I can confirm that adding the line
setkeycodes e017 148 (for the ThinkVantage button) and setkeycodes 0082 192 (for the Fn+SPACE combination)
to /etc/rc.local is working for me on my LENOVO, ThinkPad R61, 8943DMG with Ubuntu 8.04.
Not nice, but it works.
I can confirm that adding the line
setkeycodes e017 148 (for the ThinkVantage button)
and
setkeycodes 0082 192 (for the Fn+SPACE combination)
to /etc/rc.local is working for me on my LENOVO, ThinkPad R61, 8943DMG with Ubuntu 8.04.
Not nice, but it works.