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Fn keys work with Cin/Mate, but not with Xfce.

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 4:04 pm
by Wouter_db
Hello folks.

After a period of distro hopping I am now settling on Mint13 Xfce for my Asus R051DX netbook, and Mate for my HP pav. dv6000 laptop.
A very happy penguin so far, and 80% of the problems I can solve using this forum or the main Ubuntu forums.

This problem however keeps confounding me.. As I said I have Mint Xfce installed on my netbook, and all hardware works but for most of the FN function keys(well, also the known suspend/hibernate problem, which is also a pain but this is high on the 'to-fix' list yes??). Oddly enough, they work perfectly on Cinnamon and Mate. I don't really understand why, aren't they using the same base? It's some kind of ACPI problem.

Fn+F1 = Suspend. DOESN'T work, but then the suspend function is broken in Mint anyway
Fn+F2 = Wireless/Bluetooth Toggle. WORKS, but no pop-up message
Fn+F3 = Disable touchpad DOESN'T work.
Fn+F4 = Change resolution DOESN'T work
Fn+F5 = Decrease Brightness. WORKS
Fn+F6 = Increase Brightness. WORKS
Fn+F7 = Turn off screen DOESN'T work
Fn+F8 = Toggle monitor. DOESN'T work
Fn+F9 = Task manager. DOESN'T work
Fn+F10 = Disable sound. WORKS, but no pop-up message
Fn+F11/12 = Increase/lower sound DOESN'T work

What I've tried so far:
Add the line 'acpi_osi=Linux' to GRUB. No success.
Add the line 'acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor' to GRUB. No success

Now there is another method, described by a guy on the Ubuntu forums. He grabbed the eeepc-acpi.local file from his eeebuntu 3.0 live cd and copied it to his nbr 10.04 install, and all FN keys worked. Now can I do the same on my Xfce install? I tried to find eeepc-acpi.local on my Xfce install, but no luck as I suspected.

I hope you guys have another idea, because I'd hate to replace my neat Xfce install with Mate.. Let me know if system information is required.

Re: Fn keys work with Cin/Mate, but not with Xfce.

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 10:18 pm
by jjaythomas
1st things I would check would be...

1) start gnome ( :shock: ) services on setting>session and startup advance-tab then reboot and check keys.
if not
2) use a run-level editor to check if laptop multimedia keys service running (I like using BUM, it's in repos)
or (if all else fail)
3) make your own keyboard shortcuts settings>keyboard application Shortcuts tab use task manager 'Fn-F9, mixer Fn-F11 &12, ect.
P.S. install mint-input, lxrandr ect for lite/easy clicking type applets.

J.Jay

Re: Fn keys work with Cin/Mate, but not with Xfce.

Posted: Sun Aug 26, 2012 3:17 pm
by Wouter_db
Thank you, I will try these things on a new Xfce install. For the netbook in question, I already switched to Mate to get the Fn keys working, but I hope to come back to Xfce because it felt much faster.