Scroll Lock in XFCE will not switch KVM

Tim tim at xendistar.co.uk
Sun Jan 22 12:18:01 CET 2012


On 19/01/12 07:31, Tim wrote:
> On 19/01/12 03:32, Todd Pytel wrote:
>> On Wed, 2012-01-18 at 21:48 -0500, Greg Folkert wrote:
>>> What kernel are you running?
>> 3.0.0
>>
>>
>>> This seems to me to not be an XFCE issue.
>> Definitely possible, and I just found a workaround noted below. But I'd
>> still like to understand how this behavior *actually* works under the
>> hood, because this problem keeps popping up every year or two and has
>> been for the last 10 years now. It's annoying.
>>
>> Here's what I can definitely say:
>>
>> 1) Scroll Lock switch works fine in the console - no tweaks necessary.
>> This suggests it is not a kernel issue.
>>
>> 2) In XFCE, the Num Lock LED works, but the Scroll Lock one does not.
>> Neither triggers the KVM. Adding the key via xmodmap gets the Scroll
>> Lock LED working, but still doesn't get the KVM switching.
>>
>> 3) Openbox behaves identically to XFCE. I know Openbox used to switch
>> properly long, long ago, but I only keep it around as a backup WM and
>> haven't used it regularly in many years.
>>
>> 4) I don't have a working GNOME install to test with anymore, as I tore
>> it all out in disgust a few weeks ago. I really don't want to pull it
>> all back in.
>>
>> Now, here's the workaround... after some digging, I remembered an
>> earlier trick about using xset to twiddle the LED's. Sure enough,
>> doing...
>>
>> xset led 3&&  sleep 0.2&&  xset -led 3
>>
>> ...toggles the LED *and* switches the KVM. Yay! What's kind of weird is
>> that it does this even without the xmodmap line, when the LED doesn't
>> otherwise work.
>>
>> I guess this all suggests that something changed about X11's key
>> handling? But I sure don't understand what's going on. Why would "xset
>> led" trigger the KVM when the xmodmap'd key doesn't (even though it also
>> toggles the LED and registers in xev).
>>
>> Anyway, I'll take it to the xorg list and see if anyone there has some
>> insight. Though at this point, I can surely hack together a script and
>> bind it to Scroll Lock or some other key.
>>
>> Thanks for pointing me to more general solutions, Greg.
>>
>> --Todd
>>
>>
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>>
> I have Kernel 3.1.0-1-686-pae, I am not sure if I still have a 2.*.* 
> series kernel on my machine to test possible kernel. I will try your 
> xset workaround on my PC later tonight.
>
> Tim
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>
OK I have had a little plays with this and I can get it to work and 
switch KVM to the other screen, but it only does it every second time, I 
type the command on the cli and hit return nothing happens (the scroll 
lock led will flash once), type it again and hit return and the kvm will 
switch (and the scroll led will flash once again).

Unfortunately command line incantations mean very little to me and 
looking at the man pages just adds to that confusion, is there a way to 
tweak this command to work every time or better still anyway we can get 
the XFCE to tweak there setting so that it works from the Num Lock\ 
Scroll Keys??

Tim


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