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?
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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.
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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…
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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.
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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…
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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.
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Hmmm… That’s unfortunate. I hope there’s a way to fix this… and no, I’m not interested in keyboard layers.
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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.
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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 …
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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.
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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
Yeah, no. I haven’t touched any programming in over a decade. That’s definitely not for me. It’s cool that there are other options, and you got what works for you, but this is what works for me and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a keyboard to… act like a keyboard.
A number (hah) of uses.
1 - Way easier to use it when using a calculator or any other sort of number input.
2 - Easier to dial phone numbers, as I do for work (granted, I wouldn’t be able to use my Framework 16 for work anyways).
3 - Some games I’ve played make use of the numpad for additional commands.
4 - And like I’ve mentioned before, Alt codes for non-standard characters. And yes, I’ve even memorized a few, such as Alt+0233 for é, Alt+0165 for ¥, Alt+16 and Alt+17 for ► and ◄, etc.
The lack of a numpad (and GPU) is why I wouldn’t get a Framework 13, even though I loved the concept of a laptop that was fully user-repairable and upgradable. The Framework 16 is basically perfect for me.
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@eso
Both of your cases could be easily achieved with a numpad layer.
Not to be annoying, but it really works great.
I’m using this layout:
Having the nav keys right in the home row or very close by makes navigation everywhere a breeze 
There’s also this numpad layer, which you could replicate in QMK (or do your own variation):
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Heres the problem with that, thats a huge difference from an actual numpad in button locations, top row is an entire button off where yoy are used to, so sure, if people are willing to do the admittedly not great amount of work to add layers, and then spend a great amount of time retraining muscle memory just to get messed up every time they are on a different computer, its “easily” solvable with a very poor solution, or we could expect basic components to perform the basic functions they are made to perform.
Honestly, that solution seems like its only good for someone who doesnt know how to type on a numpad, and not even for them, they are gonna have to just remember where the function keys have been arbitrarily moved to? If the keyboard was ortholinear it wouldnt be so bad, but thats terrible imo
why on earth would i want to do that instead of just having more keys, though?
especially since, as brandon notes, your layout is vastly different ergonomically.
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Regarding ALT codes, under Windows 11, you might just want to use the 
. key combo which will pull up the emoji/special character chooser
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