10

I'm a windows developer, recently I'm having to work on a Mac in order to develop for iPhone.

Long story short, I want all the hotkeys to be identical to windows to my already "learned" hotkeys stay the same.

Is there an application to allow me to do this? Or can I just set this up through the standard keyboard settings?

For example, I want Ctrl+C/V to copy/paste, Alt+Tab to switch windows, End/Home to go to the end of a line and not the end of a file (Mac Ctrl+Right Arrow/Left Arrow).

I'm on Mac OS X 10.6 (I think called Snow leopard).

My best solution so far:

Use synergy and 1 keyboard to transition from Windows to Mac. It maps the windows hotkeys correctly to mac, and allows me to use 1 keyboard/mouse between 2 machines! There is some unix knowledged required to make this work on startup, as I had to write a .sh shell script to make it happen on the Mac.

I'm marking the top answer as the solution, as it led me to this option.

jonathanpeppers
  • 203
  • 2
  • 8
  • 8
    Not for nothing, but you're shortchanging yourself by doing this. Embrace the platform, or at least learn both. I promise, the resulting application(s) you develop for the iOS platform (and potentially the OS X world) will improve if you shake off any Windows' shackles you have left. Don't try to make one like the other. They are very different platforms, and as a developer, you should adapt accordingly. And anybody who thinks otherwise: Look at the Adobe Creative Suite, Mac vs PC. Then look at Microsoft Office, Mac vs PC. Thats the difference between embracing the platform, and not. – peelman Aug 16 '10 at 19:54
  • Ahaha. Microsoft's learned hopefully, and Office 2011 should be better. – Vervious Aug 16 '10 at 20:09
  • 6
    I think you are missing my issue. My productivity on Windows is at a point where it cannot get any better, development in Visual Studio 2010 with standard Windows hotkeys. Learning hotkeys on Mac will "de-learn" my hotkeys on Windows and lower productivity on both OS's. Why would anyone learn both when you can tailor one to match the other? If I learn Cmd+Tab to switch apps, this would cause me to mistakenly hit Win+Tab to switch apps in windows (which doesn't work at all on XP). – jonathanpeppers Aug 16 '10 at 20:14
  • Well, command is in a similar position to Alt on my keyboard... just saying. :) – Vervious Aug 16 '10 at 20:17
  • 1
    Just FYI, on the mac, the alt key is used in keyboard mapping for extended character sets and international accented characters. For example, alt-4 is a ¢, and alt-8 is a bullet (•). The mac keyboard makes great use of "dead keys" so you can type alt-` then e to get an è. If you think you can go "full windows shortcuts" to try to use the alt-key for keyboard equivalents (like alt-f4 instead of command-q) you're setting yourself up for a world of hurt and disappointment. – ghoppe Aug 16 '10 at 20:39
  • I still think you guys are missing the point. If I learn Cmd+Q to quit applications on the Mac, then I will inevitably hit Win+Q to try to close applications on Windows. This hurts productivity. I don't think you guys are realizing the speed at which I can navigate on Windows. This is something maybe only developers would understand--for a Unix user it would be like switching from vi to pico/nano and vice versa. When people see me using a Windows computer, their usual first response is: "How did you do that? What in heck are you pushing?" – jonathanpeppers Aug 16 '10 at 22:06
  • @Jonathan.Peppers I understand your point. But to use your unix analogy, you're asking to be able to use vi but switch all the shortcuts to pico/nano. Maybe it can be done, but what are you missing? You've learned Visual Studio 2010 and now you'll have to learn XCode, with new shortcuts and UI paradigms. I'm glad you found synergy, I've used it for years and it's awesome to share one keyboard with Mac/Windows machines. But there will still be quirks and your brain will have to "remap" your muscle-memory depending on which UI is in front of your eyeballs. – ghoppe Aug 16 '10 at 22:30
  • @ghoppe ++. We're not missing the point, I understand your point, but I'm telling you, you are only hurting yourself. In terms of Cmd-Tab vs Alt-Tab, that is a perfect example of the paradigm differences. There is not "Scroll through ALL OPEN WINDOWS" on OS X like there is on Windows. On OS X, you can scroll through open _applications_ or through the windows _within_ an application. – peelman Aug 18 '10 at 17:27
  • The point WE are making is, once you _learn_ OS X, you won't really be that much more inefficient on Windows, you'll have just learned how inefficient the entire design of Windows is. – peelman Aug 18 '10 at 17:28

2 Answers2

7

You can map the keyboard to your liking. System Preferences -> Keyboard & Mouse -> Keyboard and then Modifier Keys. I don't think there is any "app" or more universal method.

For example you can map the Ctrl to the Command key, and use the "Ctrl" key like the "command key" (so now ctrl+c is copy, etc.).... but then Ctrl+tab will now be the equivalent of alt-tab functionality which you might not want.

You can also set keyboard shortcuts for specific applications using System Preferences -> Keyboard -> keyboard shortcuts. It probably won't affect general hotkeys as a whole.

It's two different OSes, and in the long run if you expect to stay on the Mac platform just getting used to the Command key might be a better idea.

Btw, on Snow Leopard Ctrl+right arrow and Ctrl+left arrow is usually used for Spaces. The key combo for moving to beginning/end of lines is Command+arrow I think.

In Xcode it behaves differently, and instead just jumps words: You could probably map a keyboard shortcut via Sys Prefs or just use the default Command+ left and Command+right (or Ctrl+A and Ctrl+E) to go to the beginning and ends of a line.

EDIT you could also use the occasional hotkey program, I suggest looking around superuser for the "remap keys on OS X" type questions, since a lot of answers suggest programs. I personally don't know of any since I don't use any.

For such apps to use to change keyboard shortcuts, this superuser thread might be useful if you're looking for something similar to AutoHotKeys

Community
  • 1
Vervious
  • 4,794
  • 4
  • 30
  • 35
  • Right, what I'm looking for is a way to make Alt+Tab and all the other stuff to work at the same time. I'm going to be switching back and forth Windows/Mac constantly, so 2 different key shortcut sets are not a good option. Is there a way to change. I think there are placing in XCode/MonoDevelop where I can modify Ctrl+Arrows. – jonathanpeppers Aug 16 '10 at 19:34
  • For programs/apps to help change, this thread http://superuser.com/questions/28023/autohotkey-equivalent-on-mac might be useful if you're looking for something similar to AutoHotKeys. – Vervious Aug 16 '10 at 19:51
  • I will try QuickSilver, and changing System Preferences, I'll let you know my results. – jonathanpeppers Aug 16 '10 at 20:17
-1

All this stuff like alt+tab ctrl+c/v goes to cmd+tab, cmd+c/v. end/home page up/down works with normal keyboard, also some shortcuts available for this like fn+arrows instead of home/end.. but if you have normal keyboard it's ok. cmd key will be your windows key which you probably have now with simple keyboard..

the think you'll miss the most: shift+delete doesn't exists in here. cmd+x [ctrl+x in windows] - cut, doesn't work with files, but works anywhere with text manipulation.. you will hate itunes at first but, once you'll start, you'll be fine after some time.. well and maybe winrar style archivator is anti-mac style software, so you'll miss this kind of gui in here also..

hmz.. to change language [you'll need to enable this] will be cmd+space

can't think of more for now =)

holms
  • 3,257
  • 4
  • 25
  • 33
  • The OP wasn't chasing a run down of all of the options, but rather a way to swap the keys over :) – EvilChookie Aug 16 '10 at 19:44
  • belive me he really just want to know how to get this functionality =) i don't be live that he will rebind whole osx, and then whole xcode – holms Aug 16 '10 at 22:49
  • easy on the language. Especially is all you do is criticizing the OP's need. *removed previous comment* – Gnoupi Aug 17 '10 at 06:00