2003-03-22 11:55:16

by Warren Turkal

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Subject: [BUG] laptop keyboard

I am not subscribed. Please cc on replies.

I have a Gateway 600 series notebook. I have been using and testing the
developmental kernel for some time now. I have just noticed that my
keyboard''s "fn" key combinations stop working upon booting 2.5.65. They
worked as recently as 2.5.63 and I could not get 2.5.64 to compile cleanly.
These key combinations are supposed to make various things happen on my
laptop. I believe that they are controlled by the bios, as I can see results
of some while on the bios load screen.

Fn-F1 - Labeled "Help"; don't know what it does
Fn-F2 - Labeled "Status"; used to show battery status in upper left
Fn-F3 - Labeled "LCD/CRT"; switch montior output among built in LCD, back
monitor port, and both
Fn-F4 - Labeled "Standby"; used to function as the ACPI standby button
Fn-F9 - Labeled "Pad Lock"; think num lock; strangely, this one still
work in 2.5.65
Fn-F10 - Labeled "Scroll Lock"
Fn-F11 - Labeled "Pause"
Fn-F12 - Labeled "Break"

I have tested that the Fn-F2 combination works in bios and grub and continues
to work until the 2.5.65 kernel is loaded.

I think this is a regression in the keyboard handling for the 2.5.65 kernel.

Like I said before, all of the Fn combinations work in 2.5.63. If anyone has a
patch from 2.5.63 to something after 2.5.64 that compiles, I would be happy
to try it. I setup a bitkeeper clone of Linus's latest, so if someone could
give me some bitkeeper magic to export diffs from 2.5.63 to 2.5.64 in a
relavant directory (probably drivers/input/keyboard) maybe I could look to
see what changed, although I don't know if I am skilled enough to find errors
in the code.

Thanks, Warren Turkal
--
Treasurer, GOLUM, Inc.
http://www.golum.org


2003-03-24 02:45:24

by Warren Turkal

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Subject: [BUG] laptop keyboard, more info

I am not subscribed. Please cc on reply. Thanks.

A terrible description of this bug is included below.

I have successfully narrowed the revisions that could have introduced this
bug. I managed to build a 1.889.289.3 bk revision kernel. This appears to be
the minimum revision which fixes the build bug I experienced in 2.5.64. The
bug exists in this kernel, meaning that the bug was introduces somewhere
between the 2.5.63 (1.889.1.133 bk revision) kernel and the 1.889.289.3 bk
revision kernel. These revisions cover about 1 week of time. I am trying to
build some in between revisions to see if I can narrow even more. Does anyone
know of any craziness that went in between 2.5.63 and 2.5.64 that would have
broken the way my computer reads these keys?

Thanks, Warren Turkal

On Sunday 23 March 2003 08:36 pm, Warren Turkal wrote:
> I am not subscribed. Please cc on replies.
>
> I have a Gateway 600 series notebook. I have been using and testing the
> developmental kernel for some time now. I have just noticed that my
> keyboard''s "fn" key combinations stop working upon booting 2.5.65. They
> worked as recently as 2.5.63 and I could not get 2.5.64 to compile cleanly.
> These key combinations are supposed to make various things happen on my
> laptop. I believe that they are controlled by the bios, as I can see
> results of some while on the bios load screen.
>
> Fn-F1 - Labeled "Help"; don't know what it does
> Fn-F2 - Labeled "Status"; used to show battery status in upper left
> Fn-F3 - Labeled "LCD/CRT"; switch montior output among built in LCD, back
> monitor port, and both
> Fn-F4 - Labeled "Standby"; used to function as the ACPI standby button
> Fn-F9 - Labeled "Pad Lock"; think num lock; strangely, this one still
> work in 2.5.65
> Fn-F10 - Labeled "Scroll Lock"
> Fn-F11 - Labeled "Pause"
> Fn-F12 - Labeled "Break"
>
> I have tested that the Fn-F2 combination works in bios and grub and
> continues to work until the 2.5.65 kernel is loaded.
>
> I think this is a regression in the keyboard handling for the 2.5.65
> kernel.
>
> Like I said before, all of the Fn combinations work in 2.5.63. If anyone
> has a patch from 2.5.63 to something after 2.5.64 that compiles, I would be
> happy to try it. I setup a bitkeeper clone of Linus's latest, so if someone
> could give me some bitkeeper magic to export diffs from 2.5.63 to 2.5.64 in
> a relavant directory (probably drivers/input/keyboard) maybe I could look
> to see what changed, although I don't know if I am skilled enough to find
> errors in the code.
>


2003-03-28 10:31:29

by Felipe Alfaro Solana

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [BUG] laptop keyboard, even more info

On Fri, 2003-03-28 at 08:04, Warren Turkal wrote:
> 2.5.66 still exhibits this bug. It is very strange because I even tried to
> compile a 2.5.66 kernel without at keyboard support and it still kill the Fn
> key functionality, meaning that I cannot make presentations on my laptop
> because I cannot switch the video output to the back of the laptop as I was
> able to before.

Are you running XFree86 4.3.0?

________________________________________________________________________
Felipe Alfaro Solana
Linux Registered User #287198
http://counter.li.org

2003-03-28 13:17:12

by Arne Koewing

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [BUG] laptop keyboard, even more info

Warren Turkal <[email protected]> writes:

> On Sunday 23 March 2003 08:36 pm, Warren Turkal wrote:
>> I am not subscribed. Please cc on replies.
>>
>> I have a Gateway 600 series notebook. I have been using and testing the
>> developmental kernel for some time now. I have just noticed that my
>> keyboard''s "fn" key combinations stop working upon booting 2.5.65. They
>> worked as recently as 2.5.63 and I could not get 2.5.64 to compile cleanly.
>> These key combinations are supposed to make various things happen on my
>> laptop. I believe that they are controlled by the bios, as I can see
>> results of some while on the bios load screen.
>>
...
>>
>> I have tested that the Fn-F2 combination works in bios and grub and
>> continues to work until the 2.5.65 kernel is loaded.
>>
>> I think this is a regression in the keyboard handling for the 2.5.65
>> kernel.
...

I don't think this is caused by the input-layer. Linux is not passing
Fn-X keypresses to your BIOS. If you've enabled ACPI that ought to be
the reason for this.

Arne

2003-03-28 19:25:47

by Felipe Alfaro Solana

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [BUG] laptop keyboard, even more info

On Fri, 2003-03-28 at 10:05, Arne Koewing wrote:
> >> I have tested that the Fn-F2 combination works in bios and grub and
> >> continues to work until the 2.5.65 kernel is loaded.
> >>
> >> I think this is a regression in the keyboard handling for the 2.5.65
> >> kernel....
>
> I don't think this is caused by the input-layer. Linux is not passing
> Fn-X keypresses to your BIOS. If you've enabled ACPI that ought to be
> the reason for this.

Also, XFree86 4.3.0 seems to inhibit Fn key combinations on some
scenarios. On my laptop, I can't use Fn+F3 to switch between LCD and CRT
while running X.

________________________________________________________________________
Felipe Alfaro Solana
Linux Registered User #287198
http://counter.li.org

2003-03-28 21:39:26

by Warren Turkal

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: [BUG] laptop keyboard, even more info

On Friday 28 March 2003 01:36 pm, Felipe Alfaro Solana wrote:
> On Fri, 2003-03-28 at 10:05, Arne Koewing wrote:
> > >> I have tested that the Fn-F2 combination works in bios and grub and
> > >> continues to work until the 2.5.65 kernel is loaded.
> > >>
> > >> I think this is a regression in the keyboard handling for the 2.5.65
> > >> kernel....
> >
> > I don't think this is caused by the input-layer. Linux is not passing
> > Fn-X keypresses to your BIOS. If you've enabled ACPI that ought to be
> > the reason for this.
>
> Also, XFree86 4.3.0 seems to inhibit Fn key combinations on some
> scenarios. On my laptop, I can't use Fn+F3 to switch between LCD and CRT
> while running X.

Fn key gets killed before X. Also, it works fine in X when I am in 2.5.63.

Warren
--
Treasurer, GOLUM, Inc.
http://www.golum.org