My AnyKey lives! I took action that I should have done right from the beginning, but didn't because the consequences are... daunting.

By keying in Ctrl-Alt-SuspndMacro, I was able to completely wipe the on-board memory in the keyboard. Then I began the task of re-entering all the information, consisting of macros, key re-mappings, repeat-key rate, etc. And these aren't simple just-type-them-in macros. Below is a sample of just one of them. I currently have (as near as I can determine) 24 macros programmed into 22 different keys (some of them do double duty with Alt or Ctrl or Shift key modifiers). It is a fair piece of work to reconstruct all of them.

Alt-T Alt-A Space Tab End Ctrl-Shift-LeftArrow Ctrl-X BkSpace
Home Ctrl-V , Space Alt-T Tab Home Ctrl-V -
Shift-End Ctrl-C Alt-U Space Tab Home Ctrl-V Space (Read by
Space End ) Alt-A Space Tab Home Ctrl-Right-Arrow
Left-Arrow(2x) Shift-End Ctrl-X Ctrl-Enter Alt-o Tab(10x) Ctrl-Enter Tab(10x)
Alt-R Ctrl-Enter Alt-M Alt-T Alt-A Space Tab End Ctrl-V
Ctrl-Enter Alt-T Alt-E Tab Down-Arrow PgDn(4x) Up-Arrow Down-Arrow

On the minute chance that anybody cares, that macro writes MP3TS tags for audio book files, changing the author name to lastname, firstname format, adding the name of the narrator, appending the track number to the title, and renaming the file in artist-album-track#-title sequence, all done by a single keystroke for a book that may contain 30 or more files. (It only works when preceded by a 61-character "prep" macro.) If that seems like a lot of work to go through just to write a tag... consider that my audio book collection now encompasses well over 36,000 separate audio files, all tagged and named with metronomic consistency.

Apparently some of the regular, non-macro designated keys had somehow become "corrupted" so that when the key was pressed, instead of typing "a" or "d" or whatever, it typed weird non-ascii stuff that locked up the computer. Completely wiping the keyboard memory also wiped the corruption. All the macros are back in now, and I have tested and verified all of them except the "top row Shift-F9" macro which adds track numbers to audio book tags in MP3TS when they are missing from the download file. (No new books have been missing the numbers.) That one is pretty simple, only 23 keystrokes, and I am confident it will work first time out.

I have a spare AnyKey on hand, but it had been stored for the past several years in non-optimal conditions (temperatures reaching 125 degrees (F) or more on occasion) and when I brought it out, about half the keys wouldn't register any input, in particular the "SuspndMacro" key. It is an older model AnyKey and apparentlly is sealed. I can get the top cover off, but it looks like the only way to get into the mechanicals of it would be to drill out about a dozen plastic tabs on the bottom. I tried the trick of soaking it in soapy water, and have let it dry for the last two days. I'll try it tomorrow, but am not optimistic.

I have three additional AnyKeys coming from eBay, two in working order, one for parts, so it looks like I'll be well set for macro capability for the next few years, as long as any computer I have uses PS2 keyboard input. Hmmm... I see that "PS2 to USB Adapter" brings up more than a million hits on Google, so that probably isn't a problem either.

Anyway, I am much happier now, and a nagging worry I have had in the back of my mind for the last 10 years or so, about not having a backup for my indispensable, nearly irreplaceable keyboard, has been alleviated. I have typed on a lot of keyboards in the past 50 years, and while nobody has ever matched the perfection of feel of the IBM Selectric typewriter, I rank the Gateway AnyKey not too far behind it. It feels much different from the Selectric, but that doesn't necessarily make it bad. It's like... like typing on velvet. Quiet, smooth, and incredibly versatile.

tanstaafl.