-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Howorth <dhoworth@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk>
Its list of keyboards is not very up to date, so special keys like "Mail" and "WWW" (on my Logitech keyboard) aren't handled.
That's bizarre isn't it? You'd think it would show you the keypress and say something like "unexpected keypress ....
Actually, that is exactly what happens, but the message comes from the kernel and not the tool. If you look in the log file with dmesg you will see a message indicating that the kernel has detected an unknown keypress, and then it tells you how to make the keypress known to the kernel with setkeycodes. Usually, the message will say that an escaped key e0xx was not known. Take the last two digits of that code, convert from hex to dec, and add 128. An example: Unknown keypress e006. use setkeycodes like this: setkeycodes e006 134 Take the code you get from dmesg (e006), take the 06 (is 6 dec) and add 128 to get 134. See the man page for setkeycodes. Once the kernel knows about the keypress you'll see it in showkey, and xev. However, you'll still need to map the keycode from xev to a valid X keysym. You will notice that the X xev maps the key differently than the kernel... in other words the kernel will showkey 134, and the xev will maybe show a keycode of 166 (or whatever). This is because X maps to a different keytable than the kernel does. Anyway you'll need a .Xmodmap file that has a line like: keycode xxx = XF86WWW (or whatever).... The xxx comes from xev, and the XF86WWW (or whatever symbol) comes from /etc/X11/XKeysymDB
Mark Harris wrote:
From: Dave Howorth <dhoworth@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk>
Its list of keyboards is not very up to date, so special keys like "Mail" and "WWW" (on my Logitech keyboard) aren't handled. That's bizarre isn't it? You'd think it would show you the keypress and say something like "unexpected keypress ....
Actually, that is exactly what happens, but the message comes from the kernel and not the tool.
Thanks for a very useful explanation, but that's not what's happening here ...
If you look in the log file with dmesg
... there's nothing in dmesg ...
Once the kernel knows about the keypress you'll see it in showkey, and xev.
xev already shows it to me. xkeycaps doesn't. That's the point. xkeycaps only displays keys that belong to the keyboard you've told it you have. And if you made a mistake, or it doesn't know about your keyboard model, there's no warning on screen when you press another key. So it's safer to use xev rather than xkeycaps to get complete information. But thanks for the info on how to deal with completely unknown keys. Cheers, Dave
One of my keyboards has a key labelled "Fn", on the right side below the Enter key. (It's a Dynapoint made in China, but that information probably isn't helpful.) Of all the keys on the keyboard, it's the only one that is not detected by xev, and it doesn't produce a dmesg entry either. I also tried using it as a shift key with other keys, but it doesn't seem to affect their keycodes. I washed my keyboard several days ago and it wasn't working for a while, but it seems to have dried out, and this is the only key that doesn't work now. It seems unlikely that the bath affected just that one mysterious key. Does anyone know what that Fn key might be for? Paul
Paul Abrahams wrote:
One of my keyboards has a key labelled "Fn", on the right side below the Enter key. (It's a Dynapoint made in China, but that information probably isn't helpful.) Of all the keys on the keyboard, it's the only one that is not detected by xev, and it doesn't produce a dmesg entry either. I also tried using it as a shift key with other keys, but it doesn't seem to affect their keycodes.
I washed my keyboard several days ago and it wasn't working for a while, but it seems to have dried out, and this is the only key that doesn't work now. It seems unlikely that the bath affected just that one mysterious key.
Does anyone know what that Fn key might be for?
Fn is typically found on laptop and other undersized keyboards. It's used to create the missing keys. For instance, 7,8,9,U,I,O,etc form the number pad when combined with Fn on my keyboard. Fn+PgUp and Fn+PgDwn for volume. As I understand it, the change is done in hardware, not software, that's why you don't see it in XEV. However, I don't believe there is an established standard for these things.
On Tuesday 12 September 2006 10:07 pm, suse@rio.vg wrote:
Fn is typically found on laptop and other undersized keyboards. It's used to create the missing keys. For instance, 7,8,9,U,I,O,etc form the number pad when combined with Fn on my keyboard. Fn+PgUp and Fn+PgDwn for volume. As I understand it, the change is done in hardware, not software, that's why you don't see it in XEV. However, I don't believe there is an established standard for these things.
This is a full-size keyboard, and holding down Fn while pressing other keys doesn't seem to change the keycode. Paul
On Tuesday 12 September 2006 23:57, Paul Abrahams wrote:
This is a full-size keyboard, and holding down Fn while pressing other keys doesn't seem to change the keycode. Look in xev again. The Fn key may not have a keycode of its own, but it may affect the "symbol" of another keycode. You will notice that ctl, shift, and alt, do not change the keycodes of the keys they affect... but they do affect the keysym--- the symbol for the key in X. Just a thought. I agree with the previous post... usually the Fn key is a hardware thing in the keyboard... and yes, your bath may have disturbed just one key. You may want to take it apart and thoroughly dry it out, wipe it down, and reassemble it. Is this keyboard usb, ps2, AT? Is the Fn button a different color ... the Fn button on my laptop is blue, and the hardware keys that it affects are also blue or have secondary caps that are blue. On a black screen console does the key show up in 'showkey'? Hit the key a few times on a black screen terminal (not X, and have X down) and then press ctrl-alt-F10 and look at the messages... see if the key shows up there as 'not known' by the kernel.
-- Kind regards, M Harris <>< harrismh777@earthlink.net
On Thursday 14 September 2006 12:21 am, M Harris wrote:
On Tuesday 12 September 2006 23:57, Paul Abrahams wrote:
This is a full-size keyboard, and holding down Fn while pressing other keys doesn't seem to change the keycode.
Look in xev again. The Fn key may not have a keycode of its own, but it may affect the "symbol" of another keycode. You will notice that ctl, shift, and alt, do not change the keycodes of the keys they affect... but they do affect the keysym--- the symbol for the key in X. Just a thought.
I tried using Fn as a shift key for many keys, including the 1 key, the PgUp key, and the various shift keys. I did not see any difference in the xev report with Fn held down and with Fn not held down.
I agree with the previous post... usually the Fn key is a hardware thing in the keyboard... and yes, your bath may have disturbed just one key. You may want to take it apart and thoroughly dry it out, wipe it down, and reassemble it.
It could be but it seems unlikely that just that one mysterious key would malfunction. If a key is going to malfunction, why would it be just that one?
Is this keyboard usb, ps2, AT?
PS2
Is the Fn button a different color ... the Fn button on my laptop is blue, and the hardware keys that it affects are also blue or have secondary caps that are blue.
No, it's the same color as all the other ones.
On a black screen console does the key show up in 'showkey'? Hit the key a few times on a black screen terminal (not X, and have X down) and then press ctrl-alt-F10 and look at the messages... see if the key shows up there as 'not known' by the kernel.
It doesn't.
Kind regards,
M Harris <>< harrismh777@earthlink.net
Thanks for looking at the mystery even if you couldn't solve it. I suppose that there are worse things in life than a do-nothing key on one's keyboard. I can claim no better reason for asking about it than curiosity. A google search on "Dynapoint keyboard fn key" yields nothing useful. Paul
It could be but it seems unlikely that just that one mysterious key would malfunction. If a key is going to malfunction, why would it be just that one? Well, it depends--- what did you mean by bath? Several folks talked about "washing" the keyboard... I'm sure they are all pulling our collective legs... and washing is a very bad plan. Dishwasher, car-wash, etc.... very bad plan. Most keyboards these days have a small circuit board with a couple of chips that you definitely do not want to get wet, or heat. Most keyboards
On Thursday 14 September 2006 20:11, Paul Abrahams wrote: these days also use some kind of a bubble dome rubber mat that is actuated by a plastic keytop that is removeable. In fact, the entire top is removeable keys and all. Under the top is a rubber bubble dome mat and under that are several (three or four) layers of mylar. Usually the layers can be pulled up one by one and cleaned if necessary; however, usually the only parts that need cleaning are the plastic keytops (fresh clean water only, no soap, no gunk, etc). Each keytop that is sticky should be individually cleaned and then the entire top should be allowed to thoroughly air dry. Here is the rub.... if you got water between the layers of mylar under the keytops the keyboard will not work. If you got one single drop of water between the layers you might have an entire row of keys not work, or you might have just one little key (Fn) not working. If you put water to the keyboard in any way, I would recommend disassembling it (carefully) and drying it out (air dry). Make sure to separate the mylar sheets so that water is not trapped between them. There are some other keyboard designs... and none of them should get wet--- ever. The capacitive toggle switches will not work properly if there is even a single tiny drop of water caught between the flipper and the board. Some bubble dome rubber keyboards use a carbonized button... if even a tiny drop of water gets trapped under that bubble dome that key (Fn) will not work. If your keyboard is silent (mostly) and you can feel a soft squishy depression when you press the key, your keyboard is probably a bubble dome keyboard. The cool thing about these keyboards is that a small water spill of a few drops from the top doesn't hurt anything as long as the water remains in the center of the keyboard... because the rubber mat is waterproof. However, if the water runs to the edge... and it will... then it will wick up under the rubber mat and between the mylar layers... most of the keyboards are not sealed to prevent this. My guess is that you have some water trapped in the keyboard... dry it out and the problem should go away. Where did you get the Dynapoint? How old is it? Kind regards, M Harris <><
participants (5)
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Dave Howorth -
M Harris -
Mark Harris
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Paul Abrahams -
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