Apple Firmware Update For Magic Keyboards Decides To Change The Fn Key

[skeevy420]

Completely inaccurate. I own a Ford and I can bring it to any mechanic out there, who will be able to provide original or third party spare parts if needed. If I had the ability, time, and place to do the fix myself, I could order the spare parts off the internet.

That's no different than being able to source a new screen for an iPhone or getting an out-of-warranty phone fixed at a repair shop...always some exception, you know...but, depending on the brand, model or part, that's not always the case. Some do have 1st party, proprietary parts on them and most all of them have these days have CPUs that require a dealership to do any modifications or flashing.

John Deere, especially their commercial farming division, would have been a better analogy...they're right up there with the worst of them. Can't even change a spark plug without needing a JD technician to dick with the on-board CPU -- if they detect that you've changed a part, they'll quit working until a technician gives an OK...real interesting reading about all the work hackers have done to reverse engineer their firmware and software. Something to Google if you're bored.

EDIT: Was about to edit and fix that...just figured I'd highlight what happens when people who have dyslexia type stuff.

[skeevy420]

Try telling that to laptop manufacturers where every bit of space is critical.

And mechanical keyboards that use them to control RGB lighting effects, media key shortcuts, etc.

[Guest]

Stop supporting Apple products. Apple doesn't want to support anything outside their ecosystem, so why should anyone support Apple products?

Because the devices work and have devices that are supported way longer than other OEMs?

Android is a mess when it comes to tablets and watches; meanwhile everything works and integrates nicely within Apple's ecosystem. I can call/text from my tablet and watch seamlessly, I can read a book on my iPad and pick-up where I left off on my iPhone, and I can wirelessly pay at terminals using any of my 3 devices and accept cash from other Apple users; all tightly integrated together between devices. This level of integration doesn't exist on Android in any ideal manner; I've tried to find it for years.

I had a 2014 Macbook Pro that was *still* supported by the latest macOS updates (Catalina), even with the latest firmware from mid-2019; and this is actual support too. Other OEMs just provide some several-years-old driver on their website and leave it up to Microsoft to provide updates over WU.

My 4+ year old iPhone 6S Plus is still supported by the latest iOS updates; that long of support is unheard of from Android OEMs. Not to mention, iPhones come without crap pre-installed. I can go spend over $1K on a flagship Samsung phone... to not only have Facebook pre-installed, but to also be prevented from uninstalling it, lol. I also have the ability to easily reinstall the entire OS on the iPhone easily from iTunes and DFU mode. Good luck finding official tools and images to do this on most Android devices outside of Nexus/Pixel.

Sure Apple hardware has their issues... but so does every other OEM too.

[SystemCrasher]

Well, its really magic: it breaks, you have no idea why and manufacturer isn't going to help you fix that. Sounds a bit arcane, isn't it? Well, Apple recently good at screwing ppl up with updates. Say some person I know had iPad, that suddenly decided to update on its own, without owner even taking any actions - and then basically stopped working. Instead, it rebooted on its own, did hell knows what for a while and on next boot it started being annoying bitch, asking to set this and that, and password, and fingerprint, and whatever else crap. And I somehow think this crap has been answered already on initial device setup. From user's perspective: 1) That goddamn thing rebooted on its own and been unusable for a while. 2) It trashed at least some settings and history in the course of update, causing user hell a lot of frustration. 3) When it has been expected to be in working order it rather looked totally weird and took some time to figure out WTF happened with this goddamn device at all. Because it displayed anything but normal user interface. I do think this utter folly with updates goes a bit too far.

[Guest]

...Say some person I know had iPad, that suddenly decided to update on its own, without owner even taking any actions - and then basically stopped working. Instead, it rebooted on its own, did hell knows what for a while and on next boot it started being annoying bitch, asking to set this and that, and password, and fingerprint, and whatever else crap. And I somehow think this crap has been answered already on initial device setup.

Updates on iOS/iPadOS/watchOS don't automatically install without user consent. You get a warning before the update happens, and you have to explicitly state you want automatic updates to happen (you're given the option at initial set-up and can change it at any time via Settings).

As for why the update sounds like it applied non-ideally, no idea. Although it sounds like this was from a major version update (12 -> 13)? I'll also assume there was never any jailbreaking or other unofficial stuff involved.

[SystemCrasher]

Somehow it _did_ installed update in fully _automatic_ way when user been totally away, leaving device charging. Without user giving any consent or something - user actually jumped up and started swearing when facing weird bootup and config screen instead of normal user interface they expected to see. Well, bootup screen has been showing some Japanese welcome at that moment and user wasn't Japanese either. A rather cool invention of apple to change welcome languages in a circle, should I say. So user gets really unusual welcome when trying to wakeup their devics XD XD XD. As for whether it has been major update or something I have no idea. I've just seen extremely frustrated user who has been swearing damn thing updated on its own (they never configured or asked for it) - and been showing funny Japanese welcome on white bootup screen at point user attempted to just use tablet they way they usually did XD. Hell, it has been like most suprised and frustrated user I've seen in last 5 years. User literally dropped their jaw and started swearing "what the hell is all that?!"

[scottishduck]

Somehow it _did_ installed update in fully _automatic_ way when user been totally away, leaving device charging. Without user giving any consent or something - user actually jumped up and started swearing when facing weird bootup and config screen instead of normal user interface they expected to see. Well, bootup screen has been showing some Japanese welcome at that moment and user wasn't Japanese either. A rather cool invention of apple to change welcome languages in a circle, should I say. So user gets really unusual welcome when trying to wakeup their devics XD XD XD. As for whether it has been major update or something I have no idea. I've just seen extremely frustrated user who has been swearing damn thing updated on its own (they never configured or asked for it) - and been showing funny Japanese welcome on white bootup screen at point user attempted to just use tablet they way they usually did XD. Hell, it has been like most suprised and frustrated user I've seen in last 5 years. User literally dropped their jaw and started swearing "what the hell is all that?!"

What you’re describing is a behaviour present in iOS since 1.0. When booting up after a major update or on a new device, it cycles through different languages saying “welcome” until you unlock the device where it then returns to standard language or prompts for one. Your “user” is an idiot.

[SystemCrasher]

So it likely been "major update", fine. Except nobody ever requested it or something. And uhm yea, user isn't IT or geeky person or something - they actually thought "apple" means "smooth user experience", because someone told them this mantra. Ironically it proven to be not a case at all. Whatever, putting your device on charger just to find it then welcomes you in japanese on some configuration screen is anything but "smooth user experience".

[M@GOid]

Try telling that to laptop manufacturers where every bit of space is critical.

What? Keyboards use horizontal space, which is plenty in any model you can see out there, even on ones with 16:9 screens and humongous large touchpads (another stupid trend).

This is only a matter of aesthetics getting in the way of functionality, nothing more.

[Almindor]

The Fn key is a solution for a problem that didn't exist, until some idiot(s) thought removing a row from the keyboard was a good thing.

I have a custom built mechanical keyboard that sees a heavy use of 2 "function/meta switch keys" since it has no function key row nor numpad (60 keys layout).

I've never been more productive with any other keyboard, but the main thing is I program the keyboard, not the other way around...