Bug#461489: sense of laptop 'fn' key reversed on gateway MX6453
Package: xkbd-data
Version: 0.9-4
I have a Gateway MX6453 laptop, and I'm having a problem with the
keyboard. I believe that this is an xkbd-data 0.9-4 bug.
I am using debian 'etch' or stable, and my system is 'up to date'
according to the update tool.
There's a 'fn' key in the lower left corner which is supposed to
turn on special meanings for some of the keys: 7,8,9,U,I,O,J,K,L,M,
in particular, map to digits 7,8,9,4,5,6,1,2,3,0 in an effort to
mimic a numeric keypad. There are several other keys that should
acquire special meanings when 'fn' is depressed, mostly having to
do with brightness, loudness, screen contrast, multimedia settings,
and internet shortcuts.
My problem is that the keyboard behaves like the 'fn' key is pressed,
_all_the_time_, unless it is actually pressed. For example, I have
to push and hold the 'fn' key and then press 'l' in order to get a
lower-case 'l' instead of a '3'.
Mysterious extra information: On a reboot, it doesn't seem to affect
the initial login and password (this is with X running, but before
any user has logged in). Once a user session has started, however,
the keyboard bug pops up immediately and doesn't go away even if
that user logs out. (subsequent logins are affected).
Right now I have two workarounds: if I plug in a standard keyboard
with the USB interface, it is not affected by this craziness. (Note
the Gateway MX6453 has no PS/2 connections). Second, it doesn't
happen unless I start X, so I can still work (to some extent, most
of my regular applications don't run without X) in runlevel 3.
If I can be of any help in extracting further information from my
system, please let me know how.
If anyone knows what file to twiddle and how, I'll have a go at
seeing if the solution works.
Ray Dillinger
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