Re: Ctrl-Alt-Fx won't switch between virtual consoles after Sarge->Etch

[Florian Kulzer <florian@molphys.leidenuniv.nl>]

Dave Ewart wrote:
> On Monday, 20.03.2006 at 17:04 +0100, Florian Kulzer wrote:

[...]

> > left CTRL: keycode 37 (keysym 0xffe3, Control_L)
> > left ALT:  keycode 64 (keysym 0xffe9, Alt_L)
> > F1:        keycode 67 (keysym 0xffbe, F1)

[...]

> I get the same keysyms, certainly and the same keycodes as well
> actually: I'm using the UK 105-key layou.

OK, that means the problem is not caused by a modification of the
keysyms for ALT and CTRL.

[...]

> > This is what I get when I run xmodmap without arguments:
> >
> > $ xmodmap
> > xmodmap:  up to 3 keys per modifier, (keycodes in parentheses):
> >
> > shift       Shift_L (0x32),  Shift_R (0x3e)
> > lock        Caps_Lock (0x42)
> > control     Control_L (0x25),  Control_R (0x6d)
> > mod1        Alt_L (0x40),  Alt_L (0x7d),  Meta_L (0x9c)
> > mod2        Num_Lock (0x4d)
> > mod3
> > mod4        Super_L (0x7f),  Hyper_L (0x80)
> > mod5        Mode_switch (0x5d),  ISO_Level3_Shift (0x7c)
>
>
> My output is:
>
>     $ xmodmap 
>     xmodmap:  up to 2 keys per modifier, (keycodes in parentheses):
>
>     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      
>     mod5        Scroll_Lock (0x4e)
>
> You seem to have some differences here, but I don't see how important
> they might be?

Not important at all, most likely. My asking you about xmodmap was based
on the fact that I can do "xmodmap -e 'keycode 64 = ISO_Next_Group'" and
this immediately blocks VT switching. This misconfiguration is reflected
in the output of xmodmap, i.e. I see "ISO_Next_Group (0x40)" instead of
"Alt_L (0x40)". I was hoping that something similar could be the cause
of your problem, and that this could be diagnosed from observing similar
symptoms. No such luck, obviously.

I still think that the problem lies somewhere in the configuration of
your X server, since the VT switching works as soon as you leave X by
some other means.

You are using KDE if I recall correctly; are you also using the
graphical login with kdm? There are some known issue related to kdmrc
when upgrading from KDE 3.3. (see /usr/share/doc/kdm/NEWS.Debian.gz)

Looking at my own /etc/kde3/kdm/kdmrc, I get the feeling that the
following section right at the beginning might be relevant for your
problem since it mentions the ttys:

-------------------------8<-------------------------
[General]
ConfigVersion=2.3
ConsoleTTYs=tty1,tty2,tty3,tty4,tty5,tty6
PidFile=/var/run/kdm.pid
ReserveServers=:1,:2,:3
ServerVTs=-7
StaticServers=:0
------------------------->8-------------------------

Another very basic thing to check would be whether a new user account
can use VT switching or not. That would at least tell you if the problem
is due to a system-wide configuration or your regular user's profile.

Regards,
           Florian