Re: why is the RIGHT ALT key ignored?

[Chris Bannister <mockingbird@earthlight.co.nz>]

On Fri, Feb 04, 2011 at 06:52:09PM +0800, jidanni@jidanni.org wrote:
> Why in emacs, iceweasel, etc. is RIGHT ALT ignored? LEFT ALT is
> processed as ALT, but RIGHT ALT is treated like I didn't press it.
> 
> xev shows that indeed my keyboard is not broken,
> KeyPress event, serial 33, synthetic NO, window 0x1a00001,
>     root 0x119, subw 0x0, time 5852895, (169,-14), root:(173,546),
>     state 0x0, keycode 108 (keysym 0xfe03, ISO_Level3_Shift), same_screen YES,
>     XKeysymToKeycode returns keycode: 92
>     XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
>     XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes:
>     XFilterEvent returns: False
> 
> So why if both keys are labeled ALT, why is only the left one processed?
> What if you treated SHIFT that way?
> 
> Wait, even on the console outside of x-windows it's that way! What's
> going on?
> 
> There, I logged in to an empty vanilla account on the console and it's
> that way still.

Same here, and always has been as far as I can remember.

That is <ALT_R F2> doesn't do any thing whereas <ALT_L F2> changes to
tty2

<ALT_R a> prints an a
<ALT_L a> doesn't do anything.

KeyPress event, serial 32, synthetic NO, window 0xe00001,
    root 0x1a6, subw 0xe00002, time 6784234, (34,30), root:(41,613),
    state 0x0, keycode 113 (keysym 0xffea, Alt_R), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyPress event, serial 35, synthetic NO, window 0xa00001,
    root 0x1a6, subw 0xa00002, time 6563903, (42,38), root:(49,621),
    state 0x0, keycode 64 (keysym 0xffe9, Alt_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes:
    XFilterEvent returns: False

-- 
"Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet."
   -- Napoleon Bonaparte