Arch Linux

jbromley

Member

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2007-02-04

Posts: 268

Keycode generation problem - Caps Lock+Shift+{2,w,s,x}

Hello,

I've got a problem where none of the keys in the "2" row (that is, 2, w, s, x) generate a key code when pressed at the same time as Caps Lock and Shift. Here's a sample run of showkey at the console with some comments.

keycode  58 pressed  # press and hold Caps Lock
keycode  42 pressed  # press and hold Left Shift
keycode    2 pressed  # press 1 key, it's released in the next line
keycode    2 released
keycode  42 released # release Left Shift
keycode  58 released # release Caps Lock
keycode  58 pressed  # press and hold Caps Lock
keycode  42 pressed  # press and hold Left Shift
# I press and release the 2 key here, but there is no output! 
keycode  42 released # release Left Shift
keycode  58 released # release Caps Lock

Oddly enough, if I use the right Shift key the 2 key does generate a key press.

You may ask, why would you press Caps Lock and Shift at the same time? I have a ThinkPad that doesn't have a Windows key, so in X I remapped Caps Lock to be the Windows key with xmodmap and then I use this remapped Caps Lock in my window manager key mappings. For example in wmii and xmonad, Caps Lock+Shift+2 should mark the focused window as having the second tag. Because of this problem, this (in general Caps Lock+Shift+{2,w,s,x}) does not work for me.

Is this a kernel bug? An Arch keyboard layout bug? A hardware bug? I should mention that I have had this problem on both of the machines where I run Arch (ThinkPad T43 and Dell Inspiron 9300.) I haven't tested this with any other distro since my distro hopping days are over.

Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. I've already pulled out a good amount of hair from this one.
Regards,
j

jbromley

Member

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2007-02-04

Posts: 268

Re: Keycode generation problem - Caps Lock+Shift+{2,w,s,x}

*Bump*

It seems that I'm the only one who has ever used Caps Lock as Mod4 (Windows key) so I could have Ctrl and Alt free for my programs. That, or something is wrong with my hardware and I don't know it.

Oh well.