Re: Keyboard controls in Gnome?

[Telsa Gwynne <hobbit aloss ukuu org uk>]

On Fri, Jan 14, 2000 at 04:12:40PM -0500 or thereabouts, Poletti, Don wrote:
> > I picked the wrong mouse during my red hat 6.1 install, and now my 
> > mouse does not work.  How does one get around in Gnome without a 
> > mouse, what are the controls?  I think what I want to do is run 
> > /usr/sbin/mouseconfig but I am darned if I can find and docs on 
> > keyboard control in gnome.
> 
> Try type using one of the virtual console (this is a kernal 
> feature not gnome) by pressing Shift-Ctrl and F2, (use F7 to
> return. This will take you to a new text based login screen. 
> 
> I could be wrong about Shift-Ctrl-F2 ir might be Alt-Ctrl-F2.

It's alt-control-F(something), yes. I think this may also work
on *BSDs?

It's not a specifically Gnome thing, but there is a way to 
control the pointer via the keyboard in X. I found it in the
WindowMaker README (/usr/doc/WindowMaker/README) by accident,
and it came in extremely handy when I recently discovered that
my mouse objected to being covered in coffee.

You enable and disable it by hitting control-shift-numberlock. 
Apparently the speaker should beep but mine never does.

Then you use the number pad to move around:

/ * - 	select mouse buttons: first, second, third in that order
. 8 .	becomes 	. 	up 	. 
4 . 6	becomes		left	.	right
. 2 .	becomes 	.	down	.

Holding one of 2,4,6,8 down and pressing number 5 down speeds the mouse up.
Pressing 5 down on its own does a mouse click with the current button.
Pressing + down on its own does a double-click with the current button.
0 clicks and holds down the current button.
. releases the button that 0 held down.

Neat, eh?

If you have focus-follows-mouse, this is actually not too bad a
way to move the mouse around, especially if it saves you from
having to quit with unsaved stuff to perform mouse-resuscitation!
I suspect the ones where you click to focus may be more of a pain.

Speaking from experience, this is the sort of information it is worth 
having written down or printed out well away from the computer. If it's 
in a file and you can't get to open or focus on a terminal, it's not 
very useful! (I keep meaning to print out the man page for fsck for
the same reason.)

Oh yes: do not get carried away by your clever control of the
pointer without the mouse like I did and use gtcd (the Gnome CD
player). I don't know whether this is a bug or some design feature, 
but when I used it with the numberpad (with no mouse available), 
it stole my focus and wouldn't give it back! I had managed to
close everything that needed saving by then, so I resorted to
control-alt-backspace (kills X) and console-land.

Telsa, now with a new mouse and her coffee much further away.