Gentoo Archives: gentoo-desktop

From: "Mike C. Fletcher" <mcfletch@××××××.com>
To: gentoo-desktop@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-desktop] Question regarding disappearing keystrokes...
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2004 04:02:05
Message-Id: 41563F48.5080908@rogers.com
In Reply to: [gentoo-desktop] Question regarding disappearing keystrokes... by "Mike C. Fletcher"
1 Okay, have been playing with this problem (ctrl+shift consumes
2 characters) for the last three hours or so (it's been driving me crazy),
3 and I now have a solution. Posting here in case others run into the
4 problem and need to know how to disable this little mis-feature.
5
6 Problem summary:
7
8 The microsoft(natural) keyboard mapping, by default, maps shift+ctrl
9 to "Multi_key", which is a "chording" composition mechanism that
10 allows for entering extended character codes via a set of defined
11 mappings. For instance type shift+ctrl, then 'co' produces a
12 copyright symbol. This particular choice of keys, however, means
13 that simple editing operations involving shift and control can wind
14 up entering the chording-key mode.
15
16 Problem source:
17
18 Turns out that this is an XWindows "feature" which was enabled by
19 the (AFAIK automatically generated) configuration options in my
20 xorg.conf keyboard section:
21
22 Section "InputDevice"
23 Identifier "Keyboard0"
24 Driver "keyboard"
25 Option "XkbModel" "microsoftpro"
26 Option "XkbLayout" "us"
27 Option "XkbVariant" "winkeys"
28 EndSection
29
30 winkeys doesn't actually appear to be defined anywhere, which leaves
31 the definition as the "normal" microsoftpro layout (leaving out
32 winkeys, or defining any other unrecognised variant has the same
33 effect, effectively selecting "basic").
34
35 Solution 1:
36
37 Switch the XkbVariant setting to "nodeadkeys". This eliminates all
38 of the undesirable features of the mapping, but also eliminates a
39 number of the commonly useful key-mappings such as the Windows keys,
40 the "Menu" key, etceteras.
41
42 Solution 2:
43
44 Leave XkbVariant setting as "basic" (or "winkeys" if you prefer).
45 Create a file like this in your home directory:
46
47 8<_____ .xmodmap.rc ___________
48
49 keycode 115 = Super_L Multi_key
50 keycode 116 = Super_R Multi_key
51 keycode 109 = Control_R
52
53 and add the following line to your .xinitrc file (you may not have a
54 .xinitrc file yet, if not, read up on what to put in it, at the very
55 least you'll want a call to startkde in it, read this *before*
56 editing the file, as a messed up .xinitrc can prevent you from
57 logging in (annoying if you're using xdm for your login manager)):
58
59 xmodmap .xmodmaprc
60
61 This file maps the "compose key" (multi-key) mode to
62 shift+WindowsKey (either one), and eliminates the control-with-shift
63 as a multi-key mapping.
64
65 If someone has a better approach, that would be cool to know about too.
66 Adding the xmodmap call to .xinitrc means that the whole system operates
67 as-desired wrt this feature, but if I'm reading correctly xmodmap is not
68 the "proper" way to do this kind of thing any more.
69
70 Enjoy yourselves,
71 Mike
72
73 Mike C. Fletcher wrote:
74
75 > This is probably going to seem trivial, but it is driving me a little
76 > buggy. I'm a programmer, so I spend almost my whole day editing code,
77 > including a large amount of cutting, copying and pasting. So I do a
78 > lot of key-sequences where I'm holding down shift(+ctrl)+arrows to
79 > select, then depressing control to start a ctrl+c or a ctrl+x sequence.
80 >
81 ... <snip>
82 ________________________________________________
83 Mike C. Fletcher
84 Designer, VR Plumber, Coder
85 http://www.vrplumber.com
86 http://blog.vrplumber.com
87
88
89 --
90 gentoo-desktop@g.o mailing list