Re: xmodmap

[Paul O'Donnell]

Kai Großjohann wrote:
> Paul O'Donnell <odonnellp@rogers.com> writes:
>
>
> > I am trying to use the xmodmap untility to reconfigure my keyboard,
> > but I am not having success. As it is
> >
> > keycode 115 = Super_L
> > keycode 117 = Menu
> >
> > I want to changes these to be Alt_L and Alt_R respectively. So I did
> > the following at the command prompt.
> >
> > [paul@cpe024350002546 paul]$ xmodmap -e "keycode 115 = Alt_L"
> >
> > [paul@cpe024350002546 paul]$ xmodmap -e "keycode 117 = Alt_R"
>
>
> Before these two commands, you should do "xmodmap -pm" and look for
> the keysyms Super_L and Menu.  Do xmodmap -e "clear mod3" if one of
> them is on mod3, and similar for other modifiers.  Then do the
> keycode assignments.  Then do xmodmap -e "add mod3 = sym1 sym2" to
> add the previous keysyms back to the modifier (except for Super_L and
> Menu, of course).

Thanks Kai,

It works!

However I am curious about what I actually did. I followed your 
instructions, modifying it to match my system. My goal was to disable 
the Alt keys and make the Left Window Key an Alt Key and make the Right 
Menu key an Alt Key. What actually happened was the Alt Keys remained as 
Alt Keys and the Window and Menu keys became Alt Keys as well. I am 
happy with that, in fact I prefer it. With my Alt Keys still intact it 
will still work for someone else who needs to use my keyboard. I would 
like to know why my changes did not do what I intended though and I am 
curious about the out put of the xmodmap -mp command.

I accomplished the change by creating a .xmodmaprc file which I invoke 
in my .bash_profile file. (Perhaps I should invoke it elswehere like in 
the .bashrc file, but my understanding of how these files actually work 
is shaky and at least I got it to work.Changes to my .bash_profile file 
are permanent because I always use a login shell.) Below are the 
contents of my .xmodmaprc file and the output of $xmonmap -pm

[paul: /home/paul]$ xmodmap -pm
xmodmap:  up to 4 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
mod2        Num_Lock (0x4d)
mod3
mod4        Alt_L (0x40),  Alt_L (0x73),  Alt_R (0x71),  Alt_R (0x75)
mod5        Scroll_Lock (0x4e)

[paul: /home/paul]$

I am curious about the mod4 line. Why are there 4 entries there?

And the rc file that accomplished the changes.

[paul: /home/paul]$ cat .xmodmaprc
clear mod1
clear mod4
keycode 115 = Alt_L
keycode 117 = Alt_R
add mod4 = Alt_L Alt_R
[paul: /home/paul]$

Any hints to help me understand this are appreciated. The man pages for 
xmodman are not really clear to me and the online sources I have found 
on xmodmap are very brief. It would be nice to find some better docs on 
this subject.

Thanks,

Paul