Arch Linux

daspostloch

Member

Registered: 2009-12-17

Posts: 40

Cannot switch to tty (terminal, console) with ctrl - alt - F#

Hi,

I have been stably using arch for half a year,
but never managed to switch to another tty.

I have three suspicions: one is that xmodmap somehow
interferes, as I switched capslock and ctrl, and also
alt and winkey (but that is not an issue on a fedora
install). second, that me switching into runlevel 5
in /etc/inittab somehow is responsible. and third, that
it has something to do with awesome, my window manager.

any ideas are greatly appreciated, thanks!

> uname -r
2.6.31-ARCH

> awesome --version
awesome v3.3.4 (Mercury)
• Build: Sep  9 2009 18:32:37 for x86_64 by gcc version 4.4.1 (nobody@Miranda)
• D-Bus support: ✔

fastfret79

Member

Registered: 2009-09-05

Posts: 87

Re: Cannot switch to tty (terminal, console) with ctrl - alt - F#

You're a bit behind in your version of Awesome - I'm on 3.4.2. Is your system up to date?

I use Awesome and use the inittab method to get to runlevel 5 and don't have a problem switching tty's.

I would suggest disabling your changes to the keyboard layout with xmodmap just to see if that makes a difference

Bralkein

Member

Registered: 2004-10-26

Posts: 354

Re: Cannot switch to tty (terminal, console) with ctrl - alt - F#

In your /etc/X11/xorg.conf have you accidentally set the Option DontVTSwitch to True in the ServerFlags section?
Also, you could try dropping down to console-only mode via "init 3", then running a command like "startx /usr/bin/xterm". Then you can rule out awesome and runlevel 5 as the culprits if that doesn't fix anything.

daspostloch

Member

Registered: 2009-12-17

Posts: 40

Re: Cannot switch to tty (terminal, console) with ctrl - alt - F#

Thanks for that, I will try and report back on xmodmap (although it doesnt interfere on another machine) and the init 3 after work today.

I intentionally downgraded awesome after the system update, because it broke configuration (again) and I haven't found time so far to readjust. 

As to xorg.conf, I do not use it (this was mentioned as a kind of new possibility in the beginner's arch guide - something with hal, evdev, and the like?):

> locate xorg.conf
/usr/share/man/man5/xorg.conf.5.gz
> ls /etc/X11/
twm  xinit

Is there another potential location for such a DontVTSwitch?

toad

Member

From: if only I knew

Registered: 2008-12-22

Posts: 1,775

Website

Re: Cannot switch to tty (terminal, console) with ctrl - alt - F#

Okay, I'm fishing here, but you may want to enable KMS.

---

never trust a toad...
::Grateful ArchDonor::
::Grateful Wikipedia Donor::

Bralkein

Member

Registered: 2004-10-26

Posts: 354

Re: Cannot switch to tty (terminal, console) with ctrl - alt - F#

Sorry, I should have remembered the possibility of running with no xorg.conf. According to the xorg.conf manpage, the default value is to allow VT switching, and I am unaware of any other way of setting the DontVTSwitch option, so I suspect the source of your problem lies elsewhere.

Last edited by Bralkein (2009-12-17 18:59:15)

daspostloch

Member

Registered: 2009-12-17

Posts: 40

Re: Cannot switch to tty (terminal, console) with ctrl - alt - F#

Hi all and thanks for the comments,

much to my surprise it was the easiest one - xmodmap causes it,
although on fedora, there is no trouble with the identical setup,
thats why i hadn't checked earlier.
after xmodmapping, alt, ctrl, and F# keys all work independently,
but not together.
So here goes my .Xmodmap (the 166/167 lines are for the
buttons lenovo introduced around the arrow keys and don't
always work as intended, so disregard).

remove Lock = Caps_Lock
remove Control = Control_L
add Lock = Control_L
add Control = Caps_Lock
keycode 166 = Prior Home Home Home Home Home Home Home
keycode 167 = Next End End End End End End End
remove mod1 = Alt_L
remove mod4 = Super_L
add mod1 = Super_L
add mod4 = Alt_L

Any ideas how to go on from here? Because often a
tty comes in quite handy....