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I really like the way function keys are used on Apple and some Dell/HP laptops, with the functions (volume, brightness, suspend, etc.) available by just pressing the key, and the F keys available only by pressing fn first. Any idea about how to or if it is possible to reverse these?

I know on Dell and HP there is a BIOS setting to determine this setting, but I couldn't find one in my BIOS (which is the most up to date version). Any help you can provide would be great!

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Fn keys are tricky, because key combinations involving them are not presented to the kernel as ordinary key presses by the hardware. Each Fn- combination must be dealt independently, and there are still outstanding issues with Fn-F5 and Fn-F6 keys (Hopefully the will get fixed in Ubuntu Raring). So unless hardware guys invent yet another keyboard abstraction level that will encompass those Fn-x combinations, I wouldn't count on fluency of reassigning them. – Adam Ryczkowski Apr 3 at 15:40

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