Making your PC keyboard more Mac-Like

Command, Option, Fn. . . All these keystroke options, yet where do they live on your PC keyboard? The answer is not always that clear at first. Sure, you can poke around and figure it out, or you can configure your PC keyboard, essentially making it do whatever you want. You can also assign the proper functionality to many of the keys that simply don’t exist on some smaller Mac keyboards (i.e. Home & End — two GREAT keys to have functional!) All you need to handle the task — ‘DoubleCommand’ — a great Preference Pane item that allows for as much keyboard configuration as you would ever want to have, or need. As they define it:

DoubleCommand is software for Mac OS X (a kernel extension) that lets you remap keys, in other words change the way your keyboard works. Often used to make a PC keyboard more comfortable with a Mac, swapping the Alt (Option) and Windows (Command or Apple) keys, since they are in swapped positions on Mac and PC keyboards. DoubleCommand is a quick and easy way to fix this if you use a PC keyboard with your Mac.

The great thing about it. . . It’s Open Source, GPL, donate-ware. So, cost is minimal to none. But, if you like it, it’s always a nice thing to donate to the cause to keep apps like this alive; it also keeps the developers interested in maintaining the apps, updating them, etc.

I, personally, couldn’t live without it. I think once you get it set up to fit your preferences/needs, you’ll find the same. (That is, if it’s something you weren’t already aware of…)

Grab it here: DoubleCommand