[comp.sys.sgi] Alternate-Key and Queuing...

rpaul@crow.UUCP (Rodian Paul) (04/06/91)

Hi, I've come across a strange quirk in the Queue Manager regarding the
alternate-key combination.

If I just:
	qdevice( KEYBD );

And press       n	everything's kosher
      "   shift-n	     "	       "
      "   cntrl-n	     "	       "
      "     alt-n	I get dick for a while, 
			and then the keyboard bell
			starts ringing.
If I:
	qdevice( KEYBD );
	qdevice( LEFTALTKEY );

And repeat the previous steps, I get what I'd expect, when the LEFTALTKEY
is pressed and held down, a repeat value for that key. Once again, I don't
get anything except a ringing bell when I hold down another key at the
same time.

And when I:

	qdevice( RAWKEYBD );

And press the "shift" or "cntrl" keys, once again I get what I would
expect, a value for the key when it is either up or down. If I hold the
key down for a while, I get nothing.

Try that with the Alternate key and it repeats......

Next I tried a real hack, using getbutton( LEFTALTKEY ) whenever qread()
returned 'n'. This doesn't work too well either.

So I assume this is a bug.  I'm running IRIX 3.3.1 (didn't try it on a 3.3.2 
machine).

Does anyone have a fix/workaround/suggestion so that I can queue alt/char
combinations.

Thanks.

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kipp@warp.esd.sgi.com (Kipp Hickman) (04/08/91)

The left alt key on the IRIS 3.3ish keyboard is really the COMPOSE key.  As such, it requires several followup key strokes to generate a character.  When it doesn't like your typing it beeps at you.  Try using the right alt key as a workaround until the next major up and coming release.

					kipp