[SOLVED] Arch does not recognize key combination CTRL+F - ASUS X552C

s.baldino · 2015-04-08 13:04:37

Hello, everyone.
I have a rather strange problem - Arch (or X, I think - additional informations follow) does not recognize the combination CTRL-F. I hate this, as it is the default "Search" key combination. Other combinations are working well (as far as I know - I don't use them all).

I'm using KDE Plasma 5 (since this morning, TOTAL NOOB WARNING), but I already had this problem under LXDE.

Additional informations: I've tried using showkey --scancodes from the main terminal (without starting X), those are the results.

When I press CTRL:

01xd
09xd

When I press F:

0x21
0xa1

When I press CTRL+F simultaneously:

01xd 0x21
0xa1 0x9d

After starting X (KDE Plasma), xbindkeys -k from terminal gives the following results:

When I press CTRL:

"(Scheme function)"
m:0x4 + c:37
Control + Control_L

When I press F:

"(Scheme function)"
m:0x0 + c:41
f

When I press CTRL+F:

"(Scheme function)" 
m:0x4 + c:37
Control + Control_L

Exactly as when pressing CTRL. I think the problem is in X, but I have no idea how to fix it. Any help is appreciated.

Last edited by s.baldino (2015-04-10 02:02:55)

ewaller · 2015-04-08 14:40:31

If you use xev, What are the names of the key presses for that key. Those names are bound in KDE.

What keyboard layout are you using.
I am not in front of a machine that has KDE. I am an avid user of emacs; every time I set up kde I must go through the key bindings and get rid of everything that uses ctrl or alt. There are a bunch. When I am done, every key binding for the window manger/desktop environment is qualified with the mod4 (some call it Windows) key. I bet that kde is swallowing the ctrl-f.

As an experiment, you might try i3wm or Openbox to see if the problem exists there. However, they would take a fair amount of time to set up.

s.baldino · 2015-04-08 15:05:38

xev results:

for CTRL

KeyPress event, serial 40, synthetic NO, window 0xa00001,
    root 0xed, subw 0x0, time 3220578, (165,-19), root:(831,10),
    state 0x0, keycode 37 (keysym 0xffe3, Control_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 40, synthetic NO, window 0xa00001,
    root 0xed, subw 0x0, time 3220684, (165,-19), root:(831,10),
    state 0x4, keycode 37 (keysym 0xffe3, Control_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

for f:

KeyPress event, serial 40, synthetic NO, window 0xa00001,
    root 0xed, subw 0x0, time 3289686, (172,-15), root:(838,14),
    state 0x0, keycode 41 (keysym 0x66, f), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (66) "f"
    XmbLookupString gives 1 bytes: (66) "f"
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 40, synthetic NO, window 0xa00001,
    root 0xed, subw 0x0, time 3289781, (172,-15), root:(838,14),
    state 0x0, keycode 41 (keysym 0x66, f), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (66) "f"
    XFilterEvent returns: False

for the combination

KeyPress event, serial 40, synthetic NO, window 0xa00001,
    root 0xed, subw 0x0, time 3330364, (165,-6), root:(831,23),
    state 0x0, keycode 37 (keysym 0xffe3, Control_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

FocusOut event, serial 40, synthetic NO, window 0xa00001,
    mode NotifyGrab, detail NotifyAncestor

FocusIn event, serial 40, synthetic NO, window 0xa00001,
    mode NotifyUngrab, detail NotifyAncestor

KeymapNotify event, serial 40, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    keys:  4294967277 0   0   0   32  0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   
           0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   

KeyRelease event, serial 40, synthetic NO, window 0xa00001,
    root 0xed, subw 0x0, time 3330868, (165,-6), root:(831,23),
    state 0x4, keycode 37 (keysym 0xffe3, Control_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

I don't think KDE is the problem, as I had the same problem in LXDE.

EDIT: I forgot: my actual layout is Italian, no variants.

Last edited by s.baldino (2015-04-08 15:13:52)

ewaller · 2015-04-08 18:21:09

Yeah, It looks like the keydown on the F is not making it through to the app that is running. Weird. The Italian keyboard does not use any compose keys with F as far as I know.

But, it is not a global problem with X. I run emacs, and Ctrl-F is pretty fundamental. It means move forward one character. I don't use LXDE.
Is that the only key that happens to? Also, confirm you are not running as a virtual machine.

s.baldino · 2015-04-09 09:46:34

I confirm, no virtual machines. I've tried every CTRL+Letter combination, they all work (with the exception of CTRL+F). I've seen that LXDE is Openbox based, so I fear that trying Openbox will bring the same results, and iw3 looks really complicated, and I'd have to use it for a simple test. Could you suggest me another environment, different from LXDE and KDE but simple to get to the console to try xbindkeys?

ewaller · 2015-04-09 14:22:32

twm (xorg-twm). It is dirt simple. I usually keep it installed exactly for the cases where I need an absolute minimum WM

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Twm

mauritiusdadd · 2015-04-09 15:28:32

Hi s.baldino,

can you also post the content of your ~/.xbindkeysrc (if it exists)? Can you run the following command, press CTRL+F and then show us the full output?

xbindkeys -n

s.baldino · 2015-04-09 19:35:31

Ciao, mauritiusdadd

I'll post only the uncommented parts of .xbindkeysrc.

 Examples of commands:

"xbindkeys_show"
  control+shift + q

# set directly keycode (here control + f with my keyboard)
"xterm"
  c:41 + m:0x4

# specify a mouse button
"xterm"
  control + b:2

[...]

#Raise volume
"amixer set Master 2+"
        m:0x0 + c:123

#Lower volume
"amixer set Master 2-"
        m:0x0 + c:122

#Mute master
"amixer set Master toggle && amixer set Speaker toggle && amixer set Headphone $
        m:0x0 + c:121

(commands that I've added to control volume under LXDE, as it had no native bindings. They may be imperfect, I've done them much time ago)

Everything else is commented.

About xbindkeys -n... When I try to start it, the following message pops up

*** Warning ***
Please verify that there is not another program running
which captures one of the keys captured by xbindkeys.
It seems that there is a conflict, and xbindkeys can't
grab all the keys defined in its configuration file.

I don't have a clue about which program could conflict with xbindkeys.

ewaller, I've tried Twm. Wow, talk about simplicity! First time I booted it, I tought my pc crashed as all I had was a blank screen. After discovering that the left key of the mouse pops up menus, I've tried to use xbindkeys -k. But I've discovered that twm, as default, uses the combination "CTRL+F" to place an xterm windows. I wasn't able to see the xbindkeys output, but "CTRL+F" definitely did something that neither CTRL nor F was doing: so I can conclude that Twm recognizes the "CTRL+F" combination.

Last edited by s.baldino (2015-04-09 19:50:54)

mauritiusdadd · 2015-04-09 20:42:10

About xbindkeys -n... When I try to start it, the following message pops up

*** Warning ***
Please verify that there is not another program running
which captures one of the keys captured by xbindkeys.
It seems that there is a conflict, and xbindkeys can't
grab all the keys defined in its configuration file.

This means that probably xbindkeys is already running, you can check it using the command

ps -Af | grep xbindkeys

And here there is the problem

# set directly keycode (here control + f with my keyboard)
"xterm"
c:41 + m:0x4

this tells xbindkeys to open a new xterm window when the key combination c:41 + m:0x4 (that is CTRL + F) is pressed and once the key combination is grabbed by xbindkeys, it is not forwarded to other programs. Just remove these lines from your .xbindkeysrc and restart xbindkeys.

edit: typo

Last edited by mauritiusdadd (2015-04-09 20:46:01)

s.baldino · 2015-04-10 02:02:33

...And that should teach me to read what I'm pasting. Thank you, it works now!

Thanks everyone.

Arch Linux

#1 2015-04-08 13:04:37

[SOLVED] Arch does not recognize key combination CTRL+F - ASUS X552C

#2 2015-04-08 14:40:31

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not recognize key combination CTRL+F - ASUS X552C

#3 2015-04-08 15:05:38

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not recognize key combination CTRL+F - ASUS X552C

#4 2015-04-08 18:21:09

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not recognize key combination CTRL+F - ASUS X552C

#5 2015-04-09 09:46:34

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not recognize key combination CTRL+F - ASUS X552C

#6 2015-04-09 14:22:32

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not recognize key combination CTRL+F - ASUS X552C

#7 2015-04-09 15:28:32

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not recognize key combination CTRL+F - ASUS X552C

#8 2015-04-09 19:35:31

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not recognize key combination CTRL+F - ASUS X552C

#9 2015-04-09 20:42:10

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not recognize key combination CTRL+F - ASUS X552C

#10 2015-04-10 02:02:33

Re: [SOLVED] Arch does not recognize key combination CTRL+F - ASUS X552C

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