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.

• Contents

  1. Identify keys
  2. Key naming
     1. Autostart for KDE
     2. Autostart for every WM
  3. Assign an action on your keys
     1. Under KDE
     2. Under Gnome

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.

• 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

Autostart for every WM

To load your changes at startup, add this to your ~/.xsessionrc :

xmodmap ~/.xmodmaprc

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... 

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