Well, I learn something every day. I'm taking my first internet break in Paris at the moment and just learned that the French keyboard can be turned into an English keyboard. In the past I just struggled with the French keyboard that is different from the U.S. keyboard. Now I'm typing much faster. Just ask the person working the shop. The sign in in the lower right hand corner of the screen -- at least on this machine.

In most internet cafes I have been to in both France and Germany, there is a button on the bottom of the windows screen...in France it says FR...if you click on it, you get a variety of options and you want EN for English keyboard (I don't remember if it's a British or US English kehyboard not that they're all that different).....in Germany you look for the button that says DE....actually only 1 or 2 letters are in the wrong place on a German keyboard but forget a French one!

Well, I certainly wish I had known this last year!

Our children are still teasing about the strange messages they received from me from Paris.

I think they are convinced I was suffering from an over-abundance of vin.

Byrd

Very helpful for people who know how to touch type. Of course, for a two-finger typist who looks at the keyboard before daring to commit a finger, this is of no use at all.

>German keyboard
Actually "zy/\-_`´'#äöüß$§€" and quite a few more are only found using the stragest combination on an American keyboard. I got used to typing ALT+92 for "\" when the right codepage isn't loaded, because it's almost impossible to find.

Is this something one can download? If so, anyone have a reference?

We will have a computer furnished in our apartment in Paris in October, but I doubt that it will have the ability to convert to an English keyboard. Those French keyboards drive me CRAZY!

Does this would be of any help dear nukesafe?
http://gofrance.about.com/cs/interne.../keyboards.htm

Thank you, Dear Coco, but that doesn't help a bit.

I printed out the French keyboard before my last trip, so I understand the differences. It is my own clumsiness, compounded by fifty years of touch typing on an English keyboard, that have hardened my habits into concrete. I keep telling myself, "Next time hit the other key, dammit!" My fingers say, "What, who, ME?"

What I need is a computer program that will do the conversion for me.

Thanks, anyway.

>Is this something one can download?
Yes, many keyborad layouts are included in Windows and can be installed using the standard Windows XP CD. Some people install serveral layouts by default, some people don't. It always depends, you can install any layout you want later on.

Several years back, in a U.S. electronics shop, we purchased a keyboard called "Mini Indestructable, roughly two-thirds the size of a standard keyboard, thin and flexible, like a rubber bath mat. Easy to pack.

tanhu ouy,
this ie reatty usepil inforwation.
LOL

Here's that packable keyboard:

http://www.compusa.com/products/prod..._code=51183515

But plugging in a US keyboard doesn't mean you'll get American characters. You still have to change the language setting otherwise pressing "Q" will get you "A"