thinkpad keys in firefox

<img class="right shadow" src="thinkpad_keys.jpg" />

I use a [Thinkpad
T43](http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/notebooks/thinkpad/t-series/index.html), and I
love it. Along with other Thinkpads and [IBM
keyboards](http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?partNumber=28L3644),
it has a couple little keys above the arrow keys that go "back" and "forward" in
your browser. At least, in Windows IE. Shockingly, they don't work with
[Firefox](http://mozilla.org/products/firefox/) (in Linux) out of the box.

**Update**: Rob Mayoff's
[howto](http://dqd.com/~mayoff/notes/thinkpad/dqdnavkeys/), originally for
[Mozilla](http://mozilla.org/products/mozilla1.x/), now includes Firefox. He's
done most of the work in a package that you can install with a single click. If
you just want your thinkpad keys to work already, [follow his
howto](http://dqd.com/~mayoff/notes/thinkpad/dqdnavkeys/).

Otherwise, here's the recipe for Firefox, versions 0.8 through 2.x. (It probably
works with earlier and later versions too, but no guarantees.)

First, you need to map the keys to X keysyms. There are in-depth instructions
[on the linux-thinkpad mailing
list](http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/pipermail/linux-thinkpad/2003-December/014440.html),
but all you need to do is add these two lines to ~/.Xmodmap:

    keycode 234 = F19
    keycode 233 = F20

and then reload it:

    $ xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap

Now, you need to perform surgery on one of the jar files that Firefox uses to
configure itself. In the chrome/ subdirectory of your Firefox directory, unpack
the browser.jar file like so:

    $ cd firefox/chrome
    $ unzip browser.jar

Fire up your favorite text editor and open the content/browser/browser.xul file.
In the **<keyset id="mainKeyset">** section, find these lines:

    <key id="goBackKb"  keycode="VK_LEFT"
         command="Browser:Back" modifiers="alt"/>
    <key id="goForwardKb"  keycode="VK_RIGHT"
         command="Browser:Forward" modifiers="alt"/>

...and add these two lines immediately after them:

    <key id="goBackKb"  keycode="VK_F19"
         command="Browser:Back"/>
    <key id="goForwardKb"  keycode="VK_F20"
         command="Browser:Forward"/>

Repackage browser.jar, like so:

    $ zip -rD0 browser.jar content/browser/

If you weren't working in your firefox/chrome directory, copy the new
browser.jar over the existing one in firefox/chrome.

Restart Firefox, and you should be set! If not, feel free to [email
me](about), and I'll try to help.