CrunchBang Linux

pepys

Member

Registered: 2013-06-23

Posts: 12

Symbol shortcuts

Hi all,

First time posting here. I've been distro-hopping on and off for years but think I might finally have found my Linux home, thankfully. There is something very liberating about Crunchbang, especially when compared to the oversized and mammoth distros like Ubuntu, which try to be all things to all people.

Anyhow, I do have a question regarding keyboard shortcuts. My laptop, an HP ProBook 4510s has a few broken keys, notably the row of numbers which is above the qwerty line. This isn't a problem when it comes to numbers, as the keyboard also comes with a numpad on the side - but it is an issue if i want to type an exclamation mark, quotation mark, pound sterling sign, dollar sign.....you get the picture.

So, how would I go about making a shortcut so that, for example, SHIFT + F1 would give me a ! symbol?

Thanks in advance.

Sam.

VastOne

#! Ranger

From: V-Ger

Registered: 2011-04-26

Posts: 10,165

Website

Re: Symbol shortcuts

Welcome to CrunchBang pepys!

This might be a good start

You can never go wrong with help from Arch

And from the OpenBox wiki

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VSIDO | Words That Build Or Destroy

We do not run from challenges, they become new innovations within VSIDO!

pepys

Member

Registered: 2013-06-23

Posts: 12

Re: Symbol shortcuts

Thanks for your reply. 

I've read all three of those links as I did some Googling before posting here. What none of them seem to explain is how to get a key combination to merely insert a symbol as opposed to executing a more sophisticated command so they were unable to guide me further.

VastOne

#! Ranger

From: V-Ger

Registered: 2011-04-26

Posts: 10,165

Website

Re: Symbol shortcuts

How about xdotool?  That looks like a similar issue

Full explanation and examples here

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VSIDO | Words That Build Or Destroy

We do not run from challenges, they become new innovations within VSIDO!

pepys

Member

Registered: 2013-06-23

Posts: 12

Re: Symbol shortcuts

Thanks awfully!

This is what I used:

xmodmap -e 'keycode 67 = exclam'
xmodmap -e 'keycode 68 = quotedbl'

It works splendidly but reverts at restart. At least I can now write properly again. 

fatmac

#! Die Hard

Registered: 2012-11-14

Posts: 1,948

Re: Symbol shortcuts

Are you sure you set the correct keyboard when you installed. I usually set '105 key international' & all my (normal) keys just work.
(Presently using a HP G62.)

Edit: If you need to run those commands, I think you would put them into rc.local.

Last edited by fatmac (2013-06-29 16:50:08)

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Linux since 1999
Currently:  AntiX, & Crunchbang.
A good general beginners book for Linux :- http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz
A good Debian read :- http://debian-handbook.info/get/now/

pepys

Member

Registered: 2013-06-23

Posts: 12

Re: Symbol shortcuts

Are you sure you set the correct keyboard when you installed. I usually set '105 key international' & all my (normal) keys just work.
(Presently using a HP G62.)

It's a hardware problem, sadly - they actual keys themselves are damaged and don't work with any OS.