72

To be more clear, right now the volume and brightness keys are used and I have to hold Fn in order to execute an F1, F2, F3, F4, F5... command. Can I reverse this so it's function key by default and holding Fn enables the volume and other special controls?

Artur Meinild
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MetaGuru
  • 1,258

4 Answers4

139

This is described on the Ubuntu Community Wiki:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AppleKeyboard#Change_Function_Key_behavior

You can try:

sudo bash -c "echo 2 > /sys/module/hid_apple/parameters/fnmode"

If it works you can change this permanently (per the linked wiki page):

echo options hid_apple fnmode=2 | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/hid_apple.conf
sudo update-initramfs -u -k all
sudo reboot # optional
applemonkey496
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sroecker
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4

please try this when editing directly fnmode fails.

echo 2 | sudo tee /sys/module/hid_apple/parameters/fnmode

user1074839
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0

On older Apple laptop hardware, this is accomplished by a configuration setting of PBButtonsd. You would need to add this line to the config file /etc/pbbuttonsd.conf:

KBDMode = fkeysfirst

PBButtonsd works on iBooks and PowerBooks (PowerPC-based) and MacBooks (Intel-based); the native Ubuntu package seems to have disappeared after Dapper Drake

Riccardo Murri
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0

it may also be worthwhile to check your BIOS options for this feature. On my Dell Inspiron, this can be set through the BIOS. Hopefully it'll work for your hardware too.

nathwill
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