[gentoo-user] Strange Alt key behavior?

[gentoo-user] Strange Alt key behavior?

[Grant]

I send a system image of my laptop to various other laptops of the
same make and model which they use to operate.  I wrote a script for
this and it works great.  I've run into a situation where a particular
new (used) laptop works fine but the Alt+F2 shortcut to open the
program launcher in xfce4 doesn't work and I can't switch to VTs 1-3
with Ctrl+Alt+F1/F2/F3.  VT4 works but then VT7 doesn't bring back the
desktop.  I'm not sure what this is pointing to.  Any ideas?

- Grant

[gentoo-user] Re: Strange Alt key behavior?

[Grant]

> I send a system image of my laptop to various other laptops of the
> same make and model which they use to operate.  I wrote a script for
> this and it works great.  I've run into a situation where a particular
> new (used) laptop works fine but the Alt+F2 shortcut to open the
> program launcher in xfce4 doesn't work and I can't switch to VTs 1-3
> with Ctrl+Alt+F1/F2/F3.  VT4 works but then VT7 doesn't bring back the
> desktop.  I'm not sure what this is pointing to.  Any ideas?


Actually I think some kind of a keymap issue is preventing my
F1/F2/F3/etc keys from working correctly.  This keyboard has a Euro
symbol and an Indian Rupee symbol that the other laptop keyboards
don't have.  Do I need to choose a different keymap and if so, how can
I figure out which one?

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] Strange Alt key behavior?

[Bruce Schultz]

On 4 February 2015 10:54:31 AM AEST, Grant <emailgrant@gmail.com> wrote:
>I send a system image of my laptop to various other laptops of the
>same make and model which they use to operate.  I wrote a script for
>this and it works great.  I've run into a situation where a particular
>new (used) laptop works fine but the Alt+F2 shortcut to open the
>program launcher in xfce4 doesn't work and I can't switch to VTs 1-3
>with Ctrl+Alt+F1/F2/F3.  VT4 works but then VT7 doesn't bring back the
>desktop.  I'm not sure what this is pointing to.  Any ideas?
>

Some laptops have a bios option to switch the behavior of the Fn key such that you need to press Fn+F2 to send a F2 key. The bare F1/F2/.. send the extra keys, such as volume controls and screen brightness. It might be worth checking if Fn+Alt+F2 does what you want.

Bruce

-- 
:b

Re: [gentoo-user] Strange Alt key behavior?

[Walter Dnes]

On Tue, Feb 03, 2015 at 04:54:31PM -0800, Grant wrote
> I send a system image of my laptop to various other laptops of the
> same make and model which they use to operate.  I wrote a script for
> this and it works great.  I've run into a situation where a particular
> new (used) laptop works fine but the Alt+F2 shortcut to open the
> program launcher in xfce4 doesn't work and I can't switch to VTs 1-3
> with Ctrl+Alt+F1/F2/F3.  VT4 works but then VT7 doesn't bring back the
> desktop.  I'm not sure what this is pointing to.  Any ideas?

  The "chvt" command can change terminals.  E.g. "chvt 1" is equivalant
to Ctrl+Alt+F1.  *NOTE*... "chvt" requires root (or su/sudo) permission
to work.

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>
I don't run "desktop environments"; I run useful applications

Re: [gentoo-user] Strange Alt key behavior?

[Grant]

>>I send a system image of my laptop to various other laptops of the
>>same make and model which they use to operate.  I wrote a script for
>>this and it works great.  I've run into a situation where a particular
>>new (used) laptop works fine but the Alt+F2 shortcut to open the
>>program launcher in xfce4 doesn't work and I can't switch to VTs 1-3
>>with Ctrl+Alt+F1/F2/F3.  VT4 works but then VT7 doesn't bring back the
>>desktop.  I'm not sure what this is pointing to.  Any ideas?
>>
>
> Some laptops have a bios option to switch the behavior of the Fn key such that you need to press Fn+F2 to send a F2 key. The bare F1/F2/.. send the extra keys, such as volume controls and screen brightness. It might be worth checking if Fn+Alt+F2 does what you want.


Bruce, I could kiss you.  Thank you so much.

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] Strange Alt key behavior?

[J. Roeleveld]

On 4 February 2015 15:27:32 CET, Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org> wrote:
>On Tue, Feb 03, 2015 at 04:54:31PM -0800, Grant wrote
>> I send a system image of my laptop to various other laptops of the
>> same make and model which they use to operate.  I wrote a script for
>> this and it works great.  I've run into a situation where a
>particular
>> new (used) laptop works fine but the Alt+F2 shortcut to open the
>> program launcher in xfce4 doesn't work and I can't switch to VTs 1-3
>> with Ctrl+Alt+F1/F2/F3.  VT4 works but then VT7 doesn't bring back
>the
>> desktop.  I'm not sure what this is pointing to.  Any ideas?
>
>  The "chvt" command can change terminals.  E.g. "chvt 1" is equivalant
>to Ctrl+Alt+F1.  *NOTE*... "chvt" requires root (or su/sudo) permission
>to work.

Also, and this is just for completeness, once in a text console, you can use
<ALT>+<arrowleft or arrowright>
to cycle through the vt's in the direction of the arrow keys.

--
Joost 
-- 
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.