New Xorg - different key-codes

[Michael Gmelin]

On Thu, 12 Mar 2020 10:36:42 -0500
Bob Willcox <bob at immure.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Mar 12, 2020 at 07:24:42AM -0500, Bob Willcox wrote:
> > On Wed, Mar 11, 2020 at 11:46:49PM +0100, Michael Gmelin wrote:  
> > > 
> > >   
> > > SNIP SNAP
> > > >> It might fix the ???Down key opens application launcher???
> > > >> problem by applying the correct keymap (you have to select the
> > > >> correct one, ???de??? probably won???t cut it for you). At
> > > >> least it did with xfce, where it was important to run it
> > > >> before the wm starts - you could also try running it
> > > >> afterwards to see if it makes a difference.  
> > > > 
> > > > I don't know about that problem. What I'm experiencing is the
> > > > Alt-up,down,left,right keys don't work as they used to in my
> > > > ctwm window manager. They used to move the current window to
> > > > the closest boundry in the direction indicated by the key that
> > > > is also pressed (while holding the Alt key down). Also,
> > > > Alt-shift-up,down,left,right would expand the window in the
> > > > direction indicated by the key. These actions seem to do
> > > > nothing now. 
> > > 
> > > I don???t know much about ctwm, but why don???t you give it a
> > > shot?  
> > 
> > I plan to sometime today when I get into the office. But since it's
> > my work system and I am dependent on it to do my job, I've just
> > been a little hesitant.  
> 
> Ok, I added this to my ~/.xinitrc file:
> 
> setxkbmap -model pc105 -layout us
> 
> and my ctwm window adjustment hot keys are working again.  :)
> 
> I do wonder why it was deemed ok to change the default behavior for
> the key mappings? Couldn't the default mappings have remained the
> same with change to evdev? This change certainly violated the
> "principle of least surprise" for me.
> 
>

I think the change was unavoidable, but it could've been communicated
better. Then again, time and resources are limited and I'm quite
grateful the graphics team finally made that necessary push forward.

I'm curious how people set their keyboard layout in the past though,
is it possible that the defaults just worked for US users? I always had
to set it explicitly (setxkbmap or in Xorg.conf), so I was never really
affected by this change.

-m

p.s. What does "setxkbmap -query" show if you start X without setting
the keymap in .xinitrc?

-- 
Michael Gmelin