RFE: Switch usbhid.pb_fnmode to 2 for Macbook Pro users

[Dave Jones]

On Thu, Sep 27, 2007 at 09:11:38PM +0100, Christopher Brown wrote:
 > Hello,
 > 
 > It would appear Macbook Pro users need to additionally press the fn key to
 > make F1 - F10 work as expected under Linux. Therefore to switch to a vt they
 > have to perform a wierd kind of hand twister to get it to work as it now
 > requires Ctrl+Alt+Fn+F1. Macbook user Alexey Kuznetsov wrote to me and said:
 > 
 > To solve this problem i send echo "2" to /sys/module/hid/parameters/pb_fnmode
 > every time on boot. But i this is a good idea to set this feature by default
 > for all fedora 7 users.
 > 
 > I solve it by small startup service here is ti:
 > 
 > #!/bin/bash
 > #
 > # chkconfig: 12345 90 01
 > # description: fix apple fn keys
 > 
 > . /etc/init.d/functions
 > 
 > echo "2">/sys/module/hid/parameters/pb_fnmode
 > 
 > action "Starting the Mac Function keys fix:"
 > 
 > to which I replied:
 > 
 > " ... you can also just add:
 > 
 > options usbhid pb_fnmode=2
 > 
 > to modprobe.conf
 > 
 > and I think:
 > 
 > usbhid.pb_fnmode=2
 > 
 > being added to the kernel parameters as well. I will post an RFE to the
 > fedora-kernel list."
 > 
 > Is it possible to enable this by default - the green lizards seem to have
 > done so:
 > 
 > https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=220266

I wonder why its not the default already.  Seems Novell didn't push
that change upstream in the last year either.  I'd suggest bringing
this up on the linux-usb-devel at lists.sf.net list.  Perhaps someone
responsible for the hid code will be able to give you an answer
as to why this change hasn't happened.

	Dave

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