Why is numlock disabled by default on most linux distros?

[phreak0ut]

I still haven't found an answer. It is really annoying to always have to hit the numlock after bootup.

[Hitboxx]

Hehe, I will put it in another way. It is not actually disabled, it is just not enabled, read the difference?

Depending on your distro, install the package 'numlockx', it will be enabled.

[phreak0ut]

I got it. Hehehe.... But, WHY is it not enabled? I see a lot of posts on the net saying that you have mentioned. Why is it not enabled by default?

[Hitboxx]

Honestly I don't know, some executive decision maybe

Though I'm sure it isn't that, but something something..

[QwertyManiac]

X treats Num Lock as a modifier key. GNOME users reported loss of some keyboard functionality when they auto-turned it on. It doesn't happen to all keyboards, but does for a few and hence the developer decision to leave it turned off.

Also, being treated as a modifier key (Like shift, ctrl and others), some application programs start to behave abnormally when Num Lock is turned on. The only way to avoid this is to map every key of the Num Pad to their functions explicitly, thereby removing any need for pressing the Num Lock key for the functionality of the pad.

(KDE does not have this issue at the DE level, and you can set the option in its settings just like you do in Windows)

[phreak0ut]

Thanks a lot for the info QM! Really helped