Ubuntu – Configuring Lubuntu 18.10’s – lxqt-rc.xml file

18.10lubuntu

I'm in the process of converting a couple of machines over to Lubuntu 18.10 which i'm really enjoying by the way! My only problem that I haven't been able to fix or find any information on myself is setting up keyboard shortcuts that use the "windows" key or the left "super" key. Most keyboards bind that key to W in the lxqt-rc.xml file. Only on my laptop, Acer Swift it isn't working with the W. For example I have the following to snap windows using the shift and directional keys:

<keybind key="S-Left">
<keybind key="S-Right">

The S = Shift. I'd like to be able to use the window key instead which would look like this W – Right, W – Left. Only when I set it as that nothing happens when I press those keys. If anyone knows which key I should be using or a simple method to find out it would make my day!

Best Answer

The “Windows” (W) key bindings in lxqt-rc.xml don’t work because the Windows (Super-L) key is bound to ‘Show Main Menu’ in the Global Actions Manager (i.e. the Shortcuts section of LXQt Settings). The rectify this, modify this binding so that e.g. Shift+Ctrl+M is bound to Show Main Menu.

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Ubuntu – How to get the “name” of the key combination (keybind key) for the Openbox config file

I am not on a notebook right now and can't test if this works for Fn-combinations but I generally use xev for getting the appropriate keycodes:

xev | sed -ne '/^KeyPress/,/^$/p'

This should launch a window:

enter image description here

Keys pressed while the window is in focus will be printed to the command output. E.g. for left Win/Super:

KeyPress event, serial 42, synthetic NO, window 0x5000001,
    root 0x2d1, subw 0x0, time 42368858, (158,73), root:(934,383),
    state 0x0, keycode 133 (keysym 0xffeb, Super_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

If you wanted to assign this key to an openbox shortcut you would use Super_L (third line, second item in brackets).

xev is part of the x11-utils package and should be preinstalled on Ubuntu.

Ubuntu – What can be the issue when after installing Lubuntu 18.10 shortcuts for window tiling and other ones don’t work

To fix this, I went to Menu > Session settings and then disabled Global Keyboard Shortcuts under Basic settings tab.

All the keybindings from lxqt-rc.xml started working after that, including Super_L + E for pcmanfm and window tiling shortcuts.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to get the “name” of the key combination (keybind key) for the Openbox config file

Ubuntu – What can be the issue when after installing Lubuntu 18.10 shortcuts for window tiling and other ones don’t work

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