I3wm F1-F3 audio keys not returning XF86 values when pressed

Framework Laptop 13 Linux
1

I’m currently trying to get i3wm to work on Ubuntu 24.04, and noticed my audio keys are not functioning. While I can get audio next, play and prev binds set up because they return the codes XF86AudioNext etc. I cannot get f1-f3 set up because instead of XF86AudioLowerVolume for example, xev shows that it returns:

KeymapNotify event, serial 38, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    keys:  59  0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   
           0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0

Is there something I could set the bindsym to in i3’s config to make that work, or do I need to try and remap that key somehow?

2

Welcome to the forum.

I believe that’s normal for xev when something is intercepting the keypresses. Search for any shortcuts bound to those keys. I only see XF86AudioLowerVolume, XF86AudioRaiseVolume, etc in xev after I clear their shortcut bindings.
Try sudo showkey and you should see that the keys are registering.

3

I’m not sure how I’d find/clear the shortcut bindings, where would I look for that? I’m seeing that the keycode comes up with showkey.

4

I don’t use Ubuntu, so I don’t know exactly, but in ubuntu settings there should be a page for configuring keyboard shortcuts.

Googling found this Set keyboard shortcuts
But I also saw someone say that the i3 wm can interfere, link went to a 404 page though, so not sure.