[SOLVED] Keyboard Replacement with keyboard of a different country

[fiachrafiachra]

Hello everyone,

im replacing the keyboard on my Irish Dell Inspiron 7537 but its very expensive. A French one is available (I can deal with the layout change), which has the same number of keys and fits etc. Will it work?

 

[velocityg4]

If it's for the same model of laptop it should work.

Just to clarify is the visual layout different or the mechanical layout. Visual layout being the labels on the keys. Mechanical layout being the physical placement of keys (not labels). There's a whole bunch of visual layouts for a small number of mechanical layouts.

If the visual layout is all that's different. When you plug it in. Windows will think it's an Irish keyboard by default. It will then choose an Irish keyboard as the functional layout. Labels on the keys won't match keystrokes. You can change it to a French keyboard. So, everything matches. You can also just get an Irish keyboard label set. Placing stickers over mislabeled keys.

At any rate. Even if it is a different mechanical layout (Physical Layout; ANSI, ISO and so forth). Windows will still think it's an Irish keyboard if your location is set to Ireland. It'll just choose the Irish functional layout for that type of mechanical layout.

Change Language:
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-change-keyboard-language-on-windows

More than you ever wanted to know about keyboard layouts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_layout

 

[fiachrafiachra]

Thanks a million for your swift and informative reply. the French keyboard was identical in mechanical layout, and i had the idea to swap out the relevant keys with my old irish one.

Well i tried it and it worked, as you had predicted! That's the main thing

The key swap however did not happen because the keys were designed with hinges 1 (one) petty millimetre of a difference between keyboards, so they didn't fit or click into place, my cynical brain reckons this was intentional. Anyway, its workable and i can get those labels if needed.

Again, thanks for your time!