[Lubuntu] How to swap Up and Right_Shift keys?

[Kai_Konnen]

How can I swap the the UP and the right shift key in Lubuntu? Xev tells me the <UP> button has the keycode 111, and the <RTHS> (Shift_R)-key has the keycode 62. This is as far as I get. Can anybody give me an hint?

The two keys are in awkward positions on my EeePC 1000H. Every time I want to hit right shift I press UP instead. On Windows XP, I swapped the keys using an Autohotkey script.


Thank you for your help
Kai

[egeezer]

The way I've used to mess around with keycodes in LXDE is to write a short script in Leafpad. I've had more success with just removing the function of a key than swapping it, so I tend to use a script like:

!
! Set Caps_Lock to no symbol
!
remove Lock = Caps_Lock
keysym Caps_Lock = 0x0000

Substitute your <UP> name, then save the file as a run file (using intitial dot) like .upkiller.

Then if you want to autostart it, go to

/etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE
and open the autostart text. At the bottom, add the line:
@.upkiller enable
Then log out and log in again.

[Kai_Konnen]

Thank you for your answer. Unfortunately I need both UP and Right Shift- key. Disabling the UP-key is no option.

[egeezer]

I haven't done this sort of thing myself, but I would guess that you could modify the former script:

!
!Swap UP and Shift_R
!
remove UP = 0x0111
remove Shift_R = 0x0062
keysym UP = 0x0062
keysym Shift_R = 0x0111

NO GUARANTEES, you understand - this would just be the way I would do it, and hope for the best. If I could cite a reliable reference, I would, but I don't know a good place to look!

[Kai_Konnen]

I tried that, but it didn't work, the keyboard was unchanged.

Maybe I misunderstood your posting. What I did was:
1. I pasted the following code in a text document and save it as .swapkeys in my home directory:

!
!Swap UP and Shift_R
!
remove UP = 0x0111
remove Shift_R = 0x0062
keysym UP = 0x0062
keysym Shift_R = 0x01

2. I pasted the line
@.swapkeys enable into the document autostart.txt (that document was empty) in the directories /etc/xdg/lxsession/Lubuntu and /etc/xdg/lxsession/Lubuntu-Netbook . A directory /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE doesn't exist on my system.

Any ideas?

[egeezer]

In your first code block the last line should be keysym Shift_R = 0x0111 (not 0x01) - bu that might be a copy error.

As to a missing /etc/xdg/lxsession/LXDE, I'm as baffled as you are. Did you try running .swapkeys as an ordinary command? That would be a good first test of whether it's doing what it should.

[Kai_Konnen]

I finally found a script that swaps the two keys (here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/24916/how-do-i-remap-certain-keys):


#!/bin/bash
xmodmap -e "keycode 62 = Up" # Shift => Up xmodmap -e "keycode 111 = Shift_R" # Up => Shift
xmodmap -e "add shift = Shift_R" # Make the new Shift key actually do shifting
xmodmap -e "remove shift = Up" # Prevent the old Shift key from shifting
xset r 62 # Make the new Up key autorepeat
xset -r 111 # Prevent the new Shift key from autorepeating


I saved the script as swapkeys.sh and moved it to /home/USERNAME/bin. The scripts path is /home/USERNAME/bin/swapkeys.sh. I made the script executable.
Then I opened Preferences - Default applications for LXSession - Autostart and added the line /home/USERNAME/bin/swapkeys.sh as a "Manual autostart application". After a new login, everything works.