Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:31:43 -0700 From: Jeremy Chadwick <koitsu@FreeBSD.org> To: Nate Eldredge <neldredge@math.ucsd.edu> Cc: Dag-Erling =?iso-8859-1?Q?Sm=F8rgrav?= <des@des.no>, Gary Kline <kline@thought.org>, freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org, freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Laptop suggestions? Message-ID: <20081022203143.GA67740@icarus.home.lan> In-Reply-To: <Pine.GSO.4.64.0810221300540.16737@zeno.ucsd.edu> References: <1216910072.2251.8.camel@jill.exit.com> <op.uevchzc99aq2h7@mezz.mezzweb.com> <C5BCB173-CB87-4739-99CB-74CF7E76FBC4@ixsystems.com> <gdliol$c2q$1@ger.gmane.org> <86fxmox51m.fsf@ds4.des.no> <20081022173634.GA57706@thought.org> <Pine.GSO.4.64.0810221300540.16737@zeno.ucsd.edu>
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On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 01:06:20PM -0700, Nate Eldredge wrote: > On Wed, 22 Oct 2008, Gary Kline wrote: > >> On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 01:06:29PM +0200, Dag-Erling Sm?rgrav wrote: >>> martinko <gamato@users.sf.net> writes: >>>> I have always thought that Fn key in left most bottom corner of the >>>> keyboard is, especially for programmers, a very bad idea. :-( >>> >>> Seconded. Worse still, on my Lenovo T60, if the Fn key is held down >>> longer than a fraction of a second, it generates an input event which >>> just happens to correspond to Gnome's default key binding for the "next >>> track" function in media players... >> >> I've seen that Fn key, but don't know what it is for. What? you press >> it, then follow with the integers [ 1, 2, 3 ... ]? At any rate, maybe >> you can remap the key with ~/.xmodmaprc. > > Fn is usually used on laptop keyboards to allow two logical keys to share > a single physical key. For example, see the keyboard pictured at > http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/3415.jpg . On the extreme lower > right is a key with "->" in white and "End" in blue. Pressing it by > itself sends the keycode corresponding to an ordinary keyboard's "->" > key. Holding Fn and pressing that key sends the keycode corresponding to > an ordinary keyboard's "End" key. On many keyboards, pressing Fn by > itself sends no keycode at all, so it cannot be remapped. > > It is also sometimes used to control hardware features which on a desktop > machine might have a different interface. For instance, on the laptop > pictured, holding Fn and pressing F6 would increase the screen > brightness, probably without sending a keycode. A desktop machine would > probably have a button on the monitor itself to do this. I always figured "Fn" was a good name for the key, given that it resembles the expletive that comes forth from my mouth when intending to hit Control. http://www.notebookreview.com/assets/9328.jpg ;-) -- | Jeremy Chadwick jdc at parodius.com | | Parodius Networking http://www.parodius.com/ | | UNIX Systems Administrator Mountain View, CA, USA | | Making life hard for others since 1977. PGP: 4BD6C0CB |
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