On Mon, 2003-11-17 at 04:37, Vaughn Treude wrote:
> 
> On Sunday 16 November 2003 17:59, you wrote:
> > I've got fedora up and running ok, the problems are with learning how to
> > accomplish things with new tools.
> >
> > Problem: I want use Alt+x to open a command prompt. I can do this in
> > RH-8.0 because I use sawfish & gnome-2.0.
> >
> > Gnome 2.4 uses metacity as the window manager. Changing to sawfish left
> > out way more functionality with gnome-2.4 than it did with gnome-2.0.
> > Not to mention it's near impossible to make this swap without using `rpm
> > -e --nodeps metacity`. I *really* don't like --nodeps.
> >
> > Question: Is it possible to use Alt+x to open a terminal in either
> > metacity, gnome2.4 or kde-3.1.4? If so, how?
> >
> > Question: Is it possible to create custom shortcuts, like I can do with
> > sawfish, in kde? I'd be willing to change window managers to accomplish
> > this.
> >
> Unfortunately, the only Gnome systems I have experience with sawfish, so I 
> can't speak for Metacity.   And though sawfish on Gnome 2.2 gives you the 
> option of binding a particular command-launch to a key, I don't see this in 
> 2.4 on my Red Hat 9 system.  (Perhaps the complaints from the Gnome people 
> about RH "crippling" Gnome to match KDE are true.)
> I do know that KDE has a way to set custom key bindings, which is in a 
> different place in KDE 2 and KDE 3.
> In KDE2, you go to the menu and select:
> Configuration->KDE->LookNFeel->Key Bindings
> In KDE3, you do:
> Preferences->LookNFeel->Shortcuts2
> 
> This all may be a moot point, because the closest KDE appears to have to a 
> "launch application" shortcut is one that brings up a little popup window 
> into which you must then typ the name of the command.  This is normally bound 
> to Alt-F2.
>

This is going to be my last resort option. I can write a short shell
script to launch whatever with a few keystrokes.
 
> There is one other option, and that's to actually write a C or C++ program to 
> do the terminal popup.   There's a library routine called XGrabKey which 
> allows you to intercept a particular keystroke and a particular modifier.  
> You can write a little daemon-type program to intercept key events, using the 
> XNextEvent call.   If you see an XK_X character event with the XK_Alt_L or 
> XK_Alt_R modifier set, you can launch gnome-terminal using a standard 
> fork-and-exec routine.  When your key-binding program exits, it should 
> release bindings with the XUngrabKey call.  You can find documentation on 
> these routines by Googling the terms "Linux [name-of-call] manual".  This 
> program can be compiled and linked with gcc, but you must include the Xlib.h 
> and keysym.h header files at /usr/X11R6/include and the X11 library at 
> /usr/X11R6/lib.
> 
> Sorry the answer had to be a complicated one. :-)

I like this! I'm going to give it a shot. Thanks for the details, it
would've taken me a long time to track these down on my own.

I'll be sure to notify the list if I'm successful.

Bart