Ubuntu

Apple alu keyboard keys behave differently

Asked by muro

I installed Kubuntu 8.0.4 on my PC with an apple alu keyboard (wired). However, the keyboard is acting very funny:

pressing "Clear" (=numlock) results in right part of the main keyboard part (keys g-l on the middle row + keys around) to behave as a numeric pad. To set it back, I found after lengthy trial-error, that I have to press F5 (or F6, I'm not sure).

I fixed this by loading my own .xmodmap:
keycode 79 = 7
keycode 80 = 8
keycode 81 = 9
keycode 83 = 4
keycode 84 = 5
keycode 85 = 6
keycode 87 = 1
keycode 88 = 2
keycode 89 = 3
keycode 90 = 0
keycode 91 = period
keycode 82 = minus
keycode 86 = plus
keycode 157 = equal

this results in "normal" num-pad behavior. However, pressing "Clear" still confuses the keyboard.

F1-F12:
many of the function keys are mapped to special functions, e.g. XF86Forward, XF86AudioMute and somesuch. While this might be benefitial, I would really like to have my function keys back. I managed to do this for most, but couldn't manage F4.
pressing F4 just returns nothing in xev.

Is it possible to switch the keyboard to the normal keyboard mode? I love the keyboard and it worked correctly in Ubuntu 7.10 (however I might have used a different keyboard during installation). I don't have another one now, so I can't test if it works correctly when I use a different keyboard during installation. I believe I chose a normal keyboard during installation, not "mac".

What I would like to achieve: to make the apple alu keyboard to behave like a common keyboard

thanks for any help, muro

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Constantine Evans (cevans) said : 		#1

Are you using pommed? If so, there is an option in /etc/pommed.conf to change the behaviour of the F keys - I personally abhor the default of making them mostly unusable.

Otherwise, all I can suggest is to install pommed and then edit that configuration file. The option that needs to be changed is fnmode in general - in the default file, it is the first option listed.

If you aren't using pommed, that could also explain the strange num-pad behaviour.

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muro (palomurin) said : 		#2

Thank you, that solved everything. I didn't think about looking for a solution for notebooks, this being an USB
keyboard.

The only remaining problem was with the num block - I the code in my original question to ~/.xmodmap, and added the following line at the end:

keycode 77 = F20
(use your choice of key on the right side)

to apply just run:
xmodmap .xmodmap in your home directory.

If you don't remap these keys, they stay as navigation keys: left/right/home/pageup etc. The num-lock key is still working strange, it changes the behaviour on the main part of the keyboard and is turned of by holding down F6, simply pressing is not enough. I therefore advise to change keycode 77 to something different.

 Thanks a lot for the hint to use pommed, muro