• From: Saanich, BC, CAnada
  • Registered: 2011-04-11
  • Posts: 136

Topic: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

Hi!

Does anyone know why the short-cut keys would stop working on #! Xfce?  Everything else seems to be working fine.  Although the first time when this happened, Conky didn't display either.  When I rebooted my laptop, Conky works, but the shot-cut keys still don't work on the desktop.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Last edited by M_Mynaardt (2011-08-26 17:54:28)

~*~  M_Mynaardt  ~*~
  • From: Nagoya, Japan
  • Registered: 2009-01-07
  • Posts: 1,960

Re: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

There was a problem with keyboard shortcuts in XFCE back in 2010:
http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic … er-solved/
You might try 

killall xfce4-settings-helper

If that works (xfce4-settings-helper should get restarted automatically) then it looks like the same bug. I use Openbox now so can't help too much more...

John
------------------------
( a boring Japan blog , and idle twitterings )
“Good morning sir, which way up would you like your reality today?”  "As it comes, Jeeves, as it comes..."

johnraff's Website

  • Roetsj
  • #! CrunchBanger
  • Offline
  • From: Amsterdam, NL
  • Registered: 2011-01-11
  • Posts: 122

Re: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

It's a known issue with Xfce. Take a look in autostart.sh (~/.config/xfce4). Happened to me but they came back.

  • From: Saanich, BC, CAnada
  • Registered: 2011-04-11
  • Posts: 136

Re: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

johnraff wrote:

There was a problem with keyboard shortcuts in XFCE back in 2010:
http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic … er-solved/
You might try 

killall xfce4-settings-helper

If that works (xfce4-settings-helper should get restarted automatically) then it looks like the same bug. I use Openbox now so can't help too much more...

Well, that didn't do anything!

I tried the first solution and I got the following results:

~$ killall xfce4-settings-helper
xfce4-settings-helper: no process found

And I tried one suggestion from that link and got:

~$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

Also -- the shortcuts stopped working on my desktop install of #! too.  OH...  Heck!  hmm

~*~  M_Mynaardt  ~*~
  • From: Dusk Till Dawn
  • Registered: 2009-07-02
  • Posts: 4,431

Re: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

The settings helper in in the XFCE menu, "Settings" (where you can choose Display, etc.) - provided you have the XFCE menu.
If it is not killed, it wasn't started, so you can start it in terminal/menu manually.

Nothing right in the left brain. Nothing left in the right brain.
  • From: Saanich, BC, CAnada
  • Registered: 2011-04-11
  • Posts: 136

Re: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

Roetsj wrote:

It's a known issue with Xfce. Take a look in autostart.sh (~/.config/xfce4). Happened to me but they came back.

I looked through autostart.sh (~/.config/xfce4) and found the following:

## FIXME: there is a known issue whereby Xfce’s keyboard shortcuts do not always
## work. The following is a fix, although it may not be needed on your system;
## feel free to remove it and find out. :)
(sleep 5s && killall xfce4-settings-helper) &

I shall try to comment out that (sleep 5s && killall xfce4-settings-helper) business and see what happens when I reboot...

Thanks

~*~  M_Mynaardt  ~*~
  • From: Dusk Till Dawn
  • Registered: 2009-07-02
  • Posts: 4,431

Re: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

Don't need to reboot, just log out and back again.

Nothing right in the left brain. Nothing left in the right brain.
  • From: Saanich, BC, CAnada
  • Registered: 2011-04-11
  • Posts: 136

Re: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

It works!  Wooooo-Hooooo!  big_smile

I looked into the autostart.sh (~/.config/xfce4) as Roetsj suggested.  I found the "offending" line, line number 69 as luck would have it, which is as follows:

(sleep 5s && killall xfce4-settings-helper) &

So, I commented that line out with "##" at the start of the line.  Then I logged off and back in again, as machinebacon suggested, and, voilà!  It works!

Coolness!

Just one last ting, can someone tell me how to get the Super-w shortcut to be a particular browser?  I remember doing that once long ago, but I forgot.  If memory serves, it's looking for IceWeasel.  However, I don't have IceWeasel installed.

Thanks again, everyone...

~*~  M_Mynaardt  ~*~
  • From: Dusk Till Dawn
  • Registered: 2009-07-02
  • Posts: 4,431

Re: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

if you are in XFCE, go to the xfce-settings, section "Keyboard"

you can of course globally change the default browser, with exo-preferred-applications

Nothing right in the left brain. Nothing left in the right brain.
  • From: Saanich, BC, CAnada
  • Registered: 2011-04-11
  • Posts: 136

Re: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

machinebacon wrote:

if you are in XFCE, go to the xfce-settings, section "Keyboard"

you can of course globally change the default browser, with exo-preferred-applications

I just looked back at my less-than-brilliantly-organized #! notes.  I did actually make a note on how to make the super-w shortcut the browser of my choice.  I knew I did this before!

But anyway, it's easy...

First, open the file ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts.xml

Then go down to line 19 (unless one's added lines to that file) to the following line:

<property name="&lt;Super&gt;w" type="string" value="iceweasel"/>

Then change it to the browser of choice.  In my case, I like Opera, so I changed it to:

<property name="&lt;Super&gt;w" type="string" value="opera"/>

Then I logged out, logged back in and voilà (again), it works!

Groovy, man!  cool

Oh well, I've made a note of the shortcut fix, for future reference!

Thanks, all!

~*~  M_Mynaardt  ~*~
  • From: Dusk Till Dawn
  • Registered: 2009-07-02
  • Posts: 4,431

Re: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

^ I referred to exo because you use XFCE and I don't know what happens if you enter in a terminal:

exo-open www.google.com

It would then open the default browser (weasel? opera? chromium?). The sexiest way should be to open the web browser as defined through exo-preferred-applications and replacing the browser command (iceweasel or opera) with

exo-open --launch WebBrowser

in the shortcut file. Why? Because if you removed Opera or it breaks, you still have a fallback browser set by exo (the alternative) which then opens with Super-w

But yes, of course you can make a hard link to opera (or whatever browser there is in xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts.xml), however AFAIR by default #! launches xdg-open in openbox (so exo-open should be the default in XFCE)

I should look through the /etc/skel/ configs to be sure, though.

Last edited by machinebacon (2011-08-26 18:07:50)

Nothing right in the left brain. Nothing left in the right brain.
  • Registered: 2011-09-25
  • Posts: 10

Re: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

hi everybody,
I have the same issue with non-working shortcut keys as Mynaardt got. Unfortunately the solution is not working.
I commended that line in autostart.sh , but no change. None of the shortcut key are working, except the Alt + F2 to run the dialog. Strange. Please give me some help.

cheers!

  • Registered: 2011-07-27
  • Posts: 892

Re: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

You're using the new #! release. Apparently doesn't work the same as it did in the older version. Someone only had to edit rc.xml and were golden. In the new one it's a bit tougher ... not much though.

Open a terminal and type ...

gksu geany /home/yourusername/.config/openbox/rc.xml

The file you/peeps want opens, add your shortcuts and save ... done. wink

Last edited by CBizgreat! (2012-02-03 11:18:15)

Some common cbiz abbreviations. This will save me time and yet @ same time tell folks what the babble is supposed to mean.

Vll ! = ( Viva la gnu/Linux !)    Vl#!! = ( Viva la #! !)    Last but not least, UD ... OD ! = ( Use Debian ... or die !) tongue
  • Registered: 2011-09-25
  • Posts: 10

Re: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

when checking .config/openbox/rc.xml, I found that keybindings for running app seem to be ok. For expample
keybinding to run webbrowser key="W-w", but windows key + w dont do anything. When tried to chenge it to key = "A-w', Alt  + w din't do anything as well. This makes me crazy sad

  • Registered: 2011-09-25
  • Posts: 10

Re: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

when tried, got following message:

(gksu:4499): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_str_has_prefix: assertion `str != NULL' failed

with no obvious change sad

  • Registered: 2011-07-27
  • Posts: 892

Re: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

Yeah no worries, things change. Think the new #! release is great. Just like the last one. Not hard to fix ... Installed that puppy yesterday and had the same thing happen. Quick forum search for rc.xml, fix came up and now ya know it too.


vll !

Some common cbiz abbreviations. This will save me time and yet @ same time tell folks what the babble is supposed to mean.

Vll ! = ( Viva la gnu/Linux !)    Vl#!! = ( Viva la #! !)    Last but not least, UD ... OD ! = ( Use Debian ... or die !) tongue
  • Registered: 2011-09-25
  • Posts: 10

Re: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

I am not sure if I was clear when explaining my problem smile My problem is just that today I realized that the shortcut key (the ones listed in conky panel) are not working anymore. I was bit surprised, since I remember them working OK before some time. I am not using shortcuts very often (bad for me). And now I am trying to fix it. As I wrote, I checked the rc.xml file and it looks ok, I suppose. I tried the command you suggest, but the shortcut are still not working.

  • Registered: 2011-07-27
  • Posts: 892

Re: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

Doh ! Wasn't you ... I should've read n didn't. Saw shortcuts not working and jumped right to posting. That terminal stuff above is summin totally diff than your situation. Well ... @ least prompted me to do a babbling how to that might help some folks out ... Link to said babbling how to.

Not sure where to start, if I were to try to help you figure out what's going on with your #!. Quit using any kinda DE a longgggg time ago, including xfce. So not at all sure why keybindings would all of a sudden stop working normally.


Might try opening a new thread about it ?

Last edited by CBizgreat! (2012-02-03 12:00:42)

Some common cbiz abbreviations. This will save me time and yet @ same time tell folks what the babble is supposed to mean.

Vll ! = ( Viva la gnu/Linux !)    Vl#!! = ( Viva la #! !)    Last but not least, UD ... OD ! = ( Use Debian ... or die !) tongue
  • Registered: 2011-09-25
  • Posts: 10

Re: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

big_smile
I didn't get the last sentence, should I open a new thread to solve my issue?

  • Registered: 2011-07-27
  • Posts: 892

Re: [Resolved] Shortcut keys don't work

Can't hurt to try ... Somebody here might know what's going on. wink

Some common cbiz abbreviations. This will save me time and yet @ same time tell folks what the babble is supposed to mean.

Vll ! = ( Viva la gnu/Linux !)    Vl#!! = ( Viva la #! !)    Last but not least, UD ... OD ! = ( Use Debian ... or die !) tongue