One thing to check… in the USB HID IF spec, a keypad key is distinct from a keyboard key. If the QMK firmware is sending keyboard keys to the host, it wouldn’t work even with an ALT key on the keypad.
I took a quick glance at the QMK repo in the firmware github, but it wasn’t immediately obvious to me what the config is… but it’s something that could be looked at.
It sends proper keypad numbers
[_NUMLOCK] = LAYOUT(
KC_ESC, KC_CALC, KC_EQL, KC_BSPC,
KC_NUM, KC_PSLS, KC_PAST, KC_PMNS,
KC_P7, KC_P8, KC_P9,
KC_P4, KC_P5, KC_P6, KC_PPLS,
KC_P1, KC_P2, KC_P3,
KC_P0, KC_PDOT, KC_PENT
),
KC_P# are codes for keypad numbers in QMK.
Rats… so there’s also generic desktop page that has different usage IDs for keyboard (0x06) vs. keypad (0x07) collections… so the USB data would possibly need to specify that with the mapping collection. Possibly Windows only works across the different types if the one is a keypad collection?
Not familiar with QMK, but I notice that none of the descriptors in tmk_core/protocol/usb_descriptor.c will use HID_RI_USAGE(8, 0x07)… if that’s where the descriptor comes from, possibly hacking that file to use 0x07 instead of 0x06 for the numpad would do the trick?
I’m batch 8, so it’ll be a while before I can play with this stuff.
This is actually quite upsetting to me. Probably about 50% of the reason for taking a 16 over a 13 for me was to get a numpad, and I absolutely take for granted that a numpad will perform alt codes which I use regularly. I will not be happy with any solution other than holding an actual keyboard alt key and entering numbers on the numpad. I hope one of you clever folks much more educated in this stuff finds a solution. I’m confident I can implement anything, but I have had very limited interactions with firmware.
Honestly, same for me. I bought a numpad expecting to perform… As a regular numpad. When my Batch 15 arrives I’ll start thinkering around with the firmware, and of course I’ll try to keep this thread as active and visible as possible.
Hmmm… This is quite concerning, as I do frequently use Alt codes for non-standard characters. I hope there’s a way this could be fixed so that Alt+numpad works as you’d normally expect it to…
If not, there is a possible alternate option… I have a smaller laptop used for work provided by my employer. As the built-in keyboard doesn’t have a numpad, I use a USB connected one.
Despite the numpad being a separate device, I can still use Alt codes on it by holding Fn+Alt+numpad. Can you see if that’ll work on the Framework keyboard+numpad?
I’m curious, what do you actually need them for?
Do you write so many different unique symbols and are you able to keep all of the numbers in your head, or is there another way to use this?
Otherwise I’d really recommend looking into custom keyboard layers, that’s how I live and I love it.
I’m a software dev, and my native language is not English, so for example my muscle memory for the { } brackets is ALT+123. It is actually the sole reason i got a numpad…
Same - but most programming languages sadly have been developed with the US keyboard as reference, hence all special chars used and place on the US keyboard.
That is also the reason I use a International English keyboard, to not having to use these workarounds.
I’m sorry, lol.
You should 100% look into layers, that’s a waayyy better solution for your problem.
Then you won’t need the numpad either, which means you can center the keyboard.
It must be really tedious to write the brackets with the numpad all the time…
Not really! The alternative for me was AlrGR+Shift+ [ or ], and it’s been 9 years, so my left hand just got used to the numpad 
I’ll check layers, never used QMK but looks very interesting to thinker and customize.
…I’ll have to look for other uses for the numpad as well!
Trust me, you really should!
I’m currently using Colemak with Extend from Dreymar using XKB and a normal ISO-105 keyboard. Tbh, I can’t really live without it anymore.
With qmk on the FL16 there won’t be any issues with apps like AnyDesk or when you remote into virtual machines, that’ll be awesome.
Sadly, that combination also does not seem to work.
Hmmm… That’s unfortunate. I hope there’s a way to fix this… and no, I’m not interested in keyboard layers.
Even normal keyboards use software layers (the shift key being the most straightforward), so you might want to get more specific about what your requirements are. If it’s “must use the left alt key and the numpad to enter keys because retraining miracle memory is too much work” (which is potentially reasonable), then some kind of software (like Autohotkey in Windows) might be the best option. On the other hand, if you’re willing to retrain muscle memory at least a little and are comfortable compiling your own QMK firmware, there’s many, many options available. That might even work without retraining your muscle memory if you use something to communicate between the keyboard devices.
Still curious what you actually need the numpad for - is there a cool thing I don’t know about?
lots of people use the number pad… it makes life easier when typing lots of numbers … i mean you literally can buy separate number pads for computers …
I often type special characters, but I use a Compose key. I got into the habit since I mostly live in X11, but I understand that WinCompose does the same thing for Windows.
speaking for myself, i work on a roguelike, and navigation without a numpad is a bit more painful since i’ve never been comfortabl with vi key type input