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View Full Version : [SOLVED] 12.04 + Unity 2D: "Run command" prompt keeps popping up on alt-anything



dewdrop_world
June 12th, 2014, 04:07 AM
I'm using Ubuntu 12.04 with the Unity 2D desktop.

When I started using Unity a couple of months ago, I found that the Alt key would open a "run command" prompt. This was annoying, so I looked in the Keyboard > Shortcuts system control panel and found "Run command prompt," and disabled the shortcut. That seemed to prevent this irritating pop-up.

Recently, some system upgrade has caused the prompt to start appearing again. I've checked the Shortcuts control panel, and the keyboard shortcut for "Run command prompt" still appears as disabled (attached)!

Then I thought, maybe if I enable a shortcut for it and then disable it again, it might get fixed. But the panel won't let me do that. If I click on the "Lock screen" shortcut row, the right-hand side says "New accelerator..." But "Show the run command prompt" stays at "Disabled," and it doesn't respond to any keys.

The problem is not just that alt brings up the prompt. The problem is that alt+some other key will also bring up the prompt, if I do it too quickly. I use alt-tab a lot to switch between windows. Now I have to do it very slowly and carefully -- if I do it too fast, then the prompt comes up and I have to dismiss it manually. I guess alt -> run command is supposed to be a timesaver, but it actually wastes time.

So how do I turn off that hot key? I am willing to hack around it, if it's a bug in a recent upgrade (as I suspect). (The only update in my history list, within the last few days (when the problem started happening) and that might be relevant, is the generic kernel 3.11.0-23.)

Thanks,
James

dewdrop_world
June 14th, 2014, 09:18 AM
Bump...?

I can't actually be the only person having this problem...?

vanadium
June 14th, 2014, 10:17 AM
It is the HUD that you are displaying. Disable the "Key to show the HUD" under "Launchers" on the Shortcuts tab in the Keyboard settings.

dewdrop_world
June 16th, 2014, 03:39 AM
I see... it wasn't at all clear what that thing was called.

I still think there's a bug here. My understanding is that HUD should appear if you press the left alt key and nothing else, but it very clearly happens for me when I do alt-tab quickly.

Ahhh.... apparently the Ubuntu developers agree that this is not good behavior:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity-distro-priority/+bug/969039

Thanks for the tip!
hjh