[Solved] Newbie question - openbox-lxde key bindings

[timc]

I know this is a very newbie question, but I am having trouble using key bindings in lxde/openbox with Siduction. I edit the lxde-rc.xml file, then I run "openbox --reconfigure", but when I try them, they do nothing. I have even completely rebooted Siduction, but my keybindings still have no effect.

As a further test, I tried some of the original key bindings that I can see in the xml file. They also do nothing.

What am I missing?

Tim

[timc]

It must be a bad question. Many look, no one answers.

Sorry,
Tim

[holgerw]

Hello Tim,

no, it isn't a bad question. But it seems that not so many people use openbox-lxde key bindings.

I can't test it becaue I use KDE and razorqt on my machines.

Kind regards,
 Holger

[coruja]

Hi timc!

Editing ~/.config/openbox/lxde-rc.xml, saving the edits and logging in again works fine here. I've just tested it as I don't change key-bindings too often (tested with 12.1 release installed).

[timc]

Thank you, Holger and coruja. I will continue researching this.

I do know that my edits are seen by OpenBox, because at one point I made a typo, and "openbox --reconfigure" gave an error.

Tim

[timc]

I did a test based on a hunch and it verified my suspicion.

If I change a key binding from "W-k" to "C-A-k" and run "openbox --reconfigure", the combination Ctrl-Alt-k executes the action I want Windows-k to do. So, the problem is that the Windows (or Super) key is not being used on my Siduction lxde system.

How can I fix this? I am guessing something in /etc/default/keyboard, but what do I put?

Tim

PS - More info: According to what I can gather on the internet, the "left Windows key" is supposed to be keycode 115 and symkey f13. But on my Siduction LXDE, program xev shows keycode 133 and symkey ff20 ("Multi_key") when i press it. No wonder it isn't working correctly! Here is the entire output of xev:

Code Select Expand

KeyPress event, serial 46, synthetic NO, window 0x1c00001,
   root 0x171, subw 0x0, time 7847037, (105,-16), root:(1605,657),
   state 0x0, keycode 133 (keysym 0xff20, Multi_key), same_screen YES,
   XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
   XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes:
   XFilterEvent returns: True

[timc]

One more thing. On Arch Linux, where my key combinations do work correctly, running eiv and pressing the Windows ket shows keycode 133 = ffeb, Super_L.

So, the 133 on Siduction LXDE appears to be correct, but it is not mapped to the correct event. Will it mess anything else up if I remap this keycode to ffeb and Super_L?

Tim

[timc]

Remapped 133 to Super_L

[timc]

I did a fresh reinstall of Siduction this weekend and the key problem came back. However, this time the problem could not be solved by simply remapping the key with file ~/.xmodmaprc. I am puzzled as to what changed? This file is apparently no longer processed by the LXDE startup using slim.

I searched all weekend for a way to fix it. I finally resolved the problem by adding this line to /etc/xdg/xsession/LXDE/autostart:

Code Select Expand

@setxkbmap -option

What this does is unsets the options that something has applied to my keyboard map. Another question is, what is applying these changes and why? The change that was causing my problem is that the option "compose:lwin" has been applied to my "left windows" key by the freshly installed LXDE setup.

Tim