I'm using Karabiner on Mac OS X to make some of my keys
work as half modifiers: for ex. tapping enter is enter but
holding it is meta. Is it easy to do the same in Linux?
PS. I mean: I want to be able to use enter both as a modifier key and as enter, depending on whether it is held or pressed and released. (Not the same as sticky keys.)
Best Answer
Two options
I use At Home Modifier to achieve this. The developer also suggests xcape as an alternative.
Comparison
The developer of At Home Modifier says the following about xcape.
My experience
I've used both. Personally, I prefer At Home Modifier for a few reasons.
xorg.conf
rule. Hence, it can apply to specific keyboards, leaving other keyboards alone.The first pro of xcape quoted above may or may not affect you, depending on your distro. If you update Ubuntu immediately (I've done this), you may need to recompile At Home Modifier yourself if the ppa lags behind (it's lagged a few months at least once). If you use Arch Linux, the AUR package is up to date and easy enough to bump the version number. The old version is generally compatible anyway.