12:58 a.m.
And yet another problem with Fedora-21...
When I press my Shift keys quickly a few times (which I often
do unconsciously while thinking about what to type), I get a
notification that "sticky keys have been enabled". I then
get a lot of odd keyboard effects such as every word typed
being capitalized or the keyboard acting like the control key
is permanently pressed.
Googling seems to indicate this is an old problem going back
to the mid-2000's.
I tried one of the solutions I found: install xkbset and run
"xkbset -a" at login time via Application Autostart tab in
the Settings and Startup dialog (this is Xfce).
That seemed to work for a while but the problem's come back.
The auto-startup setting is still there, still enabled.
While I was typing this, something called "slow keys became
enabled making it impossible to continue typing this message
until I logged out and back in again.
None of the options in the accessibility applet are enabled
(I'm pretty sure, having worked around the problem of dialogs
not showing checkmarks).
What do I need to do to permanently put a stake in the throat
of this nasty little Sticky Keys virus?
<rant>
I seldom rant in public but I've got to say that installing
Fedotra-21 was the worst experience I have ever had installing
Linux (in terms of the endless amount of brokeness) -- and I
have been using Redhat going back to the 3.x days (that's *Redhat*,
not Redhat Enterprise; not Fedora). I don't think it is me. I
did a pretty plain vanilla install and except for some of the
usual audio/video stuff from rpmfusion, am using packages straight
out of the Fedora-21 repo. Plain vanilla hardware that ran
Fedora-15 fine for several years. Has Fedora become too focused
on release schedules and lost interest in quality control?
Or are all these problems coming from xfce?
6:41 a.m.
On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 11:58:53PM -0600, Stuart McGraw wrote:
And yet another problem with Fedora-21...
When I press my Shift keys quickly a few times (which I often
do unconsciously while thinking about what to type), I get a
notification that "sticky keys have been enabled". I then
get a lot of odd keyboard effects such as every word typed
being capitalized or the keyboard acting like the control key
is permanently pressed.
Googling seems to indicate this is an old problem going back
to the mid-2000's.
It's a feature, to enable sticky keys as needed. I had the same problem
with some older release of XFCE. I solved it by disabling all assistive
technologies, as I do not need them. If this is true for you too, you
can disable it by unchecking the "Enable assistive technologies" option
in the "Assistive Technologies" tab in Settings > Accesibility.
GL,
--
Suvayu
Open source is the future. It sets us free.
6:26 a.m.
On Mon, 2015-03-30 at 23:58 -0600, Stuart McGraw wrote:
None of the options in the accessibility applet are enabled
(I'm pretty sure, having worked around the problem of dialogs
not showing checkmarks).
Is it an install with more than one desktop installed? Perhaps there is
more than one assistive technologies systems involved.
I've been similarly caught, with older releases, and the pop-up that
asks me about using assistive thingummies popped up *under* the current
windows, and with no indication in the windows list that another window
had been added to the desktop. I only found it by accident, some time
after the first incident. Then, it was an awkward window shuffle to get
to it. I couldn't type until its question was answered.
--
tim@localhost ~]$ uname -rsvp
Linux 3.18.9-100.fc20.i686 #1 SMP Mon Mar 9 17:04:05 UTC 2015 i686
All mail to my mailbox is automatically deleted, there is no point trying
to privately email me, I will only read messages posted to the public lists.
George Orwell's '1984' was supposed to be a warning against tyranny, not
a set of instructions for supposedly democratic governments.
12:27 p.m.
On Wed, Apr 01, 2015 at 09:58:29AM -0600, Stuart McGraw wrote:
On 03/31/2015 05:41 AM, Suvayu Ali wrote:
>On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 11:58:53PM -0600, Stuart McGraw wrote:
>>And yet another problem with Fedora-21...
>>
>>When I press my Shift keys quickly a few times (which I often
>>do unconsciously while thinking about what to type), I get a
>>notification that "sticky keys have been enabled". I then
>>get a lot of odd keyboard effects such as every word typed
>>being capitalized or the keyboard acting like the control key
>>is permanently pressed.
>>
>>Googling seems to indicate this is an old problem going back
>>to the mid-2000's.
>
>It's a feature, to enable sticky keys as needed. I had the same problem
>with some older release of XFCE. I solved it by disabling all assistive
>technologies, as I do not need them. If this is true for you too, you
>can disable it by unchecking the "Enable assistive technologies" option
>in the "Assistive Technologies" tab in Settings > Accesibility.
Yup, did that. Multiple times. :-) I even looked at that dialog
right after the sticky keys feature became active and all the
checkboxes were still unchecked.
Hmm, I think I recall now this did not solve the problem. I think the
commandline equivalent for those menu options are the following:
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.a11y.keyboard stickykeys-enable false
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.a11y.keyboard slowkeys-enable false
# to disabble accesibility altogether
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.a11y.keyboard enable false
Although I think you will not have success with either of these. I
think culprit is the login manager, not the desktop. Are you using GDM?
I think that is responsible for this issue. I use lightdm now, I think
that is how I eventually solved my issue.
Hope this helps,
--
Suvayu
Open source is the future. It sets us free.
11:02 a.m.
On 03/31/2015 05:26 AM, Tim wrote:
On Mon, 2015-03-30 at 23:58 -0600, Stuart McGraw wrote:
> None of the options in the accessibility applet are enabled
> (I'm pretty sure, having worked around the problem of dialogs
> not showing checkmarks).
Is it an install with more than one desktop installed? Perhaps there is
more than one assistive technologies systems involved.
I've been similarly caught, with older releases, and the pop-up that
asks me about using assistive thingummies popped up *under* the current
windows, and with no indication in the windows list that another window
had been added to the desktop. I only found it by accident, some time
after the first incident. Then, it was an awkward window shuffle to get
to it. I couldn't type until its question was answered.
That doesn't sound quite like what I am seeing. For me it seems
the sticky keys or slow keys mode is being activated without needing
any response from me, simply by my clicking the shift key quickly
or holding it down too long. This happens despite my having disable
all the assistive option in the settings Accessibility applet.
I did log into the Gnome desktop but I couldn't find anything at
all in there dealing with accessibility options (tho to be honest,
I can't stand using Gnome for very long so maybe I didn't look
hard enough.)
Right now it seems to be turned off (doesn't matter what I do with
the shift key, no sticky or slow keys get activated) and I have no
idea how or when it gets reenabled. I glad you mentioned the
possibility of another window though -- I will check for it the
next time I have the problem.
10:58 a.m.
On 03/31/2015 05:41 AM, Suvayu Ali wrote:
On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 11:58:53PM -0600, Stuart McGraw wrote:
> And yet another problem with Fedora-21...
>
> When I press my Shift keys quickly a few times (which I often
> do unconsciously while thinking about what to type), I get a
> notification that "sticky keys have been enabled". I then
> get a lot of odd keyboard effects such as every word typed
> being capitalized or the keyboard acting like the control key
> is permanently pressed.
>
> Googling seems to indicate this is an old problem going back
> to the mid-2000's.
It's a feature, to enable sticky keys as needed. I had the same problem
with some older release of XFCE. I solved it by disabling all assistive
technologies, as I do not need them. If this is true for you too, you
can disable it by unchecking the "Enable assistive technologies" option
in the "Assistive Technologies" tab in Settings > Accesibility.
Yup, did that. Multiple times. :-) I even looked at that dialog
right after the sticky keys feature became active and all the
checkboxes were still unchecked.
7:47 a.m.
Tim:
> I've been similarly caught, with older releases
Stuart McGraw:
That doesn't sound quite like what I am seeing. For me it seems
the sticky keys or slow keys mode is being activated without needing
any response from me, simply by my clicking the shift key quickly
or holding it down too long.
Ah, but it /has/ been from you doing something. Your non-standard use
of the shiftkey is the trigger (non-standard, in that you're not using
it to immediately type capital letters).
Personally, I think using the shift key as the trigger is a rather poor
choice. Since people typing a row of capital letters may use it instead
of the caps-lock, or they may be holding shift to mouse-select several
items.
This happens despite my having disable all the assistive option in
the
settings Accessibility applet.
It looks like you hadn't, yet, turned off assistive features (because of
those annoying problems mentioned above).
As I recall, hanging on to the shift key is for activating some specific
features of an assistive technology, rather than the overall on/off of
assistive technologies. Turn off the master switch, and the individual
features are permanently disabled.
Since I turned off the overall thing on my installation, I haven't had
the individual features pop up and annoy me. If the feature had been
activated at the logon screen, I think it carries over into the session.
Otherwise, you'd turn them on, post logon.
For what it's worth, I'm running the MATE desktop on Fedora 20, on this
particular computer. I don't like the way the Gnome 3 desktop works.
An alternative thing for you to follow up: Find the keyboard
preferences, see if it has an accessibility section, and options for
accessibility features being controlled by hotkeys.
--
tim@localhost ~]$ uname -rsvp
Linux 3.18.9-100.fc20.i686 #1 SMP Mon Mar 9 17:04:05 UTC 2015 i686
All mail to my mailbox is automatically deleted, there is no point trying
to privately email me, I will only read messages posted to the public lists.
George Orwell's '1984' was supposed to be a warning against tyranny, not
a set of instructions for supposedly democratic governments.
12:26 p.m.
On 04/01/2015 11:27 AM, Suvayu Ali wrote:
On Wed, Apr 01, 2015 at 09:58:29AM -0600, Stuart McGraw wrote:
> On 03/31/2015 05:41 AM, Suvayu Ali wrote:
>> On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 11:58:53PM -0600, Stuart McGraw wrote:
>>> And yet another problem with Fedora-21...
>>>
>>> When I press my Shift keys quickly a few times (which I often
>>> do unconsciously while thinking about what to type), I get a
>>> notification that "sticky keys have been enabled". I then
>>> get a lot of odd keyboard effects such as every word typed
>>> being capitalized or the keyboard acting like the control key
>>> is permanently pressed.
>>>
>>> Googling seems to indicate this is an old problem going back
>>> to the mid-2000's.
>>
>> It's a feature, to enable sticky keys as needed. I had the same problem
>> with some older release of XFCE. I solved it by disabling all assistive
>> technologies, as I do not need them. If this is true for you too, you
>> can disable it by unchecking the "Enable assistive technologies"
option
>> in the "Assistive Technologies" tab in Settings > Accesibility.
>
> Yup, did that. Multiple times. :-) I even looked at that dialog
> right after the sticky keys feature became active and all the
> checkboxes were still unchecked.
Hmm, I think I recall now this did not solve the problem. I think the
commandline equivalent for those menu options are the following:
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.a11y.keyboard stickykeys-enable false
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.a11y.keyboard slowkeys-enable false
# to disabble accesibility altogether
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.a11y.keyboard enable false
Although I think you will not have success with either of these. I
think culprit is the login manager, not the desktop. Are you using GDM?
I think that is responsible for this issue. I use lightdm now, I think
that is how I eventually solved my issue.
Thanks, I will look into that.
But I am gobsmacked at the nature of this problem. Here is a bug
report for the problem on Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-control-center/+bug/41427
It starts in 2007 and continues into 2013 with no resolution! WTF?
I realize now that the "G" in Gdm is "Gnome" and that perhaps
explains
it.
I think Fedora has a lot of responsibility here as well. This
problem seems to be well known yet I had to spend hours trying to
figure out what was going on. If Fedora is going to provide Gdm
by default then at a bare minimum, this problem should be mentioned
in the Fedora Release Notes or the System Admin Guide along with
a recommended fix.
Going forward I think I will be looking at eliminating not just gdm
but as much of Gnome from my computer as is humanly possible.
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Tim