With the input subsystem updates for Linux 6.17 in addition to now [1]mapping ther F13 to F24 keys by default for PS/2 keyboards, the "performance boost" key beginning to be found on some laptops now has a standardized keycode. With standardizing that keycode, Linux desktop/user-space software will be able to more easily and uniformly set the intended behavior should your laptop/system have such a performance key.

Some relatively recent Dell/Alienware gaming laptops have [2]featured a G-Mode key aimed to help with gaming performance and other "performance boost" keys have appeared on other devices. These keys typically are just for switching the laptop over to the high performance platform profile rather than having to adjust your power/performance profile from within the operating system's settings interface.

With Linux 6.17, there is now a standardized keycode for such performance keys. Marcos Alano commented on [3]the patch defining KEY_PERFORMANCE as 0x2bd :

"Alienware calls this key "Performance Boost". Dell calls it "G-Mode".

The goal is to have a specific keycode to detect when this key is pressed, so userspace can act upon it and do what have to do, usually starting the power profile for performance."

That patch was [4]merged as part of the input driver updates today for Linux 6.17. The Linux 6.17 merge window is expected to culminate this weekend with the Linux 6.17-rc1 release.



[1] https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.17-Input-Drivers

[2] https://www.phoronix.com/news/Alienware-G-Mode-Linux-Revert

[3] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/dtor/input.git/commit/?id=89c52146392948f4cdda3853da9d82ec6d1dd1f4

[4] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=6e64f4580381e32c06ee146ca807c555b8f73e24