Solution to Epomaker keyboards F-row keys in linux
The Problem Recently, my Keychron K8 keyboard has died (PCB 💀), so I started hunting for a new keyboard. Another Keychron was out of the question, so I decided to give Epomaker a try. I stumbled into a B-stock Epomaker Galaxy80 and decided to give it a shot. I am very happy with the feel of the keyboard, typing feels much better than the K8, at least to me. However, I ran into a problem in linux (Fedora Workstation, although this is not distro-specific): I was unable to use the F-row (F1 - F12), so that Alt + F4 would not close the window, F11 would not trigger full screen etc. When I used the online keyboard testers, it would register keys/commands such as “Files”, “Calculator”, “Volume Up/Down” etc.: I searched the keyboard manual, thinking it must be some sort of an Fn lock being activated, but there does not seem to be a feature like that on my keyboard. Even worse, using the Fn key + one of the F-row keys was not triggering the actual F-row key either. I had no (useful) way to use my F-row keys! This issue has been reported with many other Epomaker keyboards, such as EP84, TH80, RT80, RT100 or GMK87, but also with other brands (including some Keychrons). The good news is, the fix should be the same for all of them! ...