Use Alt_L as Space

Question

My old laptop's keyboard has a dead Space key.

I have found that with the commands:

xmodmap -e "keysym Alt_L = Space"
xmodmap -e "keysym Super_L = Alt_L"

I can do the job,as I have to map the space to it's nearest key, thus to Alt, and then to remap the Alt key.

My question is, how can I run it on every boot? Also, I created a .sh file with these two commands, to execute in my desktop but it does nothing.

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 27 '15 at 09:15

2

You have to create .desktop file

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Exec="</path/to/script>"
Hidden=true
NoDisplay=true
X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true
Name=Modify keyboard map

and place it to $HOME/.config/autostart

answered Apr 27 '15 at 09:15

imraro

Thanks for answering. I managed to do the job by putting the line
Exec=xmodmap -e "keysym Alt_L = space" but if i place the second Exec like Exec=xmodmap -e "keysym Super_L = Alt_L" then in some way it cancels the first. Should I place it in another file or what?
– Aggelos Mhsenoiazei Apr 28 '15 at 06:35
This line should work: Exec=sh -c "xmodmap -e 'keysym Alt_L = space' && xmodmap -e 'keysym Super_L = Alt_L'" , but I recommend you to use this commands in shell script and place this script in /usr/local/bin/ – imraro Apr 28 '15 at 08:22

A.B. · Answer 2 · 2015-07-29T11:21:09.633

With this solution, your new Space is Left Alt and your old Space is Left Super

Search for the right keycodes with:

xmodmap -pke | grep Alt_L

Sample output

keycode  64 = Alt_L Meta_L Alt_L Meta_L Alt_L Meta_L
keycode 204 = NoSymbol Alt_L NoSymbol Alt_L NoSymbol Alt_L

and

xmodmap -pke | grep Super_L

Sample output

keycode 133 = Super_L NoSymbol Super_L NoSymbol Super_L
keycode 206 = NoSymbol Super_L NoSymbol Super_L NoSymbol Super_L

Place your mappings, eg.:

keycode  64 = space
keycode 133 = Alt_L

in this file and test it with

 xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap

2 Answers2