systems setting up the Python port of the code is relatively easy. You need to install PyUSB and libusb (as root):

    aptitude install python-usb

Then grab the blackwidow_enable.py file from http://finch.am/projects/blackwidow/ and execute it (also as root):

    chmod +x blackwidow_enable.py
    ./blackwidow_enable.py

This will enable the keys until the keyboard is unplugged or the machine is rebooted. To make this permanent call the script from whatever style of startup script you most prefer. For instructions on how to set this up in Debian have a look at the Debian documentation.

To use tux_mark_5's Haskell code you'll need to install Haskell and compile the code yourself. These instructions are for a Debian-like system (including Ubuntu).

Install GHC, libusb-1.0-0-dev and cabal (as root):

aptitude install ghc libusb-1.0-0-dev cabal-install git pkg-config

Fetch the list of packages:
```
cabal update
```
Install USB bindings for Haskell (no need for root):
```
cabal install usb
```

Download the utility:

git clone git://github.com/tuxmark5/EnableRazer.git

Build the utility:
```
cabal configure
cabal build
```
Run the utility (also as root):
```
./dist/build/EnableRazer/EnableRazer
```

After this you can copy EnableRazer binary anywhere you want and run it at startup.

Immediately after execution, X server should see M1 as XF86Tools, M2 as XF86Launch5, M3 as XF86Launch6, M4 as XF86Launch7 and M5 as XF86Launch8. Events for FN are emitted as well.

These keys can be bound within xbindkeys or KDE's system settings to arbitrary actions.

Since your keyboard might be different, you might need to change the product ID in Main.hs line 64:

withDevice 0x1532 0x<HERE GOES YOUR KEYBOARD's PRODUCT ID> $ \dev -> do

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Macos – OSX drivers for Razer Blackwidow Keyboard

Linux – Get Macro Keys from Razer BlackWidow to Work

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