Lost shortcut key problem?

JasonMehmel · 2022-10-27 17:47:08

I booted up BL this morning, and I'm finding that the Super key isn't bringing up the main menu. As far as I can tell, the rest of the shortcut keys are working.

One thing I did notice in the tray was that the IBus icon was visible, it wasn't there the last time, and I've updated a few times since then. My first thought was that this might be connected.

Is there a good way to test or troubleshoot this? A log I could check?

johnraff · 2022-10-28 04:39:12

Don't know why, but I've occasionally found the Super key > menu binding a bit unreliable (not recently though).

Does Space+Super work? If not, how about other Super keybindings?

Does a logout-login, or reboot, fix it?

You do still have xcape installed, and xcape -e 'Super_L=Super_L|space' in ~/.config/bunsen/autostart?

As for logs, the first place to look is ~/.xsession-errors.

JasonMehmel · 2022-10-29 19:50:14

I haven't tried a full reboot yet. I did do a logout-in, with no change. I'll try a reboot soon.

Found the xsession logs, but it turns out I don't really know what I'm looking for...

Space+Super doesn't work, but the other Super Keybindings do... Super+T to bring up a terminal works.

One interesting behavior... I'm not sure if this happened before, but when hitting the Super button, if I've got something (like this reply box) active and typing in it, the that 'highlight' around the box quickly flashes. It does it even moreso (a bigger delay in the flash) when I hit Space+Super.

I've noticed it happen elsewhere in terms of where-ever is active on the screen, or where the cursor is... so maybe that's connected?

I'll report back after a reboot.

johnraff · 2022-10-31 02:44:41

JasonMehmel wrote:

Space+Super doesn't work, but the other Super Keybindings do... Super+T to bring up a terminal works.

Have a look in ~/.xbindkeysrc
Have you got this section?

# Show main menu
"jgmenu_run"
    Mod4 + space

If so, does

jgmenu_run

in a terminal bring up the menu?

JasonMehmel · 2022-10-31 03:17:59

Just did a reboot, and no joy.

Checked ~/.xbindkeysrc and I've got what you've listed above, and running jgmenu_run works to bring up the menu!

(It works both in the terminal and in Alt-F2.)

Here's directly what is in the file:

# Show main menu
"jgmenu_run"
Mod4 + space

There's nothing there just about the Super (Mod4) button by itself that I can see; is that behavior controlled elsewhere?

And would I be looking for the jgmenu_run or Mod4 in the logs?

johnraff · 2022-10-31 08:10:56

The extra keybind for Super alone is set by a separate little app called xcape, as I described above.
https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic … 84#p124084

Check that your ~/.xbindkeysrc is really being used by adding some new keybind, then

pkill -x xbindkeys
xbindkeys_autostart

to restart xbindkeys, and see if your new keybind is applied.

JasonMehmel · 2022-10-31 19:51:50

Ah! Something worked!

I added playerctl play-pause to XF86AudioPlay as that was some functionality I was looking for anyway, restarted xbindkeys, and the play-pause worked... and so did the super key!

I haven't changed anything else with the xbindkeys, and xcape is in the autostart just as it should be. (I should have noted that before.) Both it and Super+Space work.

I've rebooted twice since this started, so I'm wondering if I'll have the same problem again, and if there's something in my autostart or some other tricky program that is causing the glitch...

Now I've got it back, but I also want to make sure I don't have to restart xbindkeys after every reboot.

Should I move the xbindkeys_autostart to somewhere lower down, after the xcape command?

johnraff · 2022-11-01 00:30:01

JasonMehmel wrote:

Should I move the xbindkeys_autostart to somewhere lower down, after the xcape command?

I think it's fine where it is.

JasonMehmel · 2022-11-01 03:25:05

johnraff wrote:

JasonMehmel wrote:
Should I move the xbindkeys_autostart to somewhere lower down, after the xcape command?
I think it's fine where it is.

But if the problem persists in future reboots?

I'm mainly wondering a) what caused it and b) how to keep it from happening again.

I do have a fix through this process but troubleshooting is part of the education process for me!

johnraff · 2022-11-01 06:49:01

JasonMehmel wrote:

But if the problem persists in future reboots?

First, find out if it does!

JasonMehmel · 2022-11-13 01:03:05

Okay! I didn't have a reason to reboot for a couple of weeks, but I did yesterday and...

... the problem came back!

I used this again:

pkill -x xbindkeys
xbindkeys_autostart

And the functionality was restored.

That said, I'd love to not have to manually enter this every time I reboot!

So I'm wondering again if I should move the xbindkeys command somewhere else in the autostart script?

johnraff · 2022-11-13 01:48:04

Let me check again: the functionality you are missing after a boot-up is the Super -> menu binding only? All the other keybinds work OK?

If that is so, the issue would seem to be with xcape. Maybe it needs to be launched a little later, to make sure that xbindkeys has finished loading?

As an experiment, try changing the xcape line (~ 97) in ~/.config/bunsen/autostart to this:

 ( sleep 3; xcape -e 'Super_L=Super_L|space' ) &

If that worked, you could try reducing the sleep to 2 or 1 if you need that binding ASAP.

JasonMehmel · 2022-11-14 00:42:13

johnraff wrote:

Let me check again: the functionality you are missing after a boot-up is the Super -> menu binding only? All the other keybinds work OK?

As far as I can see, yes. Super -> T brings up a terminal, Super -> F brings up the file GUI, etc.

Just the shortcut of Super itself bringing up the menu.

I'll give your solution a try and report back after the next reboot!

#1 2022-10-27 17:47:08

Lost shortcut key problem?

#2 2022-10-28 04:39:12

Re: Lost shortcut key problem?

#3 2022-10-29 19:50:14

Re: Lost shortcut key problem?

#4 2022-10-31 02:44:41

Re: Lost shortcut key problem?

#5 2022-10-31 03:17:59

Re: Lost shortcut key problem?

#6 2022-10-31 08:10:56

Re: Lost shortcut key problem?

#7 2022-10-31 19:51:50

Re: Lost shortcut key problem?

#8 2022-11-01 00:30:01

Re: Lost shortcut key problem?

#9 2022-11-01 03:25:05

Re: Lost shortcut key problem?

#10 2022-11-01 06:49:01

Re: Lost shortcut key problem?

#11 2022-11-13 01:03:05

Re: Lost shortcut key problem?

#12 2022-11-13 01:48:04

Re: Lost shortcut key problem?

#13 2022-11-14 00:42:13

Re: Lost shortcut key problem?

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