Detect Fn-F1 and Fn-F2 keys on MacBook Pro

Question

I want to map Fn-F1 to execution of a command on MacBookPro 11,5. The problem is that currently Fn-F1 is not detected as any key. I don't know how to bind these to (XF86MonBrightnessDown) and (XF86MonBrightnessUp)

I tried Some keys are not detected in my keyboard (multimedia keys?) by either xev or xbindkeys or keytouch: how to detect them? but after installing that, xev still can't detect Fn-F1 and Fn-F2.

I followed https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AppleKeyboard to set Fn-F12 key to work as in normal laptop. This step makes Fn-F1 instead of F1 undetectable.

Add following line to /etc/modeprob.d/hid_apple.conf:
    options hid_apple fnmode=2
Run the following command:
    sudo update-initramfs -u -k all

I found scan codes for Fn-F1 and Fn-F2

switch to console with Alt-Ctrl-F1.
showkey -s
press and release Fn-F1 and Fn-F2. record scancodes

Result:

Fn-F1 pressed
    0xe0 0x4c
Fn-F1 released
    0xe0 0xcc
Fn-F2 pressed
    0xe0 0x54
Fn-F2 released
    0xe0 0xd4

setkeycodes can't bind any scancode to key code

Cannot bind numlock to key_A:
$ setkeycodes 45 30
setkeycodes: failed to set scancode 45 to keycode 30: ioctl KDSETKEYCODE: Invalid argument

Output of xmodmap -pk

232     0x1008ff03 (XF86MonBrightnessDown)  0x0000 (NoSymbol)   0x1008ff03 (XF86MonBrightnessDown)  
233     0x1008ff02 (XF86MonBrightnessUp)    0x0000 (NoSymbol)   0x1008ff02 (XF86MonBrightnessUp)

xev can't distinguish Fn-F1 and Fn-F2

[Fn-F2 pressed with mouse out of window]
FocusIn event, serial 48, synthetic NO, window 0x2800001,
    mode NotifyUngrab, detail NotifyAncestor
KeymapNotify event, serial 48, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    keys:  4294967206 0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0

           0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
[Fn-F2 pressed with mouse in window]
FocusIn event, serial 48, synthetic NO, window 0x2800001,
    mode NotifyUngrab, detail NotifyAncestor
KeymapNotify event, serial 48, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    keys:  0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0

           0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
[Fn-F1 pressed with mouse in window]
FocusIn event, serial 48, synthetic NO, window 0x2800001,
    mode NotifyGrab, detail NotifyPointer
KeymapNotify event, serial 48, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    keys:  4294967206 0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0

           0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   1   0   0
[Fn-F1 pressed with mouse out of window]
FocusIn event, serial 48, synthetic NO, window 0x2800001,
    mode NotifyUngrab, detail NotifyAncestor
KeymapNotify event, serial 48, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    keys:  2   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0

           0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0
[Fn-F1 released]
FocusOut event, serial 48, synthetic NO, window 0x2800001,
mode NotifyUngrab, detail NotifyPointer
[F1 key pressed and release]
KeyPress event, serial 48, synthetic NO, window 0x2800001,
    root 0x4a6, subw 0x0, time 2628754, (87,17), root:(88,43),
    state 0x0, keycode 67 (keysym 0xffbe, F1), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False
KeyRelease event, serial 48, synthetic NO, window 0x2800001,
    root 0x4a6, subw 0x0, time 2628906, (87,17), root:(88,43),
    state 0x0, keycode 67 (keysym 0xffbe, F1), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

Detect Fn-F1 and Fn-F2 keys on MacBook Pro

0 Answers0