The new Microsoft copilot key is impossible to properly remap.
(midwest.social)
attero
LinuxThe new Micro~~soft~~slop copilot key always sends the following key-sequence when pressed down:
left-shift-down left-meta-down f23-down f23-up left-meta-up left-shift-up
This means there's no real key-up event when you release the key --> it can't be used (properly) as a modifier like ctrl or alt.
The workaround is to send a pretend key-up event after a time delay, but then you mustn't be too slow / fast when pressing a shortcut.
- Linux workaround: https://github.com/m-bartlett/remap-copilot?tab=readme-ov-file
- Windows workaround https://github.com/randyrants/sharpkeys/issues/560
- https://xcancel.com/dcolascione/status/2019936377408811319
tldr: AI took a perfectly working modifier key from you.
Ive never used right control before but still what is this bullshit. Theyre gonna take my sweet baby alt gr next... ill commit murder before that happens. As a three and a half lingual person, all of which are european, i cant live without the us intl with altgr dead key layout.
I still miss times when the bottom row was just Ctrl, Alt, Space, Alt, Ctrl.
My work laptop has this key and I remapped it with Raycast. Now, every time the key is being pressed, confetti flies across my screen. 🎉
This better be a temporary thing in PCs like when they used to have key locks or turbo buttons.
You mean the keylocks and turbo buttons that started in the mid 80s and ended in the early naughties?
Yeah pretty much. Hopefully it would end much sooner than that.
The Copilot logo is the computer version of aposematism.
This might as well be a sticker that says "don't buy this shit" at a glance.
I never use Right Ctrl but I will defend it against this abomination at any cost
A VM software I've used at work uses right Ctrl as the button to alert the host machine "Hey the user is addressing you now".
Want to take a wild guess who set up a VM on an old intern's laptop after they returned to school and didn't notice there wasn't a right Ctrl key anymore?
Is the true solution to just not use a keyboard with a copilot key?
Or take apart the keyboard, gently disable the switch, and replace it with a stationary 3D-printed key with a middle-finger texture as a constant reminder that this is why we don't let computers run themselves.
Alright, still lost the modifier key though.
yassss queen slay
Yes, but that's essentially 'I would simply not have that problem.'
Not having problems sounds great to me! I'll stick with my trusty old Thinkpad.
You can't use it forever, and even thinkpads have copilot buttons now.
I'll probably have that problem in 15 years, I just upgraded from my T430
wtf ? a physical key on laptops that calls AI slop directly ? tell me it's a dream, a vicious dream
It's a Microsoft keyboard standard, you'll see it on detached keyboards soon.
Like this one:
https://www.logitech.com/en-ca/products/combos/signature-slim-mk955-for-business-copilot-edition.920-013271.html
Dreams are good, this is a nightmare.
A 3D-printed fever dream, a gift from uncle Bill.
So am i to understand that this sequence is built into the firmware of every keyboard with a copilot button? At that point you’d basically have to muck with the firmware. Is there any chance of altering the HID driver for the keyboard class to intercept that pattern?
Yes that's how I understood it. You can't fix a missing key-up signal on the OS/driver level.
This isn't Microsoft's first offense, btw:
https://github.com/Rast1234/copilot_key_on_my_keyboard?tab=readme-ov-file#how-these-keys-work
This seems to be on purpose to spite the people who want to remap it
nah, they just ran out of options, because they already used the press all modifier keys (HYPER) hack for the physical office key(I'd have to check how it handles key-up events, but I'd bet it does it correctly / distinguishable --> I think I'm on to something https://www.makeuseof.com/remap-caps-lock-to-hyper-key-and-double-shortcuts/ )
Defining a new keycode would've gotten them in trouble with their hardware partners, because that would be hard and break backwards compatibility, so they took the easy / stupid way out to implement this awesome new button, just to appease the marketing / product department. (conjecture)
This is just a result of the banality of evil / incompetence.
What about just intercepting F23 since nothing else really uses that? It looks like the key up is in there. Ignore the other modifiers.
afaik: the complete sequence is triggered when when the copilot key is pressed. You'd intercept the F23-up immediately --> no way to detect when the physical key is released.
Oh now I’m following you. So at most you could remap it to an instant trigger. There’s no option for holding the key down.
In the least it would be usable as a key alongside other modifiers. But since those keyboard with copilot key tend to use it instead of R-Control, that's not much of an improvement.
