is it possible to change the keyboard language to one that has a tilde? alternatively is it possible to get a usb keyboard that has a tilde? (although the latter would be a crappy solution for laptops)

in osx 10.4

To access Keyboard Viewer:

1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences and click International.
2. Click Input Menu, then select the checkbox next to Keyboard Viewer.
3. Select the On checkbox next to the language whose keyboard layout you want to use.
4. Choose Show Keyboard Viewer from the Input menu on the right side of the menu bar (the one that looks like a flag).

my sources tell me

alt+¨ (the upper one left next to the enter key)

try pressing all the keys at once (it has to be all at exactly the same time though)

For anyone still suffering from this problem, I found a fix:

For macbook pros, make sure any cds are already removed from the optical drive, then hold down CMD+EJECT+qvctyenniyp, then tap F8 repeatedly until you hear a beep. After this, pressing Enter should produce tildes. To reset, hold down the same combination of keys, but backwards.

Hope this helps someone