Change FN key behavior on Ubuntu 16.04 installed on Macbook pro

Change Function Key behavior

This section of the document describe how to change the behavior of 'fn' key to better match what user expect. (See #201711, #162083)

Here a description of each behavior :

• 0 = disabled : Disable the 'fn' key. Pressing 'fn'+'F8' will behave like you only press 'F8'
• 1 = fkeyslast : Function keys are used as last key. Pressing 'F8' key will act as a special key. Pressing 'fn'+'F8' will behave like a F8.
• 2 = fkeysfirst : Function keys are used as first key. Pressing 'F8' key will behave like a F8. Pressing 'fn'+'F8' will act as special key (play/pause).

Ubuntu 9.04 to 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin)

Temporarily

The following command will change the behaviour of 'fn' key with immediate effect, but restarting will reset the configuration:

$ echo 2 | sudo tee /sys/module/hid_apple/parameters/fnmode

(The meaning of fnmode values is as described in the preceding section.)

Permanently

Methods described in this section will change the behavior permanently. There are several ways to proceed with this modification. Each sub-section describes one way to permanently change the configuration.

With .conf file (Recommended)

1. Run the following command to append the configuration line to the file /etc/modprobe.d/hid_apple.conf creating it if necessary:

$ echo options hid_apple fnmode=2 | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/hid_apple.conf

2. Trigger copying the configuration into the initramfs bootfile.

$ sudo update-initramfs -u -k all

3. Optionally, reboot

$ sudo reboot