[CentOS] Windows key works some times I boot, doesn't work others
Nick Fenwick
neek at tcp.co.uk
Sun May 11 04:58:34 UTC 2008
MHR wrote:
> On Thu, May 8, 2008 at 11:13 PM, Nick Fenwick <neek at tcp.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> How can I investigate why my Windows key is not triggering the expected
>> keybinding commands?
>>
> This may seem dumb, but are you sure it's not your keyboard? I use a
> Logitech EX110 wireless keyboard and mouse, and every once in a while
> the number keypad goes silent, and then it comes back for no
> particular reason. Could your Mod key be misbehaving?
>
Thanks for the pointers. This is a new keyboard, installed because I
spilled some oil on the last one (it's amazing how frustrating
programming without a working 9 key is). The mod key never starts/stops
working during a session .. it's always rebooting that changes it
to/from working state.
> Also, there are three key bindings files in gnome (none of which I
> recall by name at the moment) but you need to make sure they all are
> set correctly (there's one for each section of the keystroke
> preferences window - desktop, multimedia and windows). I had some
> problems similar to this when the right settings wound up in the wrong
> file, but nothing as sporadic as what you're describing.
>
I've had a look at what gnome-keybinding-properties gives me, and see it
controls stuff like the workspace switching keys. My alt-1, alt-2 etc.
bindings always work, regardless of the dodgy mod key. It's only the
mod key, among all the keybindings that I use in heavy programming
sessions i.e. using lots of keybindings in lots of apps, that is
intermittent as I described.
Having said that, the only utility to which I put my windows key is the
metacity keybindings as I described. I'm in a session now where my mod4
key is not working. I just tried setting the 'switch to workspace 1'
gnome-keybinding-properties key to mod4-1 instead of alt-1. This app
has the benefit over the gconf-editor in that it reads keypresses that
you type and enters the keycodes for you. As soon as I press the
windows key, it enters "Super_L" and refuses to accept the '1'. Trying
to assign mod4-2 to workspace 2 results in it accepting Super_L and
complaining that that is already assigned. I haven't come across
Super_L before.
Some googling led me to
http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-46657.html , which
indicates I should change my "Alt/Win key behaviour" from "Default"
(whatever that is) to something else. Trying "Meta is mapped to the
Win-keys" causes g-k-p to come up with <Mod4><Hyper>x, and suddenly the
old <Mod4>x binding in gconf's metacity section is working, running
xterm as requested.
So I guess my problem was the System->Preferences->Keyboard=>Layout
Options->Alt/Win key behaviour setting being Default. I'll play around
more on other reboots and see if the Super_L behaviour changes for any
reason.
Cheers :)
Nick
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