Emacs and windows manager keyboard shortcuts without “Super” key

emacsgnomekeyboard shortcutswindow-manager

I found a classic M-series keyboard and I want to use it. However, it does not have the "Windows" key (a.k.a "Super"), only the Shift, Control and Alt modifiers. My keyboard shortcuts are cluttered as-is, since that I try to control both Emacs and the windows manager (Gnome) only from the keyboard. I rely on the "Super" key to identify the windows manager shortcuts.

What it the best practice for keyboard-centric work without the "Super" key?

Best Answer

On my old Thinkpads without windows keys, I set capslock to behave as super. In Gnome, you can achieve this with Preferences->Hardware->Keyboard. There on tab layout, click on options and there "CapsLock-Key behaviour" and choose "Make CapsLock an additional super".

If you don't use Gnome, you can achieve the same by modifying ~/.xmodmap to include this

!No Caps Lock
clear lock
! Caps Lock as Win key
add mod4 = Caps_Lock

and making sure ~/.xmodmap is loaded during startup of X.

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