[Solved - sort of] FN+Function keys problem

[russell.eberhardt]

I've been trying to get my Toshiba Satellite 870 set up properly and I'm stumped trying to get the monitor brightness control working.

It has a "FN" shift key for the function keys so that it should, for example, reduce the brightness if I press FN+F2.  Some key combinations work for example FN+F9 reduces the volume.

I have checked with xev in a terminal and, while pressing F9 gives keycode 75 without the FN key, it gives keycode 122 with the FN key.

FN+F2 should give keycode 232 according to xmodmap -pk but it gives no key event.  Out of the 12 function keys only 6 work with the FN key.  The others behave correctly.

I have tried a number of alternative keyboard layout from PCC but they all give the same result.
It is not a hardware problem problem as these keys all work in another distro and in Windows.
There is another thread here where this problem was solved by changing to the pae kernel.  However that didn't work for me and moreover it stopped the wifi working!

So what am I missing?  Is there a file somewhere that gives the key codes that each key or combination should produce?

Im running PCLinuxOS KDE 2012.8 fully updated and using kernel 3.2.18-pclos2.bfs.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Russell.

[jimwilk]

Russell,
Don't know if this is quite the same problem, but check this link out:

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=308757

I searched for KDE brightness control Toshiba

Jim

[russell.eberhardt]

Thanks for that, an interesting discussion.  It looks as if there are problems with both X11 and KDE.  xev doesn't return a key code for the FN+F2 and some other combinations so I guess there is a problem with X11-driver-input-keyboard.

Some people have reported that an upgrade to the NVIDIA driver to version 304.64 fixes the problem but for others it doesn't.

There is also a KDE problem as adjusting the display brightness slider in the Energy Savings - System Setting screen doesn,t work correctly.  It won't dim the screen until it gets down to 20% and then it is impossible to bring the brightness back up!

Looks as if I'll just have to be patient and wait for some upgrades.

Russell.

[The Chief]

What do you have the keyboard identified as?  There are quite a few selections available in PCC.  Once I selected the proper one, all my function keys worked as intended. 

Admittedly, on a Compaq... but a Toshiba shouldn't be that different.

[russell.eberhardt]

What do you have the keyboard identified as?  There are quite a few selections available in PCC.  Once I selected the proper one, all my function keys worked as intended. 

Admittedly, on a Compaq... but a Toshiba shouldn't be that different.

Currently French layout, generic 105-key.  I've also tried Toshiba Satellite S3000 and a few others.  None of them seem to affect the operation of the FN+F# key combinations.  It seems to me that the Xwindows system isn't generating key codes for these key combinations (so KDE can't do anything with them) otherwise xev would pick them up wouldn't it?

I think I'm getting a bit out of my depth here.

I have tried two other distros, both of which use desktops based on GNOME so perhaps I'm wrong and it is KDE!  My brain's hurting

Russell.

[The Chief]

It seems to me that the Xwindows system isn't generating key codes for these key combinations (so KDE can't do anything with them) otherwise xev would pick them up wouldn't it?

I think it more likely the wrong driver has been selected and it just doesn't recognize those key codes, so it discards them.  Don't know how the French layout affects it.

[jimwilk]

Russell,
Under the KDE control system, have a look at Shortcuts and Gestures > Global Shortcuts > KDE Daemon > In there, you will see Decrease and Increase screen brightness. Click on each in turn and go to Custom and enter your desired keystrokes.
Hit Apply and see if you can get it to work. You can always go back to Default settings later if you screw it up.

Jim

[russell.eberhardt]

I think it more likely the wrong driver has been selected and it just doesn't recognize those key codes, so it discards them.  Don't know how the French layout affects it.

Thanks for your input.

Sorry, I should have said that the other two distros I tried worked fine, all the FN+F# keys generating the right codes.  I was just using the generic 105 key driver with the French layout.  The French layout doesn't affect this problem it just swaps around the function of some of the working keys.

I have just tried the US and UK layouts again to make sure and I still have exactly half of the FN+F# keys producing events.

It would be nice to be able to adjust the brightness and to be able to switch the wifi adaptor off for flight mode.

[russell.eberhardt]

Russell,
Under the KDE control system, have a look at Shortcuts and Gestures > Global Shortcuts > KDE Daemon > In there, you will see Decrease and Increase screen brightness. Click on each in turn and go to Custom and enter your desired keystrokes.
Hit Apply and see if you can get it to work. You can always go back to Default settings later if you screw it up.

Jim

Thanks Jim,

Just tried that.  I tried setting  KDE Deamon to give brightness Up/Down against the combination FN+F2 and FN+F3 but it wouldn't accept those key combinations (of course as they don't produce any keypress events).  I then tried configuring CTRL+& and CCTRL+é to control brightness, rebooted and tested and it doesn't work. So it does look as if there is a problem at two levels.

Russell.

[DeBaas]

Have the same problem with my Sony Vaio.
Installed kernel-2.6.38.8-pclos3.pae.bfs (older kernel, still in Synaptic)
Problem gone............

[russell.eberhardt]

Have the same problem with my Sony Vaio.
Installed kernel-2.6.38.8-pclos3.pae.bfs (older kernel, still in Synaptic)
Problem gone............

Tried that kernel and just got a blank screen.  Strange thing was that when I reverted to 3.2.18-pclos2.bfs I found it had changed the users accounts passwords

Russell.

[DeBaas]

Xmas ghost in your system ?

[russell.eberhardt]

As long as its not the ghost of Christmas yet to come!

Russell

[smileeb]

fn and the side arrows in the number pad change brightness on mine.

[johnmart]

In the past I used keytouch to control my fn keys (acer aspire). At some point my fn keys started working ok on their own, so I discontinued it. It worked for me at the time, it's in the repos.