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Juan Leni
Asked: 2019-03-22 02:53:03 +0800 CST

F19 in Mac keyboard

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I am using an Apple Aluminium keyboard.

Keys F1..F18 work well, however, F19 is not recognized.

Actually, when checked with xev, it is recognized.. but I cannot assign a shortcut to F19 in gnome or any other app.

Is this a known issue? any tips on how to fix it?

update: Output from xev when clicking F19

KeyPress event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0xd000001,
    root 0x1e6, subw 0x0, time 64297953, (160,-20), root:(1351,629),
    state 0x10, keycode 197 (keysym 0x0, NoSymbol), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0xd000001,
    root 0x1e6, subw 0x0, time 64297960, (160,-20), root:(1351,629),
    state 0x10, keycode 197 (keysym 0x0, NoSymbol), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

update 2: Output from xev when clicking F18

KeyPress event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0xd000001,
    root 0x1e6, subw 0xd000002, time 69242803, (47,44), root:(2043,870),
    state 0x10, keycode 196 (keysym 0x1008ff49, XF86Launch9), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0xd000001,
    root 0x1e6, subw 0xd000002, time 69242806, (47,44), root:(2043,870),
    state 0x10, keycode 196 (keysym 0x1008ff49, XF86Launch9), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

I guess it has something to do with F18=XF86Launch9 and F19=NoSymbol.. where is this mapped?

keyboard drivers apple

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Ok, I could fix it.. or should I say hacked it.. not sure how clean this actually is.

    In case somebody is interested:

    1) Open /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/inet. Search for: 

        key <FK17>   {      [ XF86Launch8       ]       };
    key <FK18>   {      [ XF86Launch9       ]       };
};

    and add one more line

        key <FK17>   {      [ XF86Launch8       ]       };
    key <FK18>   {      [ XF86Launch9       ]       };
    key <FK19>   {      [ XF86LaunchA       ]       };
};

    2) run setxkbmap -layout us or whatever layout you are using to refresh the corresponding configuration.

    After these changes, F19 is mapped to XF86LaunchA and can be used without issues.

    Note: Thanks @danzel for the tips.

    • 5