Re: Num lock disables alt- and ctrl-key shortcuts?
*- On 12 Sep, Carl Fink wrote about "Num lock disables alt- and ctrl-key shortcuts?"
> [This message has also been posted.]
> I've just noticed that both Adobe's Acrobat Reader 3 and RealMedia's
> Realplayer G2 have an interesting behavior: if NumLock is activated,
> their keyboard shortcuts that require shifted keys, like Alt-F for
> the File menu or ^P for Print, don't work. On the other hand,
> StarOffice 5.1's shortcuts work fine with NumLock on.
>
> I'd like to report the bug, but I'm not sure to whom. Since it
> appears in other apps, but not StarOffice, I'm suspecting it's in
> some X library. (StarOffice uses its own libraries for many
> functions, which might explain why it's immune.) Anyone out there
> have an insight as to where this should be reported?
>
> Running slink with a couple of potato packages, XFree86 3.3.2.3.
>
> Thanks.
What does 'xmodmap -pm' show? Mine gives:
shift Shift_L (0x32), Shift_R (0x3e)
lock Caps_Lock (0x42)
control Control_L (0x25), Control_R (0x6d)
mod1 Alt_L (0x40), Alt_R (0x71)
mod2 Num_Lock (0x4d)
mod3
mod4 Meta_L (0x73), Meta_R (0x74)
mod5 Scroll_Lock (0x4e)
Notice Num_Lock is assigned to mod2. This means that the Num_Lock key
is a modifier key just like shift, ctrl, alt. So if Num_Lock is on
then if you use Alt-F you are really doing Num_Lock-Alt-F. If you don't
want Num_Lock to be a modifier you can disable it with xmodmap.
xmodmap -e "clear mod2"
See the xmodmap man page for more info.
Debian's default X setup will read ~/.Xmodmap on startup so if you put
'clear mod2'(no quotes) in that file it will be taken care of
automatically.
--
Brian
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