We are going to use LinEAK. The hotkeys controlling the brightness should work even without an operating system (at least they do with the 1.7.0 BIOS on my Inspiron 1501). In adition, after following my instructions, the volume up, volume down and mute keys will be working.

First install LinEAK. You may compile the source or use a package. For Arch Linux use:

sudo pacman -Sy lineakd lineak_defaultplugin

We are going to use the keycode configuration for Dell D600, because it matches Dell Inspiron keyboards:

lineakd -c DELL-D600

Now edit the configuration file, because at the moment we just asigned some functions to the keys.

nano ~/.lineak/lineakd.conf

The last lines of the file should look something like this:

AudioLowerVolume = “amixer sset Master 10%- unmute”
AudioMute = “amixer sset Master mute”
AudioRaiseVolume = “amixer sset Master 10%+ unmute”

Edit or add them, if they don’t exist. Notice that you need amixer installed. You can change the percents to adjust how much the volume will lower or raise.

Next add LinEAK tot the list of startup programs. If you are using Gnome, go to System -> Preferences -> Sessions -> New. Use the name “LinEAK” and the command “lineakd &”. Click OK and log out. After you login, you should be able to control the volume using Fn+Page Up, Fn+Page Down and Fn+End, like on Windows and Ubuntu (on Ubuntu they work out-of-the-box).