Re: [Follow-up] Xmodmap and GNOME FC3

Nope. You have to inform the X server about your keyboard layout before you can assign shortcuts to the keys. This is why xmodmap is such an important tool, since it is simple to set up and maintain. That said, XKB isn't all that bad -- it could use some better documentation is all.


mnikhil m wrote:

Hi , I think yu can use gconf-editor and go to apps->metacity->and
configure your keyboardshortcuts there:)

On Fri, 10 Dec 2004 22:42:34 +0000, Malcolm Cowe <malk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I've finally managed to sit down and spend a little time with XKB in
order to wean myself off Xmodmap and get control of my keyboard back
under GNOME.

Since I have been reading elsewhere that other people have had issues
with Xmodmap and GNOME interoperability and since I have previously
posted about this on fedora-list, I thought I'd write a quick note on
the, let's call it technique, I employed. It's actually quite similar to
the method I originally used to set up my Xmodmap file.

Launch xev from a terminal window. While the xev target window
has focus, I press all of the keys which need to be configured. The
output is quite verbose. The following example is for the eject key on a
UK Macintosh keyboard:

KeyPress event, serial 25, synthetic NO, window 0x3000001,
    root 0x8d, subw 0x0, time 3056554, (-600,696), root:(492,745),
    state 0x0, keycode 204 (keysym 0x0, NoSymbol), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 25, synthetic NO, window 0x3000001,
    root 0x8d, subw 0x0, time 3056554, (-600,696), root:(492,745),
    state 0x0, keycode 204 (keysym 0x0, NoSymbol), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:

Take a note of the keycode (204 in this example). What I did next was to
look up this keycode in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb/keycodes/xfree86, which
returned the following entry:

xfree86:    <K6C> =   204;              // <I4C>

Finally, I added this entry into the symbols file for my keyboard. For a
UK Macintosh keyboard, the file is:

/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb/symbols/macintosh

Within the section xkb_symbols "basic", add the following:

    key <K6C>  {        [ XF86Eject                     ]       };

Repeat the process for all other keys.

I also added in the following line to this section:

    include "srvr_ctrl(xfree86)"

This is necessary in order to be able to switch to a virtual console from X.

There are a couple of gotchas:

1. <KPEQ> does not match the UK Macintosh keypad equals sign. I had to
use <K59>. Similarly, the ~` key at the bottom left was matched against
<LSGT>.

2. I still cannot select a thread in thunderbird with shift-control-a,
even under the failsafe session.

3. Under GNOME, I cannot assign a shortcut key to "Log Out". That is to
say, I can make the assignment using the "Preferences->Keyboard
Shortcuts" dialog, but when I try to use the key nothing happens.
Assigning the same key to a different shortcut works though. Guess I'll
just have to stick with control-alt-delete.

Regards,

Malcolm.

--
fedora-list mailing list
fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx
To unsubscribe: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list