[Info-vax] USB keypads, PC laptops and VT-series terminal emulation

[Michael T. Davis]

	I use an old installation of QPC's QVT Term for VMS access.  It has
a few issues, but I've either learned to live with them, or I've managed to
work around them.  I recently acquired a new laptop, and I really need a proper
numeric keypad for proper VT-series terminal emulation.  (The "embedded" keypad
on the laptop just won't cut it.)  Obviously, a real keypad on the laptop would
be ideal, but you end up with a unit you can't typically use on an airplane
(in economy class, anyway), and weight would also be an issue.  So, I went
hunting for a USB numeric keypad with the exact same layout as the typical US
extended PC keyboard/keypad.  I found a unit from Kensington, but when I tried
it, the numeric keys always generated numbers, regardless of the settings in
QVT Term or the state of NumLock on the laptop and/or keypad.  A real external
USB keyboard doesn't exhibit this problem, so I suspect the Kensington keypad
(esp. since it's an older model).  (Unfortunately, I can't afford the space
and awkwardness of carrying around a "real" keyboard.)  I found a comp.os.vms
thread (from 2006) via Google Groups wherein one poster reported no real
problems with the Targus PAUK001.  Targus still has a variant of this model,
the PAUK001U, with doubles as a calculator.  Is anyone currently using one of
these, or a modern model (one that the manufacturer considers current) that
works properly which VT-series terminal emulation software?  (I have also tried
PuTTY with similar results, so I don't really think the emulation software is
the issue as much as the [in]compatibility of the keypad.)

Thanks,
Mike
--
                                         |    Systems Specialist: CBE,MSE
         Michael T. Davis (Mike)         | Departmental Networking/Computing
 http://www.ecr6.ohio-state.edu/~davism/ |     The Ohio State University
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