mapping a key to the FN key

[reup]

hello all,

I have a laptop fujitsu-siemens lifebook with Gentoo 2007 on it

I am looking for a way to use the FN key on a external keyboard that does not have the FN key

on the laptop, the fn key works perfectly well, but I have to plug the laptop away from my desk and everytime I need to use the FN key, I need to go to the laptop to do it, I would prefer to do it from my external keyboard

sure, I need the exercise, but I like linux so much that I don't want to spend to much time away from it

I try the xev program but when it runs and I press the FN key, nothing is shown

all info I found point at the FN key been define in the BIOS, but not only am I lazy, I am also curious, and I bet that someone, somewhere, has made a piece of code that help map the key to somewhere else

thanks
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reup

"Don't wiggle the tail of the frog in the oil of the frying peanuts"

[Zarhan]

Fn is not a "key" as such - it's really an internal toggle-switch that makes rest of the keyboard behave outside normal keyboard interface. You cannot "map" Fn directly to some key, but you might be able to emulate the functionality - for example, just map some other keys to do suspend, changing of volume and so on.

[Hwoarang]

xbindkeyes might be a usefull program to use (i havent tested xbindkeys with FN switch thought )

[reup]

Zarhan,

I dont think I can do this one, as I want to use it to switch from one display to another. as I said, I am lazy and I am looking for a way to NOT fix my xorg.conf. when I am under X on my external screen and I press CTRL-ALT-F1 to go to the first console, my laptop/linux switch to the laptop display and I have to go to the laptop to press FN-F10 to go back to the external display

I am sure that I can fix this particular behavior in the xorg.conf or somewhere else, but it got me interested in mapping the FN key



Hwoarang,

thanks for the tip, I am trying xbindkeys now and will post the result. I think that Zarhan is right and that I can map some of the FN function to something else, but probably not the switch of monitor as it is HW issue
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reup

"Don't wiggle the tail of the frog in the oil of the frying peanuts"

[Zarhan]

[reup]

unfortunately there is nothing in /proc/acpi except the classic close_lid and power button. not even FAN

and the xbindkeys soft does not understand/see the FN key

ok, ok, I get it, I will have to loose fat (or fix my problem from another angle)

thanks anyway for the quick answers
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reup

"Don't wiggle the tail of the frog in the oil of the frying peanuts"

[coolsnowmen]

use xbindkeys to run the program "chvt 1"
that will mimic the ctrl-alt-F1 key combination

note: as far as I know, this is the easiest way because the ctrl-alt-f1 is trapped in the kernel, much lower than other key combinations.
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emerge: there are no ebuilds to satisfy "moo"