My iBook 600 (16VRAM) has had an issue with the Fn key usage for a while, and I'm to the point that is is bugging me enough to ask for help. The situation is that all the Fx keys work as the Fx key only when I *don't* press Fn. Thus, to adjust the brightness I have to press Fn-F2, instead of just F2. To eject a CD I have to press Fn-F12, instead of just F12. This doesn't carry over for the other Fn-based keys. I still have to press Fn-Down arrow to jump a screenfull at a time. I went into the Keyboard an Mouse CP in 10.2.8 and it has the keyboard focus control tab. To activate/deactivate the keyboard focus control you press Fn-Ctrl-F1. For me that doesn't work, I just press Ctrl-F1 and the check box checks/unchecks.
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Things may be ever so slightly different in Jaguar, but in Tiger (which I'm running), you can modify the F-keys' behavior by checking a box in the Keyboard & Mouse preference pane.
In Tiger, checking the box makes the keys control software functions; unchecking makes them control hardware functions (i.e., brightness, mute, volume, number lock, CD eject). Holding down the FN key then makes the F-keys control their "other" functions, respectively.
I have my Beige G3 running Jaguar, and it's booting up now. I'll double check how things are controlled in Jaguar and revise my comments if necessary.
EDIT: I've checked on the Beige G3 (Jaguar) and oddly, that checkbox isn't in the Keyboard & Mouse preference pane after all. Weird. It is there in the K&M pane for Panther (running on my PowerBook G3).
Not sure how you got stuck in the "custom" setting without a way to set it back to default. Have you tried repairing permissions? Any other Jaguar gurus out there who might have other suggestions? I'm stumped.
I just used FDM and the Mini to upgrade 10.2.8 to 10.4.4. After the upgrade, the Fn behaviour returned to normal. And now it does have the check box you mentioned in the Keyboard and Mouse CP.