Question: I have a Microsoft keyboard with a series of non-standard buttons such as "Mail", "Search" , "Web/Home" etc.

It would be nice to be able to bind these keys so they execute arbitrary programs.

Does anybody know how to do this in Debian Etch?

Answer: 
I can't say for certain because I'm not using Debian but if you're using Gnome the easiest way is to run gnome-keybinding-properties (System > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts)

Instead of typing a shortcut such as `Ctrl`+`M`, hit the button on your keyboard.

If you would prefer to do this via command line or with a different desktop environment, this may help: [Unusual keys and keyboards](http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO-14.html)
I used Gizmo Daemon for my PowerMate under Debian - it supports fancy keyboard keys as well (although I haven't tried it for those keys). Hacking on gizmod to get it to do what I wanted was pretty easy.

[Gizmo Daemon](http://gizmod.sourceforge.net/)