The laptop samsung Q45 has the LCD brightness keys Fn+Up and Fn+Down. These keys works in the BIOS setup and GRUB interface. But as soon as the kernel is loaded, these keys do not work any more. The keys do not work anywhere under Linux, neither in console nor in X. Pressing these keys gives the following kernel message: Fn+Up :: atkbd.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0x88 on isa0060/serio0). atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e008 <keycode>' to make it known. Fn+Down :: atkbd.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0x89 on isa0060/serio0). atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e009 <keycode>' to make it known. The speculation is that, since the keys would work even without the OS, it seems this is totally mediated by the BIOS. After the linux kernel is loaded, the trigger of the key press is intercepted by the kernel, so the signal does not reach the BIOS. Interestingly, on the same machine the key press Fn+F10 works quite fine, which would enable/disable the touchpad. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Install gentoo-sources-2.6.24-r8 on Samsung Q45. x86_64 system. 2. Try to press Fn+Up and Fn+Down during BIOS check, BIOS setup screen or the grub bootloader. 3. Try to press Fn+Up and Fn+Down after the kernel starts to load. Actual Results: By pressing these keys, one can change the LCD brightness during BIOS check, BIOS setup screen or the grub bootloader. The key press will not change the LCD brightness after linux kernel is loaded. Expected Results: The LCD brightness key should always work. Portage 2.1.4.4 (default/linux/amd64/2008.0, gcc-4.1.2, glibc-2.6.1-r0, 2.6.24-gentoo-r8 x86_64) ================================================================= System uname: 2.6.24-gentoo-r8 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7250 @ 2.00GHz Timestamp of tree: Sun, 01 Jun 2008 21:17:01 +0000 ccache version 2.4 [enabled] app-shells/bash: 3.2_p33 dev-java/java-config: 1.3.7, 2.1.6 dev-lang/python: 2.5.2-r4 dev-util/ccache: 2.4-r7 sys-apps/baselayout: 1.12.11.1 sys-apps/sandbox: 1.2.18.1-r2 sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13, 2.61-r1 sys-devel/automake: 1.5, 1.7.9-r1, 1.8.5-r3, 1.9.6-r2, 1.10.1 sys-devel/binutils: 2.18-r1 sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.4.0-r4 sys-devel/libtool: 1.5.26 virtual/os-headers: 2.6.23-r3 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64" CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CFLAGS="-march=nocona -O2 -pipe" CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/kde/3.5/env /usr/kde/3.5/share/config /usr/kde/3.5/shutdown /usr/share/config" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/env.d /etc/env.d/java/ /etc/fonts/fonts.conf /etc/gconf /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/terminfo /etc/texmf/web2c /etc/udev/rules.d" CXXFLAGS="-march=nocona -O2 -pipe" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="ccache distlocks metadata-transfer parallel-fetch sandbox sfperms strict unmerge-orphans userfetch" GENTOO_MIRRORS="ftp://ftp.gentoo.mesh-solutions.com/gentoo/ http://de-mirror.org/distro/gentoo/ " LANG="en_US.UTF-8" LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1" MAKEOPTS="-j3" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --stats --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" SYNC="rsync://rsync.europe.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="X acl acpi alsa amd64 arts berkdb bzip2 cairo cjk cli cracklib crypt cups dbus djvu dri fortran gdbm gif gpm gtk hal iconv ieee1394 ipv6 isdnlog java jpeg jpeg2k kde lm_sensors midi mmx mng mp3 mudflap multilib ncurses nls nptl nptlonly nsplugin opengl openmp pam pcmcia pcre pdf perl png pppd python qt3 qt4 readline reflection sdl session spell spl sqlite sqlite3 sse sse2 ssl svg tcpd threads tiff truetype unicode vorbis xcomposite xml xorg zlib" ALSA_CARDS="ali5451 als4000 atiixp atiixp-modem bt87x ca0106 cmipci emu10k1x ens1370 ens1371 es1938 es1968 fm801 hda-intel intel8x0 intel8x0m maestro3 trident usb-audio via82xx via82xx-modem ymfpci" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty extplug file hooks iec958 ioplug ladspa lfloat linear meter mulaw multi null plug rate route share shm softvol" APACHE2_MODULES="actions alias auth_basic authn_alias authn_anon authn_dbm authn_default authn_file authz_dbm authz_default authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache dav dav_fs dav_lock deflate dir disk_cache env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers include info log_config logio mem_cache mime mime_magic negotiation rewrite setenvif speling status unique_id userdir usertrack vhost_alias" ELIBC="glibc" INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard evdev mouse synaptics" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="i810" Unset: CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, INSTALL_MASK, LC_ALL, LINGUAS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, PORTDIR_OVERLAY
I regret having to say this, but this isn't a bug: Linux isn't supposed to work exactly like your computer's BIOS works. You will need to make your OS interpret these "unknown" keyboard events and then have them trigger setting the LCD brightness. Look for an appropriate package or ask Samsung how to access something that sets the LCD brightness.
I post here similar bugs in other linux distributions. I think this IS a bug because these keys work before on ubuntu with older linux kernel, as it is described. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/216436 https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/212790 http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=475851 And from the gentoo forums people says these keys would work under 2.6.22 kernel. I haven't downgrade the kernel yet but I will give it a try. If you still insist this should not be treated as a bug, then leave it. I just want to provide information and help.
