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A dead key is a special kind of modifier key on a mechanical typewriter, or computer keyboard, that is typically used to attach a specific diacritic to a base letter. [1] The dead key does not generate a (complete) character by itself, but modifies the character generated by the key struck immediately after. Thus, a dedicated key is not needed ...
Notes: Dotted circle ( ) is used here to indicate a dead key, invoked using AltGr. The ` (grave accent) key is the only one that acts as a free-standing dead key and thus does not respond as shown on the key-cap. (For a complete list of the characters generated using dead keys, see QWERTY#ChromeOS.)
Some non-English language keyboards have special keys to produce accented modifications of the standard Latin-letter keys. In fact, the standard British keyboard layout includes an accent key on the top-left corner to produce àèìòù, although this is a two step procedure, with the user pressing the accent key, releasing, then pressing the letter key.
Dead keys, made popular by the Sun Compose key, are an intuitive way to type letters, diacritics, and other symbols not normally on a given keyboard or keyboard layout. Use of a dead mimics type accents on a mechanical typewriter -- by typing one letter, backspacing, and then typing an accent in the same spot.
The keyboard sends the key code to the keyboard driver running in the main computer; if the main computer is operating, it commands the light to turn on. All the other indicator lights work in a similar way. The keyboard driver also tracks the Shift, alt and control state of the keyboard.
A typical 105-key computer keyboard, consisting of sections with different types of keys. A computer keyboard consists of alphanumeric or character keys for typing, modifier keys for altering the functions of other keys, [1] navigation keys for moving the text cursor on the screen, function keys and system command keys—such as Esc and Break—for special actions, and often a numeric keypad ...
PC keyboards designed for non-English use included other methods of inserting these characters, such as national keyboard layouts, the AltGr key or dead keys, but the Alt key was the only method of inserting some characters, and the only method that was the same on all machines, so it remained very popular.
The keyboard sends the key code to the keyboard driver running in the main computer; if the main computer is operating, it commands the light to turn on. All the other indicator lights work in a similar way. The keyboard driver also tracks the shift, alt and control state of the keyboard.