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Snowplus

Member

Registered: 2026-10-23

Posts: 3

How to use function keys?

Hey, this might be an easy question but I seriously don't get it, my function keys (F1-F12) do things like changing brightness or volume. The thing is that I need to use the actual function keys to do stuff like you would press F5 to reload a webpage. All my 3 keyboards lack an Fn key so that's off the table and I tried assigning an Fn key shortcut to my mouse button 4 but I can't do that without pressing the key itself either, any help?

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 78,630

Re: How to use function keys?

What keyboards specifically, what kind of hardware are they attached to and what display server do you run?
What events do they produce in "libinput debug-events" and "evtest"?
Do you run a service like keyd to re-map input?

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Snowplus

Member

Registered: 2026-10-23

Posts: 3

Re: How to use function keys?

Normal 104 key keyboard, connected by USB 3.0 to my motherboard, I'm using wayland and I don't run any re-mapping services. The keys work as if I had a Fn key to press and switch between the special and normal mode just that, I installed arch not long ago and that is a problem that happened from the start. The keyboard did work normally with Windows though. I think the Fn lock is being turned on by default by I can't change it with my keyboard (as it lacks Fn key) nor it seems to be in the bios. Is there a way to disable it any other way?

Last edited by Snowplus (2026-10-24 09:04:20)

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 78,630

Re: How to use function keys?

1.  See the 3rd link below.
2. Please record the *exact* keyboard and motherboard models
3. Evstet/lobo put output

The FN key is a hardware thing, what you describe is absurd/impossible so there needs to be an unknown factor.
Either the keys don't produce those events but actually get mapped somewhere or your compositor (which?) just binds f1-f12 to random actions or this is a feature of the mobi or keyboard that might be stale from windows or needs to be toggled by some special driver.

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How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

Snowplus

Member

Registered: 2026-10-23

Posts: 3

Re: How to use function keys?

I got it, the keyboard was being detected as an apple keyboard and the fn lock value was set to special functions by default, I changed it so it's set to normal functions and it works now, thanks for trying to help anyways!