johnston@milton.u.washington.edu (Craig Johnston) (11/01/90)
Hello,
I am working in a computer lab with a bunch of HP workstations. We are
currently using Release 3 of X windows on these systems, and need some help
solving a problem.
One of the users can only hit one key at a time. This is a real problem
when he is required to use key combinations (in fact it can't be done.)
Uppercase letters can be entered by using the Caps-Lock key, but the shifted
numbers (!@#$%^&*()_+) can't be done this way. None of the control characters
are availiable either (^D,^C,^Z,. etc).
This problem was solved for the IBM PC's with a TSR program called 1finger.
This program makes the shift, alt, and control keys "sticky". That is, when
you hit one of these keys, it locks that state for the next key you hit, then
it releases the state back to normal. Works like a charm. You can even do
3 key sequences like Ctrl-Alt-Del.
My request is for some solutions from all of you, as to how we can solve
this problem. Perhaps something like this already exists for X windows and
all I need is a pointer to where I might find it.
Some comments;
If nothing else, a Shift-Lock (instead of Caps-Lock) would help.
The keyboard does have available some function keys F1-F8 that are accessable
to X windows. ie. xmodmap, can set the codes for them.
Maybe something can be done from within the confines of xterm.
Any help would be appreciated.
Craig Johnston johnston@milton.u.washington.edu obh@ifi.uio.no (Ole Bj|rn Hessen) (11/05/90)
In article <10358@milton.u.washington.edu>, johnston@milton.u.washington.edu (Craig Johnston) writes: > I am working in a computer lab with a bunch of HP workstations. We are > currently using Release 3 of X windows on these systems, and need some help > solving a problem. > > One of the users can only hit one key at a time. I don't think you can solve this problem without special hardware or patches to the X11 server. One of our users had the same problem. I solved it by patching the (R3/R4) X11 server. It works by letting the modifier keys work on the next real key or button, that way your user may be able to push ctrl-shift-meta-alt & left mouse button with one finger. [I asked somebody at MIT if they wanted these patches, but they weren't particular interested.] If you're interested, I can send you these patches. Though I don't know whether you can use the MIT R3/R4 X11 server on the HP. Before I patched X11, the user used a small program, called 'hsh', that sits between the user and the shell and interprets some characters as 'shift' and 'ctrl'. ie. he could type /c if he wanted to push ^C. This program works on BSD systems like sun. I don't read this newsgroup any more, please send me a letter if you want me something. Ole Bjorn. University of Oslo, obh@uio.no