How do I create special characters or assign keys to do different things?

[James_Smith]

This is kind of silly and frivolous but I think it would be fun to learn. I have an Alienware 15 R3. Here are its specs:

Code: Select all

System:    Host: mac-Alienware-15-R3 Kernel: 4.15.0-33-generic x86_64 bits: 64 gcc: 7.3.0
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.8.8 (Gtk 3.22.30-1ubuntu1) Distro: Linux Mint 19 Tara
Machine:   Device: laptop System: Alienware product: Alienware 15 R3 v: 1.0.8 serial: N/A
           Mobo: Alienware model: Alienware 15 R3 v: A00 serial: N/A
           UEFI: Alienware v: 1.0.8 date: 02/24/2017
Battery    BAT1: charge: 62.8 Wh 100.0% condition: 62.8/99.0 Wh (63%)
           model: COMPAL PABAS0241231 status: Full
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-7700HQ (-MT-MCP-) arch: Skylake rev.9 cache: 6144 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 22464
           clock speeds: max: 3800 MHz 1: 878 MHz 2: 1003 MHz 3: 829 MHz 4: 920 MHz 5: 941 MHz
           6: 922 MHz 7: 1722 MHz 8: 826 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel Device 591b bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Card-2: NVIDIA GP106M [GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 )
           drivers: modesetting,nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau)
           Resolution: 1920x1080@60.02hz
           OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GTX 1060/PCIe/SSE2
           version: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 390.48 Direct Render: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel CM238 HD Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-33-generic
Network:   Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2500 Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: alx port: d000 bus-ID: 3c:00.0
           IF: enp60s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
           driver: ath10k_pci bus-ID: 3d:00.0
           IF: wlp61s0 state: up mac: <filter>
           Card-3: Atheros usb-ID: 001-003
           IF: null-if-id state: N/A speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1000.2GB (15.5% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: Crucial_CT1024MX size: 1000.2GB
           Optical: No optical drives detected.
Partition: ID-1: / size: 916G used: 145G (17%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 45.5C mobo: N/A gpu: 0.0:53C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 264 Uptime: 14:01 Memory: 4488.4/15910.0MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 7.3.0 Client: Shell (bash 4.4.191) inxi: 2.3.56 

If you know this machine, you know that it's for gamers and there are six "extra" keys over to the left of the keyboard designated x, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I am not a gamer but I would like to do some fun things with those keys. I thought it would be interesting to make one of them automatically type "lol" and another automatically type "lmao" and then have a few of them type emoticons/emojis.

I went to System Settings > Keyboard > Shortcuts and played around awhile but I can't figure it out. Can someone help me?

Even though I started using Linux a few years ago, and I have a somewhat high post count on this forum, I'm still a n00b because I didn't know the first thing about computers when I started other than checking emails, chatting with my friends on Facebook and doing Google searches. The reason I want help with this (as I intimated above) is that these sorts of things help me learn the system at a deeper level.

[BenTrabetere]

This is kind of silly and frivolous but I think it would be fun to learn. I have an Alienware 15 R3. Here are its specs:

Suggestion: The next time you post specs, enclose them in Code Display tags. That's the </> icon on the toolbar. It keeps everything in one block, and is much easier to read.

Now for your question. This might point you in the right direction.
https://askubuntu.com/questions/964036/ ... untu-16-04

Another option is to take AutoKey for a test drive to see if it recognizes the keys and accepts them as a shortcut. I do not know if AutoKey is in the LM 19.0 repositories; if it isn't, info and installation instructions are on the Gitsite.
https://github.com/autokey/autokey

[James_Smith]

Suggestion: The next time you post specs, enclose them in Code Display tags. That's the </> icon on the toolbar. It keeps everything in one block, and is much easier to read.

I usually type out "code" when doing that but this time I clicked the "c" to the left of "rimg" thinking it would display everything in one block. It didn't. I've corrected it now.

Now for your question. This might point you in the right direction.
https://askubuntu.com/questions/964036/ ... untu-16-04

Another option is to take AutoKey for a test drive to see if it recognizes the keys and accepts them as a shortcut. I do not know if AutoKey is in the LM 19.0 repositories; if it isn't, info and installation instructions are on the Gitsite.
https://github.com/autokey/autokey

Thanks, I'll check it out. I've been busy so I'm just now getting around to this.