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[–] goatboy 1 point -1 points (+0|-1) ago  (edited ago)

Have you ever considered why we even have Numlock as a key, in the first place? Some Jackass (probably Steve Wozniak) back in the day thought it would be funny to disable by default an entire section of the keyboard- just for shits and giggles. What other tool do you buy and on day one disable half its parts before you ever turn it on? WTF is that?

The Numlock key is like the original programming Easter egg. It sits in plain sight for decades, mocking everyone who has ever purchased or been forced to use a keyboard, but who never question why that key is even there in the first place. It's actually rather brilliant trolling on the part of the first personal computer designers.

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[–] TheGreatNico ago 

Because the old layout didn't have dedicated directional keys, like on the venerable Model K. Pretty much every keyboard since the Model M have a set of directional keys.

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[–] ThePieAssassin 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago  (edited ago)

Earlier keyboards did not have separate arrow keys like a standard keyboard. Num Lock exists so you can toggle it on when you want to use arrow keys. It has just kind of stuck around.

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[–] TheGreatNico ago 

Because, unless you have a very unusual keyboard, like an IBM Model K, you'll have directional keys as well as a keypad, so you don't need to use the secondary ten key functions. Keeping it is just a holdover from times past, like the pause/break and scroll lock keys: useless for the overwhelming majority of users.

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[–] 2693267? ago 

Easy solution: buy a keyboard without a number pad.

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[–] Mr_Wolf ago 

Mine boots however I left it.

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[–] Antropomorphic ago 

Mine disables it, I think it's many the keyboard's brand. I use a wireless Logitech k220

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[–] Artica 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

So you can tell if your computer is on when the room is dark.

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[–] CatNamedJava 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Mine doesn't. I really need to change that, annoying as shit

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