Linux – How to get Ctrl + Alt + t to launch ther terminal in Linux Mint 13 MATE

Connecting over the network (e.g. with SSH) is by far the method that has the best chance of working and the least chance of causing damage that might otherwise be avoidable (such as killing your X session).

If the mouse is working but not the keyboard, it means that X is not completely hosed. Try plugging the keyboard out and back in: this can help if the problem is in the keyboard driver. (It rarely is.) If you have a root terminal or can get one without the help of the keyboard, try typing chvt 2 there (where “typing” means copy-pasting the letters).

Another thing you can try is the magic SysRq key: press Alt+SysRq+R to switch the keyboard away from raw mode, and try Ctrl+Alt+F1 again: this time the key combination should be handled by the kernel and not by X.

You can modify the /desktop/gnome/applications/terminal/exec key in GConf (using gconf-editor), which is described as "the default terminal application to use for applications that require a terminal".

Alternatively, I propose a little more flexible solution: if you use Compiz, you can use the Commands plugin to define keyboard shortcuts for your own commands. This way, you can keep the default shortcut to launch a windowed terminal, and define an other shortcut for a fullscreen terminal.

(Sidenote: in the Compiz configuration tool, you can change directly the terminal command and shortcut in the Gnome Compatibility plugin.)