TouchCursor under Linux ; I can't believe there is no way to do that

[merindol]

Hi there.

I'm trying to do something like TouchCursor does (cf. touchcursor.com, there is a video). It uses the spacebar as a meta-key to give access to the navigation keys (and more) from the main keyboard, like Space+L for Right-key (see the video).

Atm, it almost works. E.g. I can Shift+Ctrl+Space+L to select the word to the right of the cursor.

But my spacebar no longer works as a spacebar. I'm trying to find a way to make it works like with TouchCursor : when I press than release the spacebar, and only if no other keys have pressed, it should spawn a space character.

I tried with Xbindkeys :

"/usr/bin/xvkbd -xsendevent -text '\[space]'"
Mode_switch+Release

but it prevents the new arrow keys from working. And, even, It wouldn't give us the result we expect (aka. print a space character when only the space bar is pressed and then released, without any other key pressed in the mean time)

Anyone has an idea ? It seams quite tricky.

Btw, here is the ~/.Xmodmap code for the navigation pad feature (keycode 65 is my spacebar ; you can use an other key to test safely) :

keycode 65 = Mode_switch Mode_switch space space nobreakspace U202F
add mod3 = Mode_switch
keysym i = i I Up NoSymbol icircumflex Icircumflex
keysym k = k K Down NoSymbol idiaeresis Idiaeresis
keysym j = j J Left NoSymbol udiaeresis Udiaeresis
keysym l = l L Right NoSymbol U0140 U013F
keysym h = h H Prior NoSymbol eth ETH 
keysym n = n N Next NoSymbol notsign rightarrow
keysym u = u U Home NoSymbol ucircumflex Ucircumflex
keysym o = o O End NoSymbol oe OE
keysym comma = comma question Delete NoSymbol questiondown U2026
keysym p = p P BackSpace NoSymbol ocircumflex Ocircumflex
keysym y = y Y Insert NoSymbol ydiaeresis Ydiaeresis

Maybe should I try Xkbd ? Is it more powerful ?

Regards.

[Carsto]

Have you tried keyboard mapping? You may even do your own entire KB with trigger plus four strokes per key. In Fedora 11 you should be able to find it in the help files.

[merindol]

Hello and thanks for your answer.

What do you mean by « keyboard mapping » ? Any software/program in particular ? Something specific to Fedora ?

I've been looking into the Fedora 11 help page but found nothing (fedoraguide.info/index.php?title=Main_Page).

Regards.

[Carsto]

No, I don't think it specific to Fedora. I would say it is specific to Linux and it's open adaptability. At the moment I'm trying to get Fedora back up again so I cannot go and dig into it. Do locate keyoard in Terminal or Konsole and open the file there or in say Dolphin.

You should be able to see the mapping there. It seems quite simple and should be. I did not get around to how to do it as I first want to get my netbooks's total environment set up usefully, the system stuff that is.

Refer to AllChars for Windows by Jeroen Laarhoven
http://alchars.zwolnet.com or download it from sourceforge.net.

I think it would be more hardware level than OS.

Also compare Hotkeys in Windows. This is more macro's oriented but it has extensive documentation. Maybe its a good idea - since you are interested anyway - that you get into this to do a Linux equivalent - both?

This is one major reason why I am into Linux. Just about everything I use is free. I'd like to contribute with PC skills as a counter performance.

I'm talking about Fedora because right now that's all I know. My reaction to other posts criticizing the netbook size format made me think though. It may just be because of the advanced stage and standard of the Fedora development that my transition to Linux and the Aspire was that painless. That includes stepping over the proprietary character of Linpus which comes on the Aspire.

[Carsto]

allchars - double ell in the link. Sorry. Unfortunately you will have to install Fedora - I think. Or maybe you can read the file off the ISO disk. From what I've seen and done you should be able to do this under another Linux OS.

[Carsto]

Google this: Altering_or_Creating_Keyboard_Maps_files.
Should get you to a wiki.

[merindol]

Thanks Carsto. I'll look at it.

[dirtycolombian]

Did you ever find or create a linux equivalent to TouchCursor?

[Carsto]

Actually I'm feeling a bit of a fool. This entire thing is simpler than we think. With the Linux capabilities one should be able to do this quite easily. In Fedora 12 do Start > System Settings > General > Regional & Language > Keyboard Layout > Advanced to get to an Xkb Options dialog. Scroll down and you'll get a Compose key position option. You can run FC 12 live from a pen drive.

I used this an my old Amiga A500 although I did not know then it was a compose key. Did carets, umlauts et al diacritics just like that. The mere fact that you get this says you should be able to do the other hot keys things as well. There are whole rafts of other choices there as well.

It works on the level of Ctrl-x,c,v. In Amigan the keyboard you see now is a vanilla keyboard. At the clipboard level it was known as the raw keyboard.

Haven't had time to study this further.

Good luck