How to boot with FN keys functioning in Artful Ardvark?

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Smithy
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Joined: Mon 12 Dec 2011, 11:17

How to boot with FN keys functioning in Artful Ardvark?

#1 Post by Smithy »

1. When I boot up old Pemasu Dpup Wheezy on an early netbook,
all the function keys work straight away FN volume up down, mute, fan speed, (just needed numlock xx =on in startup).
This is regardless of window manager (I run openbox on it)
.

2. No chance in Artful Ardvark. FN keys not functioning.

3. How did Pemasu do it so right, so it just boots with FN keys ready and functioning? I think his other pups of that era also do the laptop keys ready on boot.

I've tried putting xbind keys simlink in startup and getting it from ppm,
but no joy from it, and anyways if Pemasu could put it in, way back then, then there's surely no reason why the new puppy won't just have the keys ready on bootup?

I am assuming that it is xbind keys that does the magic?

anikin
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#2 Post by anikin »

I am assuming that it is xbind keys that does the magic?
No, it is not. The magic is done by kernel modules. Have a look at the kernel dotconfig to check to see if the following are present (if the netbook is Asus Eeepc):

Code: Select all

 CONFIG_EEEPC_LAPTOP=m
and

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CONFIG_ASUS_LAPTOP=m
If they are, make sure the modules are properly loaded.

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Smithy
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#3 Post by Smithy »

Aha, thanks for the pointers Anikin,
it's a silly darth vader fujitsu siemens amilo mini in white.
EDIT: The Artful DOES actually boot up with the original kernel fine, as does peebe's Bionic.
They both hang around for ages at "recognising optical device" compared to the older pups..
Just noticed this from Aarf about that:
https://github.com/puppylinux-woof-CE/w ... ssues/1170

Bionic responds to Volume mute, and prnt screen brings up take a shot.
That's all.
Artful brings up nothing, but I do see a bit of activity on the cpu like it is trying to do something. I also downloaded the huge set of extra drivers that has to be renamed fdrv, but it didn't make any difference.
That's all.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=96044

anikin
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Joined: Thu 10 May 2012, 06:16

#4 Post by anikin »

Fn keys not functioning in Artful is not a bug - you posted in the wrong section. And why do you single out Artful and discriminate against other Puppies? :) Fn keys will not function in any of them. There isn't a single distro in the world that offers out of the box support for eeepc. And has never been. It is your responsibility to set up your netbook, not distro builder's. If you're planning on doing further testing, just type lsmod in the terminal - you will see all the loaded modules. My kernel is built with eeepc_laptop module and I can see these items are loaded.

Code: Select all

eeepc_laptop           18155  0
sparse_keymap          12719  1 eeepc_laptop
rfkill                 18715  1 eeepc_laptop
The kernel module is a requirement but you will also need to set up ACPI scripts to make Fn keys fully functional. BTW, what is your exact model?

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Smithy
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#5 Post by Smithy »

Of course they used to work on Puppies straight on boot, with a big green volume slider, mute symbol, fan speed whirring down etc appearing across the screen, dpup wheezy, and I think some of Mick's slackos 533 etc.
I was just so used to the fn keys working I never gave it a second thought.
What didn't always work was the touchpad, but that was easy enough with a .flsynclient script thrown into root.
I don't know I was using this thread as a marker if I need to delve into the glorious world of modules...

anikin
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Joined: Thu 10 May 2012, 06:16

#6 Post by anikin »

We are talking about obsoleted hardware which distros have no obligation to support. Your issue isn't a bug and this isn't the right place to discuss it. If you ask Flash to move this thread to a more appropriate section, more people will respond and offer help.

darry19662018
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#7 Post by darry19662018 »

Ah guys wouldn't this little effort from 8Geee? - pretty sure this supports eeepc
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=109692

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