gnome-keybinding-properties version 2.18.1 (in ubuntu 7.04: System->Preferences->Keyboard Shortcuts)
ubuntu feisty kernel linux-2.6.20-15-lowlatency on i686
running on sony vaio vgn-tx650p
multimedia function keys are mostly correctly configured on default install.
however, 'vol -' and 'vol +' keys both show up in gnome-keybinding-properties as hex value 0x9f.
there is no 'Action' listed that really fits with the 'av mode' key, so i was trying to use it as 'Volume Up,' and discovered that the 'av mode' key also shows up as 0x9f in gnome-keybinding-properties when pressed.
the hex value for 'vol +' that appears in gnome-keybinding-properties is 0xb0, but i have yet to discover any key which, when pressed, actually shows a hex value of 0xb0. when i press the 'vol +' key, it shows up as 0x9f.
bottom line is that i can only use the multimedia function keys to lower volume, but not to raise it because it is not possible to modify the relevant accelerator key settings for 'Volume Up' in gnome-keybinding-properties.
also, the right 'Alt' key does not seem to have any keybinding associated with it; i.e. it does nothing.
Smells of a broken keymap. I think duplicate symbol mappings are known to cause at least some of the symptoms you describe. Can you post the output of xmodmap -pk, please?
Since you don't get KeyPress/KeyRelease events for the media keys, it looks like g-s-d intercepts these keys correctly (assuming that you still have those keybindings mapped). Can you please remove the keybindings for those three keys and retry with xev?
If that doesn't work out I might cook up a patch to the keybindings capplet to get some more diagnostics about what is really happening.
Created attachment 86613[details]
xev output for pressing 'VOL -' key 070418
could only disable voldn and volup keybindings in gnome-keybinding-properties because 'A/V Mode' has no entry there and probably only applies to the default Sony Vaio setup running mswin. also, there was no clear way to fiddle with the Alt_R keybinding, which still seems nonexistant. g-k-b does not seem to allow multiple keybindings for what it perceives to be the same key but actually is not (Alt_L and Alt_R; VolDn and VolUp and AVMode).
Created attachment 86614[details]
xev output for pressing 'VOL +' key 070418
see notes to previous attachment. btw- it looks like voldn and volup are being reported in xev as the same keycode (159).
If your hardware/driver/X reports the same keycode, then those keys are one and the same for our purposes. I don't know of a way to tell them apart at the application level.
CC'ing our keyboard wizard, maybe he has an idea. Sergey?
Is there anything more to do here? Sergey is not yet responding....
Should this be reported to X.org or to the HAL devel teams?
Comment 15Sergey V. Udaltsov
2007-05-06 21:02:55 UTC
If both volup and voldown are reported with the same keycode (159=<I1F>) - there is no way GNOME could distinguish them. Even from lower, general X11 pov it is essentially same key. Could you distinguish these keys somehow in linux console? I'm afraid a fix has to be made somewhere in thte kernel first..
It seems to be rather exotic keyboard in general - in most keyboards this keycode is mapped to play/pause key
Created attachment 86466 [details] xmodmap -pk output requested output of xmodmap -pkCreated attachment 86541 [details] xev output for pressing A/V MODE keyCreated attachment 86542 [details] xev output for pressing 'VOL -' keyCreated attachment 86543 [details] xev output for pressing 'VOL +' keyCreated attachment 86544 [details] xev output for pressing b, then B keys ran this as a control/comparison to the othersCreated attachment 86613 [details] xev output for pressing 'VOL -' key 070418 could only disable voldn and volup keybindings in gnome-keybinding-properties because 'A/V Mode' has no entry there and probably only applies to the default Sony Vaio setup running mswin. also, there was no clear way to fiddle with the Alt_R keybinding, which still seems nonexistant. g-k-b does not seem to allow multiple keybindings for what it perceives to be the same key but actually is not (Alt_L and Alt_R; VolDn and VolUp and AVMode).Created attachment 86614 [details] xev output for pressing 'VOL +' key 070418 see notes to previous attachment. btw- it looks like voldn and volup are being reported in xev as the same keycode (159).