On Wed, 18 Jan 2017 12:18:38 +0000 Richmond <[email protected]> wrote:
> "Matthew D. Fuller" <[email protected]> writes: > > > On Tue, Jan 17, 2017 at 08:26:18PM +0000 I heard the voice of > > Richmond, and lo! it spake thus: > >> > >> On the first computer it works, pressing F1 iconifies a window, but > >> on the second it doesn't work, it just makes the mouse cursor > >> disappear for a second. > >> > >> This second computer did have a .Xmodmap but I removed it. > >> > >> What could be the reason for the difference? > > > > I'd guess at lingering remapping. .Xmodmap by itself doesn't do > > anything; something in the startup process would explicitly run > > against it. e.g., in my setup: > > > > % grep xmodmap ~/.xinitrc > > xmodmap ~/.xmodmap > > > > so just removing the file wouldn't do anything, unless you also > > restarted X somewhere along the way. You could try removing the > > mapping (so ctwm doesn't eat the F1) and then using xev(1) or the like > > to see what keystroke comes through. Also using some of xmodmap's > > dumping args to see what might be going on; `xmodmap -pm` or `xmodmap > > -pke` are likely candidates. > > > > It's probably also possible that something higher level is eating the > > keystroke or re-representing it before ctwm gets at it. I think > > laptops are especially likely to do that sorta thing. > > I rebooted the system after renaming .Xmodmap. > > I have found the same problem with twm. > > I changed the default window manager to twm, the default display manager > to xdm, rebooted the system, created a new user, copied the .twmrc > file, but still F1 didn't work. > > xev shows it is sending key 67 F1. > > It's all very odd. I am sure it used to work on that computer. There is > a twmrc from 2014 with F1 set to call emacs. But it is so long ago I > cannot remember what I was doing. I had some mapping done to change the > prefix key for stumpwm but that's about all I can recall. > > It is probably easier to re-install linux than try to find out what is > going on. > --READ ALERT-- Borg wimp off the port bow. Shields to full. Arm photon torpedoes. Aside from Xmodmap, some computers have "Action Keys". These evil key bindings were shackled to us by Windowz. You can turn them off in the bios or work around the problem via typing Fn F1 . On the other hand, if that it not your problem then reinstalling will probably not help. You see, when you reinstall you backup your home directory (you do do that right?). When you restore your home dir you also restore whatever oddity that you had when you had not reinstalled your Linux system (unless there is some really odd thing, like a mis-auto-configured grub boot loader that was installed when updating another Linux system on the same computer, but you'd just need to boot a live CD/DVD and then chroot to the correctly configured system and tell grub to install from there. Personally if "Action Keys" are not the problem, I'd try creating a new user and then logging in with that users account and starting twm or something not ctwm and seeing what happens. Sincerely, David
