How to get the fn+ Keys to work in Asus Eee 904HD with Bionicpup32?

[mog]

Hi All,
Total newbie and Noob so play nice!
I have searched through the great tome Google and as yet not found an answer to my problem.

Firstly the details

Asus Eee 904HD 32bit
150 GB Sata HDD
2GB Ram
Bionicpup32 19.03
Linux Kernel: 4.9.163-lxpup-32-pae (i686)
Version: #1 SMP Thu Mar 14 15:41:19 GMT 2019
Build GCC: 8.3.0
PAE Enabled: Yes

The Problem....
The Asus Eee is a laptop so it has common to many laptops a fn (function) key.
on my machine fn+F1 F2 F5 and F6 all work, but fn+F7 F8 F9 F10 F11 and F12 do not.
I have researched in the old Murga puppy linux forum and in this the new forum but there don't seem to be any solutions to the problem.
I have tried modifying xmodmap and jwmrc-personal, all to no avail.
I should add that these functions all work when I tried Atomic Pup, Linux Lite and Linux Mint 19.3. It would seem that the problem exists only in Bionicpup32, maybe only in the 32bit version?
Another point occurs to me, this machine is set to UK qwerty settings and the Key combinations I most wish to get working are fn+F10, F11 and F12 as these control volume, it's very frustrating when watching a film to have to minimise the screen just to access the toolbar to change the volume!

Can anybody help me?

Beers

mog

[bigpup]

This is kind of normal for most Puppy versions.
I have never used one that will let volume be controlled by the F keys or volume buttons on my laptops.
With volume and audio in general, being totally controlled by Retrovol. That is probably why.
Retroval has no built in option to use keyboard keys or buttons to control it.

To be honest, this has not been a big issue to most people.
It is just how Puppy works.
Everything a F key or option button can do, is provided by something you can do, using a program in Puppy.

[bigpup]

when watching a film to have to minimise the screen just to access the toolbar to change the volume!

Watching what film?
Using what program?
YouTube films?

[mog]

Hi bigpup,
Quick response!,thanks, I did see a post in Murga to the effect that the fault was probably in the kernal, and without an update to the same a fix would not be forthcoming, but that was ,I think, last year so I was hoping that something may have changed, apparently not. The most peculiar thing about this is the fact that Atomicpup 2020, Linux Lite and Linux Mint are all configured to make all the keys work, looking at the results from xev and xmodmap and the JWRC thingy all the entries are the same as the ones in Bionicpup! so maybe that does mean that the Kernal is to blame.

Yes films, I watch films I have previously downloaded onto a flash stick from various sources, I use Mplayer which is the default player and it works fine, I also watch youtube films, I have two browsers, Firefox and Falkon I find best Falkon because it's very light and allows me to watch YT films, there is sometimes a bit of stuttering at the start but overall it's acceptable, the machine only has 2Gb ram so buffering is to be expected, it certainly works better than Linux Mint, on the same machine, probably because Mint is a heavier Distro, Linux Lite didn't do so good either, Atomicpup was a joke, the default internet browser was a very early edition of Firefox, which for some reason (I'm no expert) seemed to be Russian and couldn't connect to anything! I always pick the same film for a test so it's fair.

Once again thanks for the prompt response.

Beers
mog

[HerrBert]

Firstly to let know: i have no experience with bionicpups
But i remember having the same issue on a 10" Asus EeePc, where some FN key-combinations do not respond.
If you know about xev and jwmrc.personal you may create your own shortcuts with similar keys not using FN-key but another modifier key.
Something like:

Code: Select all

<Key mask="4" key="F10">exec:amixer -q sset Master toggle</Key>
<Key mask="4" key="F12">exec:amixer -q sset Master 1+,1+</Key>
<Key mask="4" key="F11">exec:amixer -q sset Master 1-,1-</Key>

where mask="4" is set in ~/.Xmodmap

Code: Select all

keycode 115 = Super_L

which is left Win-key (if not already used in bionic...)

Just a suggestion

[mog]

Hi Herrbert,
Good idea I'll give it a go. But don't get the wrong impression, I talk about xev and xmodmap but I don't know how to alter them!
In the last couple of days I downloaded and created on a dvd with Slacko Puppy 7.0, I ran it on the Asus and guess what? the same problem, fn+ F10, F11 and F12 don't respond, but now I have a distro to play with, I can alter what I like in Slacko and so long as I don't save it, when I reboot to it all of my mods will be removed, so I shall use that to test your idea.

Many thanks for the help,

Beers

mog

[mog]

Hi All,
OK I've had a play and I've tried all sorts of combinations in jwmrc-Personal, all to no avail. However quite by chance I did find something that may be relevant, of the puppy distros. I tried of which there were six and Linux Mint so seven in total, two failed, the fn+ didn't work but five did, namely, Linux Mint, Puppeee 1.0, Slacko 7.0 and Atomicpup, the two which failed were Xenial Puppy and Tahr Puppy.
If you go into Menu/System/Pup-Sysinfo/File and select Hardware Reports Summary, when it's ready scroll down to Input Devices the first entry for the non-working Distros ( Xenial and Tahr) is "AT Translated Set 2 keyboard", but, and this is very interesting (yes it is), the first entry for the working Distros is, "Asus EEEPC Extra Buttons" , this entry is missing from two Distros, (Xenial and Tahr).
I have just had a look at the "Complete Report" as opposed to the "Summary Report", and the entry there is...

Bus=0019 Vendor=0000 Product=0000 Version=0000
Name "Asus EeePC extra buttons"
Connected to :eeepc/input0

Whatever that lot means!
So it would appear that I need to find what triggers that entry and install it, and every thing in the garden will be rosy and the sun will shine.

Anybody got any ideas??

Beers

mog