Discussion

Unsung

altairprime: [delayed]

throwaway27448: Random ≠ arbitrary

weinzierl: I think every OS should ask you to press a freshly generated sequence of keys when connecting a keyboard to prevent BadUSB attacks. Does any system do this?

chimeracoder: > Random ≠ arbitrarySure, though if you're looking to be pedantic, the keys they're asking you to press are neither random nor arbitrary

throwaway27448: How are they not arbitrary? Apple tells you a specific key to press, which is a choice. It is by definition arbitrary.Edit: perhaps you're making the case that the user doesn't choose which key. This is true—but the important point is that one of the two parties did choose the specific key to press.

ginko: I guess the moment has passed by now but I wish there were a USB HID protocol for keyboards to identify their layout, or even better yet make the keyboard protocol layout agnostic so that keyboards send the high-level unicode character / modifier instead of a physical key code.

vinni2: Why does it sometimes ask when connecting a HDMI projector?

alsetmusic: Mapping to ensure that it has the correct layout applied.

Our_Benefactors: Yes, but this doesn’t answer why I only have to do this on Mac and not windows/linux, where I have literally never run into an issue as a result of not doing it.

dlcarrier: If you're using a US English keyboard layout, it's the default and you won't have to deal with changing it.The most likely reason it would be a problem then would be that some Raspberry Pi images have defaulted to British English keyboard layouts. Otherwise you may be sailing through life unburdened by what can be a major pain to anyone anywhere else in the world, like a resident of Arizona wondering why the rest of the world keeps messing with their clocks.