Debian – Enable Key-Repeats for Arrow Keys

arrow keyscaret-cursordebiankey-dynamics

I need disabled key-repeats because 10% greater long-term WPM then, as described in the thread How to Calibrate typing when unstable Cursor/Typing in Debian.
However, I think the feature of repositioning caret position is useful with long-presses of arrow-keys in using key-repeats.
I would like to maintain the long-presses of them but have custom settings for delay and speed.
My settings in Keyboard > Typing where the delay and option should be individualized for arrow-keys in Fig. 1.
Options where I cannot get (1) work at all and I keep option (2) too cumbersome for the task because of many buttons and keyboards

Disable all key-repeats and enable then those of arrow keys.
Allow all key-repeats and disable everything else than arrow keys. (olejorgenb's answer) – – I think this proposal is not solid so reject because cannot reproduce the effect as described. – – Also outside of the scope of the question in the title.

Fig. 1 Unchecked Key presses repeat when key is held down

Differential solutions

Is there a way to have it so that key repeats aren't disabled but only start after you've held a key down for a longer time? [Random832] – – Actually, I would like to know how this can work if you make many rapid changes in the directions of arrow-keys.

Hardware: Asus Zenbook UX303UA
OS: Debian 8.5 64 bit
Linux kernel: 4.6

Best Answer

I'm not sure I exactly what you want, but it's possible set which individual keys (technical keycodes) that should repeat. It does not seem to be possible to set individual rate and delay though

$ xset --help
    <snip>
    To turn auto-repeat off or on:
    -r [keycode]        r off
     r [keycode]        r on
     r rate [delay [rate]]

To find the keycode corresponding to a key use eg. xev:

$ xev -event keyboard
KeyPress event, serial 28, synthetic NO, window 0x5a00001,
    root 0x292, subw 0x0, time 354948359, (85,132), root:(86,150),
    state 0x10, ==>keycode 24<== (keysym 0x71, q), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (71) "q"
    XmbLookupString gives 1 bytes: (71) "q"
    XFilterEvent returns: False

I tried turning key repeat off globally and then enabling it for some keys without luck, so seems you have to turn it off for all regular keys :( Some hints follows:

Print out all keycode mappings: xmodmap -pk. On my system I get a range of 8-255

Turn off repeat for all keycodes:

$ seq 8 255 | xargs -n 1 xset -r

Turn on for arrow keys: (range might be different for you)

$ seq 111 166 | xargs -n 1 xset r

Related Solutions

Debian – Arrow keys in `less`

The manual page, e.g, as you might find on OSX or Unix commands is incomplete:

Among other things, less initializes itself using the termcap strings for the cursor keys, home/page keys, pageup/pagedown keys.
In most configurations, it is also possible to override the termcap settings with environment variables beginning LESS_TERMCAP_, e.g., LESS_TERMCAP_ku to override the ku (cursor-up) string.

Looking at the source code, there's a table cmdtbl in decode.c which gives initial key-bindings, e.g.,

    'k',0,                          A_B_LINE,
    'y',0,                          A_B_LINE,
    CONTROL('Y'),0,                 A_B_LINE,
    SK(SK_CONTROL_K),0,             A_B_LINE,
    CONTROL('P'),0,                 A_B_LINE,
    SK(SK_UP_ARROW),0,              A_B_LINE,

You may be able to see the pattern here: they all go back one line. But I do not see any of that in the manual page.

Debian Cursor – How to Calibrate Caret-Cursor’s Position When Unstable Cursor in Debian

Fig. 1 Disable touchpad while typing, Fig. 2 Keyboard > Typing settings, Fig. 3 Disable long-key presses, Fig. 4 Better long-term WPM by using Fig. 3's option

I think the problem is mainly caused by the over-sensitive touchpad, which causes the cursor's position change much. I did the following change i.e. disable touchpad, while typing, and it resolves the problem significantly in Fig. 1. Then, there is the problem of having long-presses by accident when typing fast, so I think disabling Key presses repeat when key is held down is the best option here in Fig. 3, but Fig. 2 is also optional but there you should be able to calibrate long-presses individually, which is not possible by defaults, extended in the thread How to Have key-repeats of Arrow keys when disabled key-repeats? for arrow-keys.

How to Calibrate your Typing Speed?

I play play.typeracer.com, where I found one good condition with the settings in Fig. 2, but later I find Fig. 3's option better because long-presses cause much problems etc when making typing mistakes. I can reach about 10% greater WPM by disabling long-presses in Fig. 4. Other changes needed in my tying

Use to alleviate no-long-presses for removing a word and undoing, respectively, ctrl+backspace/z.
Use ctrl+arrow key in moving. It would be great to still have long-presses of arrow-keys although you have disabled the main option, because it is the mainly feature needed for repositioning the caret position, extended in the thread How to Have key-repeats of Arrow keys when disabled key-repeats?