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 <<FullSearchCached(##TranslationMasterPage:Keyboard/MultimediaKeys)>>

(!) ?Discussion


Today, a lot of keyboards have additional keys. Here, we show how to use them. This article is based on part of the very good Léa Linux How-To.

Identify keys

  • Open a terminal
  • Run xev (xbase-clients)

  • Search "keycode". In this example, it's 160

    KeyPress event, serial 28, synthetic NO, window 0x2800001,
        root 0x5c, subw 0x0, time 3864774064, (-249,385), root:(429,410),
        state 0x0, keycode 160 (keysym 0x0, NoSymbol), same_screen YES,
        XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
        XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes:
        XFilterEvent returns: False

Try and note down all multimedia keys.

Alternatively

  • Go to a console, e.g. with Ctrl-Alt-F1
  • run showkey for keycodes or mev for mouse events

(Source http://linux.die.net/Mobile-Guide/mobile-guide-p2c1s8-ext-keys.html)

Key naming

Here, we're going to use xmodmap to modify keymaps and insert our multimedia keys.

  • Create a new text file: ~/.xmodmaprc

  • The file uses this syntax:

keycode YOUR_KEYCODE = YOUR_NAME

Choose a name in /usr/share/X11/XKeysymDB. Note that xmodmap manual refer to /usr/lib/X11/XKeysymDB, but it's wrong on my Debian Etch open a bug ?

  • For example:

keycode 160 = XF86AudioMute
keycode 174 = XF86AudioLowerVolume
keycode 176 = XF86AudioRaiseVolume
keycode 162 = XF86AudioPlay
keycode 144 = XF86AudioPrev
keycode 145 = XF86AudioNext
keycode 164 = XF86AudioStop
keycode 237 = XF86HomePage
  • To apply that, run:

xmodmap ~/.xmodmaprc

Autostart for KDE

  • To load your change at startup, create a ~/.kde/Autostart/xmodmap.sh file with the following contents:

xmodmap ~/.xmodmaprc
  • This file must be executable:

chmod +x ~/.kde/Autostart/xmodmap.sh

Assign an action on your keys

Under KDE

Global shortcut (Recommended)

In all applications supporting DCOP calls (KDE compatible), you can assign your multimedia keys as shortcuts. It's a very powerful and very simple feature!

Example with Kmix:

  • Open K > Multimedia > Kmix sound mixer

  • Show Mixer Window
  • Go to Setting > Configure Global Shortcuts... 

example-kde-kmix.png

This works fine with Amarok too.

Input Action

This method is more generic.

  • Go to

K > Configuration > Regional & Accessibility > Input Action
  • Create new group called "Multimedia"
  • Create new action

KHotKey Daemon

Not tested

Under Gnome

Not tested