Swap Ctrl and Fn keys on Dell XPS

I've various keyboards where it is the other way around. For people who often need the Ctrl key, its not very ergonomic to spread the fingers for that additional key.

+1

I'm trying to convert myself from a MacBook to a Dell XPS 13, but the reversed Fn and Ctl keys are really standing in the way of it.  As a programmer and Emacs user, I'm totally dependent on my muscle memory for the Alt and Control keys.  Please, Dell, give us a way to swap Ctl and Fn in the BIOS so that we can use your otherwise great machines.

Thanks!

I also need this function. Ctrl is just too far if not swapped.

Yes, I went back to Lenovo and I'm not buying another Dell ever again until this is fixed!

i also would like  a way to swap the ctrl and Fn keys.

Nothing? I have the same problem with a Dell Precision 5520 ( coming from 10+ yr MacBook Pro & 30+ yr Emacs). I really want this swap. I found nothing in the BIOS. Apparently, other manufacturers (Lenovo?) provide a swap capability in their BIOS.

Bump! Looks like this is a very common problem. It probably can't be done, if so, it would be nice if someone from Dell would step and fess up and admit that they got it wrong.

It's particularly annoying if you want to do a Ctrl-Shift combination, which on sensible keyboards is a middle and ring finger combination, where they line up sensibly. On the Dell laptop, it is really awkward with the keys being above each other. If the Dell were the only keyboard I had ever used, I would probably get used to it, but it isn't and it is hard to unlearn several decades of use, and remember to swap between this aberrant behaviour and normal whenever I use a different PC, which I do for work.

> it would be nice if someone from Dell would step and fess up and admit that they got it wrong.

why is this wrong? Ctrl lined up with Shift, and Alt next to the spacebar is the standard since the 100% compatible IBM PC: 

http://www.keyboardco.com/product-images/ibm_model_m_beige_ps2_large.jpg

I just got a new XPS 13 to use as a Linux development machine, after working on Apple Macs for many years.

The CTRL key placement is odd to me. And it is really uncomfortable for SHIFT + CTRL combinations (e.g. for copy & paste in the terminal).

Offering the possibility to swap FN and CTRL in the BIOS looks like an easy fix to this issue (though I don't know if the keyboard wiring does not allow FN to be used as flexible as CTRL).

It would be great to at least get an official statement of Dell.

Thumb up :Yes:

This feature will be realy usefull.

Last year bought a pretty expensive XPS 15 for DEV work, loved everything except for the ctrl and fn placement, checked out this post, found out there was no solution. After more than a year, still find it extremely difficult when switching from a Macbook.

Enough is enough, recently bought a Thinkpad T580, XPS almost beats it in all aspects except the MOST important part: ctrl, fn placement and key travel. If you are a programmer those 2 factors can be deal breaking, with some small tweaks in xmodmap, Thinkpad in Ubuntu can give you a seamless experience if you frequently use Mac and heavily rely on key bindings (Emacs, Sublime Text, IntelliJ) for your work.

What really pisses me off is that we spent so much money (close to $ 2K), we voiced our concern in an official public channel i.e. this forum yet Dell don't really give a s**t about it. Adding ctrl and fn swap in BIOS isn't that hard to do, we would gladly become loyal Dell user forever if they do so. After a year, they still didn't do nothing.

Dell, think about it, we are high paid tech workers that can choose to use your machine 12+ hours per day for 30+ years, we can recommend your machine to co-worker, manager, or whole organization that has an army of people. It's sad that you don't care about this user group, you don't want our money.

For people who come to this post for the same issue, forget about it, there are people purchased expensive machine and give Dell time to fix it, they didn't. Just return your machine if it's still in the 14 days period or buy a Thinkpad if you got bored with Macbook. 

very frustrated. how can there be no solution to this problem.