7

I've remapped CapsLock key to work like this :

CapsLock + J = Left arrow key
CapsLock + K = Down arrow key
etc.

I've used xmodmap (as explained in Mapping Super+hjkl to arrow keys under X).

The problem is that I can't seem to be able to make following key combinations work :

Expected: CapsLock + Shift + J = Shift + Left arrow key
Actual: CapsLock + Shift + J = does nothing.
etc.

Do you have any ideas how to make it work? Thanks.

Community
  • 1
varad
  • 121

5 Answers5

2

I was having the same problem and asked it over on AskUbuntu. The issue can be solved by:

setting the preserve parameter

edit /usr/share/X11/xkb/types/iso9995 and add preserve[Shift+LevelThree] = Shift; such that the contents of the file looks like:

  partial default xkb_types "default" {

// A key type which can be used to implement
// an ISO9995-style level-three shift.

virtual_modifiers LevelThree;

type "THREE_LEVEL" {
    modifiers = Shift+LevelThree;
    map[None] = Level1;
    map[Shift] = Level2;
    map[LevelThree] = Level3;
    map[Shift+LevelThree] = Level3;
    preserve[Shift+LevelThree] = Shift;
    level_name[Level1] = "Base";
    level_name[Level2] = "Shift";
    level_name[Level3] = "Level3";
    };
};

customize the symbols file for the desired layout

Edit the keyboard layout file in /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/ as following (adapting to your own needs)

key <AC06>  { type="THREE_LEVEL", [   h,   H, Left  ]   }; 
key <AC07>  { type="THREE_LEVEL", [   j,   J, Down  ]   }; 
key <AC08>  { type="THREE_LEVEL", [   k,   K, Up    ]   }; 
key <AC09>  { type="THREE_LEVEL", [   l,   L, Right ]   };

and not like 

 ....
 key { [ j, J, Down, Down ] };
 ....
Marcelo Avila
  • 163
2

Not a direct answer, but the best way to approach this would be to see what events are being fired when you press the combinations you're interested in. To do this, install xev and try out the various combinations.

James Broadhead
  • 189
0

Your problem may be that capslock and shift are nearly the same in your keyboard hardware, it may be that your capslock key just permanently triggers the shift key.

Michael K
  • 3,428
0

If I have understood well how it works, try in the keyboard specification file to explicit say what you want for example for he shifted ation, for example

key { [ j, J, Down, Next ] };
key { [ k, K, Up, Prior ] };

to have PageDn and PageUp --- I cannot chek it now, but should work.

Rmano
  • 188
-1

I've tested many suggested methods but I've found this by far simplest to implement and understand. Create file nano ~/.my_keyboard, paste the code below (change key mapping according to you plan) and run xmodmap ~/.my_keyboard.

clear lock
keycode 66 = Mode_switch

keysym h = h H Left Left hstroke Hstroke
keysym j = j J Down Down dead_hook dead_horn
keysym k = k K Up Up lstroke ampersand
keysym l = l L Right Right lstroke Lstroke

This disables standard Caps Lock functionality and remaps key to Mode_switch modifier. To reset xmodmap settings you can run setxkbmap.

Here is the original solution I've addapted.

izumitelj
  • 1