Comment 118 for bug 277589

Hi,
firstly, sorry for not debbugging the issue in Karmic (sony laptop used for
work), so this post is purely informative, but may help the debbuging
process.

To better understand we the bug should be here is some technical infos :
1- sony_laptop (module): handle the Hardware-software FN keys dectection on
sony vaios (ex: 0x09 )

2- HAL (old, soon depreciated) : bind FN keys to the classic FN keys (ex:
0x09==brightnessdown)
 2bis- udev-extras (new) : should do the same thing as 2 [BUG HERE ???]

3- GNOME/KDE : link the classic FN keys to a general action. Do this via HAL
(soon depreciated) or udev+Device Kit (new)

4- HAL (old, depreciated?) : link a general action to a specific
command/program (our fix/package just do that : we use smartdimmer or
nvclocks)

That's why, as the issue of the FN keys recognition is different on KDE and
GNOME, I would tend to think that it's linked to HAL depreciation. Indeed, I
strongly think that KDE still use HAL for "FN bindings keys" from the
"sony_laptop" module, whereas GNOME use "udev" (udev-extras, see the
Halsectomy link below).

So maybe, we should install "udev-extras", test it, if it doesn't work : get
the source and modify it to match the HAL file
(30-keymap-module-sony-laptop.fdi)

Hoping that this talk will help,

Yohan Lee-tin-yien <email address hidden>

For References see :
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Halsectomy
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=593933
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/karmic-changes/2009-June/002621.html
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Hotkeys/Troubleshooting

[ HAL file FN keys - intrepid version ]
/usr/share/hal/fdi/information/10freedesktop/30-keymap-module-sony-laptop.fdi

PS : That means that nowadays workaround "nvclocks/smartdimmer + HAL" will
probably not work for the next Ubuntu versions.

2009/11/6 benste <email address hidden>

> Hi again, I just took a look at the sources and can't locate this file
> either in "hal" and "hal-info" which should include the fdi to fix.
>
> Looks like I can't patch it :-)
>
> --
> sony brighness on a geforce series older than 8 (nvclock works fine)
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/277589
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>