Fedora kernel list - Sep 2007 - RFE: Switch usbhid.pb_fnmode to 2 for Macbook Pro users

Hello,

It would appear Macbook Pro users need to additionally press the fn key to
make F1 - F10 work as expected under Linux. Therefore to switch to a vt they
have to perform a wierd kind of hand twister to get it to work as it now
requires Ctrl+Alt+Fn+F1. Macbook user Alexey Kuznetsov wrote to me and said:

To solve this problem i send echo "2" to
/sys/module/hid/parameters/pb_fnmode
every time on boot. But i this is a good idea to set this feature by default
for all fedora 7 users.

I solve it by small startup service here is ti:

#!/bin/bash
#
# chkconfig: 12345 90 01
# description: fix apple fn keys

. /etc/init.d/functions

echo "2">/sys/module/hid/parameters/pb_fnmode

action "Starting the Mac Function keys fix:"

to which I replied:

" ... you can also just add:

options usbhid pb_fnmode=2

to modprobe.conf

and I think:

usbhid.pb_fnmode=2

being added to the kernel parameters as well. I will post an RFE to the
fedora-kernel list."

Is it possible to enable this by default - the green lizards seem to have
done so:

https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=220266

Cheers
Chris

-- 
http://www.chruz.com

On Thu, Sep 27, 2007 at 09:11:38PM +0100, Christopher Brown wrote:
 > Hello,
 > 
 > It would appear Macbook Pro users need to additionally press the fn key to
 > make F1 - F10 work as expected under Linux. Therefore to switch to a vt
they
 > have to perform a wierd kind of hand twister to get it to work as it now
 > requires Ctrl+Alt+Fn+F1. Macbook user Alexey Kuznetsov wrote to me and
said:
 > 
 > To solve this problem i send echo "2" to
/sys/module/hid/parameters/pb_fnmode
 > every time on boot. But i this is a good idea to set this feature by
default
 > for all fedora 7 users.
 > 
 > I solve it by small startup service here is ti:
 > 
 > #!/bin/bash
 > #
 > # chkconfig: 12345 90 01
 > # description: fix apple fn keys
 > 
 > . /etc/init.d/functions
 > 
 > echo "2">/sys/module/hid/parameters/pb_fnmode
 > 
 > action "Starting the Mac Function keys fix:"
 > 
 > to which I replied:
 > 
 > " ... you can also just add:
 > 
 > options usbhid pb_fnmode=2
 > 
 > to modprobe.conf
 > 
 > and I think:
 > 
 > usbhid.pb_fnmode=2
 > 
 > being added to the kernel parameters as well. I will post an RFE to the
 > fedora-kernel list."
 > 
 > Is it possible to enable this by default - the green lizards seem to have
 > done so:
 > 
 > https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=220266

I wonder why its not the default already.  Seems Novell didn''t push
that change upstream in the last year either.  I''d suggest bringing
this up on the linux-usb-devel@lists.sf.net list.  Perhaps someone
responsible for the hid code will be able to give you an answer
as to why this change hasn''t happened.

	Dave

-- 
http://www.codemonkey.org.uk

Dave Jones wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 27, 2007 at 09:11:38PM +0100, Christopher Brown wrote:
>  > It would appear Macbook Pro users need to additionally press the fn
key to
>  > make F1 - F10 work as expected under Linux. Therefore to switch to a
vt they
>  > have to perform a wierd kind of hand twister to get it to work as it
now
>  > requires Ctrl+Alt+Fn+F1.
Just as an fyi, this is also the case on my 2+ year old PowerBook G4.
And I''m pretty sure it was also the case on the iBook I had prior to
that, which I got roughly 5 years ago.

-- 
Jarod Wilson
jwilson@redhat.com