In message , at 19:38:19
on Thu, 21 Jan 2010, DW downunder remarked:
What's AltGr?

A key often found near the righthand end of the space-bar. It stands
for ALTernative GRaphics, but is just another super-shift key.

The one on my Toshiba lappie brings up the [Edit] menu.

You can set "shortcuts" on keyboard keys, so your Toshiba must have that
one active. AltE I presume.

I think we can conclude that mileages do vary quite a bit on this one

IBM PC keyboards are hugely complex, and to some extent a forgotten art;
although I suspect the Internationalised Domain Names project is
resurrecting some of the skills. Start here and see how byzantine it all
is; "mileage varying" doesn't even begin to scratch the surface!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_page

And inevitably: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AltGr

AltGr4 is one of the most useful here, being a Euro Symbol. Which
would be defeated if AltGr has the kind of shortcut you describe
installed.

Phew. This takes me back to designing keyboards in the mid-80's. One of
my staff did what I believe to be the first mass-produced Russian
keyboards, as well as our efforts in about 15 different traditional
European languages.
--
Roland Perry