F5 and F6 keys on Macbook Air (and possibly other macbooks)

[Henrik Rydberg]

Binary package hint: linux-image-2.6.24-19-generic

2.6.24-19 kernel:

In drivers/hid/hid-input.c, the apple_fn_keys translation table
contains no entries for the F5 and F6 keys. This patch maps the F5 and
F6 keys to KBDILLUMDOWN and KBDILLUMUP, respectively, which make them
work as keyboard backlight control keys.

I am also attaching the patch sent to kernel.org, for reference.

http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=10947

[Henrik Rydberg (rydberg)]

This is the patch against linux-next sent to kernel.org.

[Henrik Rydberg (rydberg)]

(this patch was submitted with the original bug report, but was dropped somehow)

[Alex Karpenko (alexkarpenko)]

I can confirm the bug, and that the fix resolves the issue. The keyboard layout for Macbook Pros and Macbook Airs can be viewed here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1117
It should also be noted that KEY_FN_F* produce no keycodes (according to xev), which means that previously no secondary functionality could be defined for F4-F6.

Currently input.h does not define a keycode for the dashboard key (fn+F4), IMHO this should be fixed by either defining a new keycode, or picking an existing sensible substitute (this will at least allow the user to remap the key functionality using keyboard shortcuts).

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Just including the upstream git commit id for reference. This should be making it's way into the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 kernel automatically.

commit 6a250778c79d6d14db9ed8e1f86f7b934e2bf3dc
Author: Henrik Rydberg <email address hidden>
Date: Tue Jul 22 15:54:05 2008 +0200

    HID: apple_fn_keys F5 and F6

[oss_test_launchpad (oss-test-launchpad)]

I choose "MacBook / MacBook Pro (Intel)" keyboard in System > Preferences -> Keyboard. F3, F4 and F5 work as they should: F3 mutes all sound, F4 turns down the volume and F5 turns it up. Testing with Ubuntu 8.10 Alpha 4+.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.