How to make a key remap stick through reboots?

[shimi]

I have tried seemingly everything but nothing seems to survive a reboot.

I have made a .Xmodmap in my homedir that remaps the windows key as F14 so I can use it to launch synapse.
I am able to apply it when already logged in using the command:
xmodmap /home/shimi/.Xmodmap

but any method I have found online to make it permanent doesn't work.
The first time I log in after making that file I'm asked by MATE if I want to load it and if to ask every time. I load it and tell it not to ask again. It doesn't work the next time.

I tried making a bash script that runs said command, make it executable and add it to startup applications, but that didn't help either.

tried adding the line to .xinitrc, to /etc/X11/Xsession, to /etc/mdm/Xsession.. absolutely nothing seems to work.

However after I'm logged in and everything loads, opening a terminal and running the command successfully remaps the key.
I'm completely baffled.

Any idea how to make this change permanent?

[kraasch]

Solution which worked for me (Linux Mint 13 MATE):

I created a file /home/<user>/mapkeys with the following 1-line content:
xmodmap /home/<user>/.Xmodmap

and then I used the following command to be executed via startup applications (Menu->Preferences->Startup Applications):
bash /home/<user>/mapkeys

[shimi]

Thanks but that doesn't work either :\
There is some voodoo going on here...

Running bash /home/<user>/mapkeys from terminal works but as a startup item doesn't do anything.

[pmorton]

I'm having the exact same problem. With a US keboard laptop, all I want to do is map the dollar key (Shift-4) to the pound sign. That's easy enough with the command:

Code: Select all

xmodmap -e "keycode 13 = 4 sterling"

But to make it stick after a reboot is proving very difficult. Adding that line to the .xinitrc file in my home directory and making that file executable ought to do the trick, as this file ought to be run as a script at start up. But it doesn't work.

Does anyone know why this doesn't work, and what the solution is?

[pmorton]

No further comments on this - can anyone help?

To re-map the Dollar symbol (shift-4) to a Pound symbol on a US keyboard, I create a file ~/.xinitrc and make it executable. In it I put:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash
# Remap the "4" key so that "shift-4" produces a pound sign instead of a dollar sign
xmodmap -e "keycode 13 = 4 sterling"

If I run that script at the console, bingo - I get my Pound sign. But it won't auto-run! I understood that Linux Mint should run the script automatically at boot time - I thought that was its purpose - but apparently not.

The other thing I have tried is adding the following line to the file /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc:

Code: Select all

# Remap the "4" key so that "shift-4" produces a pound sign instead of a dollar sign
xmodmap -e "keycode 13 = 4 sterling"

That script is obviously run in order to invoke the global X session script /etc/X11/Xsession. But my line of code doesn't run!

It MUST surely be possible in Linux Mint to run a script at start-up! Does anyone know what is going on here?

[pmorton]

Ok, found my own answer, though a bit disappointing that no-one has been able to help out with the solution to this simple question. My particular key remap is to replace the Dollar key with a Pound sign, but any other key remap will of course work, and any other script can be run in a similar fashion.


Here's how (Linux Mint Cinnamon):

1. Create a folder called "Startup" in home folder ~/ (i.e. in the folder /home/<myname>/)

2. In that folder create a text file called "PoundNotDollar.sh" containing the following lines:

Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash
# Purpose - remap the "4" key so that "shift-4" produces a pound sign instead of a dollar sign
xmodmap -e "keycode 13 = 4 sterling"

3. Make that script executable: chmod 755 ~/Startup/PoundNotDollar.sh

4. Go to <Menu><All Applications><Startup Applications>
Click "+ Add" and add the script, giving the Name as "PoundNotDollar" and the Command as "~/Startup/PoundNotDollar.sh"

The script will run on boot, and your dollar key will now map to a pound sign.

[sectionq]

This is by far the most simple and effective (without jumping through a million hoops) method of remapping the keys. Unfortunately I can't for the life of me get anything to run at startup, I'm on the latest mint 14 with xfce 4.10. So here the application startup is in menu/settings/sessions and startup and there is an applications startup tab, which, whatever you add to it doesn't start at startup. So, am stumped. Any other ideas?

[pmorton]

I'm afraid I can't help you with Xfce on Mint 14 - What I've said only reliably applies to Mint 14 Cinnamon.

Anyhow, I'm not entirely out of the woods yet myself. I have two startup scripts; one to mount a remote CIFS share, the other to re-assign the dollar key to a pound sign. When I restart, both of these scripts run satisfactorily. When I log off and back on again, they are still running. But if I let the machine or put the machine into sleep mode, when it restarts, the CIFS mount is still mounted, but the keyboard has reverted to producing a $ sign instead of Pound sign! Can anyone shed any light on why this might be?

[jtsang37]

I'm new here so sorry if this isn't formatted properly.

To sectionq,

I'm also using the Mint 14 with xfce 4.10, and I used setxkbmap as a workaround. There's a full list of setxkbmap option codes in /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/xorg.lst but for remapping control to caps lock all you need to do is go to Settings-->Session and Startup

Under the applications and autostart tab add an application with the following command

Code: Select all

/usr/bin/setxkbmap -option "ctrl:nocaps"

Hope that helps

[sectionq]

Thanks, I'll give that a try. I was forgetting that in the command box you could also (and need) to put terminal commands in also. I've just been linking to the address so that has probably been the problem all along.

[pmorton]

Anyhow, I'm not entirely out of the woods yet myself. I have two startup scripts; one to mount a remote CIFS share, the other to re-assign the dollar key to a pound sign. When I restart, both of these scripts run satisfactorily. When I log off and back on again, they are still running. But if I let (or put) the machine into sleep mode, when it restarts, the CIFS mount is still mounted, but the keyboard has reverted to producing a $ sign instead of Pound sign! Can anyone shed any light on why this might be?

Well, I think I may have cracked that one too by putting the script PoundNotDollar.sh into the folder /etc/apm/scripts.d, then creating a symbolic link to it in /etc/apm/resume.d:

Code: Select all

sudo ln -s  /etc/apm/scripts.d/PoundNotDollar.sh    /etc/apm/resume.d/PoundNotDollar.sh

The Dollar to Pound key mapping is now functioning on power resume.

[dmp1ce]

Putting my keyboard mapping in .Xmodmap works fine for me. I am running Mint 13 and xmonad wm.

Maybe it will help whomever is still having trouble to read through the "/etc/mdm/Xsession" script. It is pretty well commented and may explain why your script isn't running. Reading through the Xsession script, it looks like .xsession .xsessionrc and .Xsession are all defined, but never used. I don't know why that is, but you could add a "eval exec $USERXSESSION" somewhere in the Xsession script to get .xsession called from your home folder.

GL

[dmp1ce]

I discovered that using .xsessionrc does work! At least it did for me running xmonad. I found this in the /etc/X11/Xsession.d/40x11-common_xsessionrc file. That file should probably also run .xsession and/or .xinitrc too. I guess this was a decision by the mint team to stick with only one x init file in the home directory.