
Show HN: Fluor a macOS app to switch Fn keys depending on active application - Pyroh13453
https://github.com/Pyroh/Fluor
======
Ducki
I may add that changing to fn keys depending on the current app can be set in
the keyboard settings of MacOS as well.

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rebolek
That’s interesting. How?

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mike
Not certain, but the built in setting may only be for Macs with the Touch Bar,
where it's available under System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts and
choosing the "Function Keys" category.

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rickyc091
It's not possible unless the app has it enabled.

[http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/11/22/how-to-
customize-t...](http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/11/22/how-to-customize-
the-macbook-pro-touch-bar-in-compatible-apps)

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toyg
It doesn't work with the Kinesis Freestyle2 keyboard, in case you were
wondering. Damn, what the fuck did Kinesis do with this thing...? I haven't
found any software able to manage the Fn key on this keyboard.

~~~
e_proxus
The Pause/Break key on the Kinesis Advantage (acting in macOS as F15) raises
the brightness for me, but the Scroll lock key (which is supposed to lower
brightness / act as F14) doesn't (it seems to act as Tab instead

Edit: This seems to be because those are mapped to F14/F15 respectively in
macOS by default. Apparently an non-Apple external keyboard cannot send Apples
media keys, so unless your keyboard has its own media keys it will not work.

The Kinesis Advantage supports enabling media keys by pressing =n (see
[http://superuser.com/a/403765](http://superuser.com/a/403765))

~~~
toyg
The Freestyle 2 for Mac has working multimedia keys, which double as F keys
when you press Fn - basically to mirror standard Apple keyboards.
Unfortunately there must be some internal hacking involved, because the
Kinesis does not respect the System Preference for swapping multimedia with F
keys; I was hoping to work around that with some app, but nothing seems able
to intercept most of its multimedia keys on Sierra. Tonight I'll try with khd
[1], if I can figure out how it's supposed to work...

[1] [https://github.com/koekeishiya/khd](https://github.com/koekeishiya/khd)

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therealmarv
Palua (which I use for years) offers the same but it's not free (1 Dollar).
Currently I cannot find it in German Appstore. This one is "only" open source
and free, so it's great! :)

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yoz-y
It is no longer in the french store either, it seems that it has been
discontinued.

~~~
therealmarv
Interesting. I bookmarked Fluor now for future usage. My Palua still works
nowadays.

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predakanga
I've been using a hacked up solution to do this using ControlPlane (to detect
the foreground application) and fntoggle
([https://github.com/nelsonjchen/fntoggle](https://github.com/nelsonjchen/fntoggle))
for a while.

It's mostly for use with IntelliJ's IDEs, but it's been a real productivity
boost for me. Will definitely be checking this out as a replacement.

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n42
This is wonderful.

If you're looking for more customization, there's always Karabiner (or
Karabiner Elements for the latest version of macOS), but that is a hefty piece
of software. This is great for when I do not need that level of configuration.
Well done.

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marcosscriven
I like the idea - but for almost all single-use tools like this, I find
Hammerspoon can do it with a few lines of Lua:
[http://www.hammerspoon.org/](http://www.hammerspoon.org/)

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sudoExistence
I actually specifically use this tool because I have been unable to do this
through Hammerspoon without resorting to AppleScript GUI scripting of the
preferences pane. This is much more elegant, though I would definitely love it
if this functionality were manageable through Lua scripts.

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eicnix
I really like this idea but it doesnt work with the touchbar.

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mike
For machines with the Touch Bar, this can be achieved using System Preferences
-> Keyboard -> Shortcuts and choosing "Function Keys" from the list of
categories. You can then specify apps that should show function keys instead
of app controls by default. (i.e. inverts the behaviour of the fn key in the
listed apps.)

~~~
eicnix
Thanks!

Thats exactly was I was looking for.

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karmakaze
Awesome, I've wanted this for a long time. Does it only work on macOS or also
earlier versions (Yosemite?)

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simonh
OSX 10.11 or later.

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jquast
Love it. Use it. Thank you.

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mcevzar
Awesome, thank you :)

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rreyes1979
Just what I was looking for. Thanks!!!

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ssijak
You can do the same in macos settings.

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mintplant
> Fluor is released under the MIT license. See LICENSE for details.

> Some of fntoggle's code was used. As its author wrote it could be released
> under the GPL2 license.

Then Fluor also needs to be released under a GPL license, doesn't it? See
[https://www.tldrlegal.com/l/gpl2](https://www.tldrlegal.com/l/gpl2)

~~~
belorn
Yes. Fluor author can provide code that they have written under a dual license
of both MIT and GPLv2, but users need to be able to get the code under GPLv2
in order full fill the conditions (and to get things like the patent grant).

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kevinherron
Can't you already do this without a 3rd party app?

[http://i.imgur.com/khCkMNf.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/khCkMNf.jpg)

edit: Oh, this app isn't about the Touch Bar! It's about toggling the
functionality of the regular function keys between F1, F2, etc... and their
media/shortcut labels.

