Re: modifier keys stop working [second try]
On Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:34:48 -0400, I wrote:
> I am repeatedly losing modifier-key function.
>
> I run an up-to-date Lenny system and use the window manager fvwm (2.5.26-1)
> so that I can mostly work from the command line. I also have a virtual XP
> machine (VM, VMware 1.06).
>
> If I use the VM for a few minutes (usually Photoshop, sometimes Acrobat), I
> find that SHIFT, CTRL, and ALT no longer modify what I enter in the Linux
> window. For example, CTRL-c, ALT-c, and SHIFT-c all just send `c'.
On Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:37:01 -0700, Andrew Sackville-West
<andrew@farwestbilliards.com> replied:
> I think you should be running
> xmodmap -e "shift = Shift_L"
> instead. Try that and see then if it assigns Shift_L to the shift modifier.
That gave an error, but this succeeded:
xmodmap -e "add shift = Shift_L"
and in fact restored shift function nicely. An analogous line for the control
function works too, but this:
xmodmap -e "add alt = Alt_L Meta_L"
failed with
xmodmap: commandline:1: bad add modifier name 'alt', not allowed
xmodmap: 1 error encountered, aborting.
"add meta" didn't work either.
No matter; I don't use Alt much from the command line anyway, although it
would be a way to get non-ASCII characters.
> I think it's surely a bug somewhere, as this shouldn't be
> happening. Have you searched the BTS for possible clues?
I searched just for "modifier keys" and didn't find it.
Thanks again. I now have a fix that's good enough for what I need.
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