F19 in Mac keyboard

I am using an Apple Aluminium keyboard.

Keys F1..F18 work well, however, F19 is not recognized.

Actually, when checked with xev, it is recognized.. but I cannot assign a shortcut to F19 in gnome or any other app.

Is this a known issue? any tips on how to fix it?

update: Output from xev when clicking F19

KeyPress event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0xd000001, root 0x1e6, subw 0x0, time 64297953, (160,-20), root:(1351,629), state 0x10, keycode 197 (keysym 0x0, NoSymbol), same_screen YES, XLookupString gives 0 bytes: XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: XFilterEvent returns: False
KeyRelease event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0xd000001, root 0x1e6, subw 0x0, time 64297960, (160,-20), root:(1351,629), state 0x10, keycode 197 (keysym 0x0, NoSymbol), same_screen YES, XLookupString gives 0 bytes: XFilterEvent returns: False

update 2: Output from xev when clicking F18

KeyPress event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0xd000001, root 0x1e6, subw 0xd000002, time 69242803, (47,44), root:(2043,870), state 0x10, keycode 196 (keysym 0x1008ff49, XF86Launch9), same_screen YES, XLookupString gives 0 bytes: XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: XFilterEvent returns: False
KeyRelease event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0xd000001, root 0x1e6, subw 0xd000002, time 69242806, (47,44), root:(2043,870), state 0x10, keycode 196 (keysym 0x1008ff49, XF86Launch9), same_screen YES, XLookupString gives 0 bytes: XFilterEvent returns: False

I guess it has something to do with F18=XF86Launch9 and F19=NoSymbol.. where is this mapped?

1 Answer

Ok, I could fix it.. or should I say hacked it.. not sure how clean this actually is.

In case somebody is interested:

1) Open /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/inet. Search for:

 key <FK17> { [ XF86Launch8 ] }; key <FK18> { [ XF86Launch9 ] };
};

and add one more line

 key <FK17> { [ XF86Launch8 ] }; key <FK18> { [ XF86Launch9 ] }; key <FK19> { [ XF86LaunchA ] };
};

2) run setxkbmap -layout us or whatever layout you are using to refresh the corresponding configuration.

After these changes, F19 is mapped to XF86LaunchA and can be used without issues.

Note: Thanks @danzel for the tips.