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Mladia

Member

Registered: 2016-04-30

Posts: 59

Super key not recognized by i3 on external keybaord

Hi,
I want to use i3 and I setup everything. I use the Windows (Super_L) as
the `mod` key. Everything is fine and working.

When I'm home I connect an external keyboard to my laptop and work with
it. The problem is that i3 doesn't recognize the Super key the same way
and when I press some of the combination, it does nothing. But in the
same time, when I try to do the same thing (with ext. keyboard
connected) and use the Windows key from the laptop it works. When I use
another key (e.g. Alt) as the `mod` key, everything works perfect and
the combinations are recognized (both on the external and laptop
keyboard). The thing is, that I have same other keybinding connected to
Alt key and I want to use the Super_L key.

What I tried so far, was I tried to set the `mod` key not with `Mod4`, but
with the keycode of Super_L (in my case 133). i3 doesn't allow me to do
that, since it wants only Mod1-4, shift, lock, control.

I tried to create some custom bindigs, using keycodes. In that case I
can bind the keycode 133 (alone) to do something, and it works (even from the
external keyboard), but I cannot make combinations.

 bindcode 133+69 exec demnu_run 

does not do anything when I press Super +F3 (133 and 69 are keycodes for Super_L and F3 from `xmodmap -pke`

I tried `xev` and I get the same output for Super key on laptop and on external keyboard (same keycode and keysym)

Edit: It works only with some combinations. When $mod is Mod4 (Super_L), combinations like 

bindsym $mod+s

bindsym $mod+e

bindsym $mod+Return

work, but

bindsym $mod+f

bindsym $mod+1

do not

Last edited by Mladia (2017-11-28 16:48:08)

GenkiSky

Member

From: This account is henceforth dis

Registered: 2017-04-04

Posts: 82

Re: Super key not recognized by i3 on external keybaord

That's really strange to me that the mod key works only with some combinations. With xev running, can you compare the outputs between a key combination that works (e.g. Mod4+s) versus does not (e.g. Mod4+f)? Can you try testing with some other keybinding program, such as sxhkd(1)?

Mladia

Member

Registered: 2016-04-30

Posts: 59

Re: Super key not recognized by i3 on external keybaord

Okay, so I figured out some things. My keyboard is relatively old. From trying some different key combinations, I found some really strange stuff. My keyboard has mapped some sort of special keys, similar to these on Sun keyboards, on some key combinations. For instance Super+Shift is SunProps and has it's one kycode 138, Super+f is keycode 144. While that's fine, I can map keycode 138 to something useful, but I cannot use the combination Super+Shift+ something else, because I cannot use `bindcode 138+d` or similar. Some other thing I found out was, Super+1, Super+2, Super+3 are bind to volume up/down/mute, but in `xev` I don't see they having their own keycode, but are just some stuff, that can't (or at least I don't know) be to remapped.

FocusOut event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x2a00001,
    mode NotifyGrab, detail NotifyAncestor

FocusIn event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x2a00001,
    mode NotifyUngrab, detail NotifyAncestor

KeymapNotify event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    keys:  10  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   0   0   0   0   

Is there some way, that I turn off all of these additional preconfigured bindings, that my keyboard has at the moment?