Cant access tty using Ctrl Alt F1,F2,F3...

English Hardware
1

First things first. tty seems to be working because I can access them by

sudo chvt 1

So that works.
However pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 causes nothing, and I mean nothing, same as not having pressed anything at all.

I carried out two tests with the following sequence of key presses/releases:
Left Ctrl PRESS
Left Alt PRESS
F1 PRESS
F1 RELEASE
Left Alt RELEASE
Left Ctrl RELEASE

Below are the outputs.

Output of xbindkeys -mk

22:55 ~> xbindkeys -mk
Press combination of keys or/and click under the window.
You can use one of the two lines after "NoCommand"
in $HOME/.xbindkeysrc to bind a key.

--- Press "q" to stop. ---
"NoCommand"
    m:0x1c + c:67
    Control+Alt+Mod2 + F1
"NoCommand"
    m:0x1c + c:64
    Control+Alt+Mod2 + Alt_L
"NoCommand"
    m:0x14 + c:37
    Control+Mod2 + Control_L

Output of xev


KeyPress event, serial 40, synthetic NO, window 0x5000001,
    root 0x26b, subw 0x0, time 1370707, (106,-108), root:(879,370),
    state 0x10, keycode 37 (keysym 0xffe3, Control_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyPress event, serial 40, synthetic NO, window 0x5000001,
    root 0x26b, subw 0x0, time 1370851, (106,-108), root:(879,370),
    state 0x14, keycode 64 (keysym 0xffe9, Alt_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

MappingNotify event, serial 40, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    request MappingKeyboard, first_keycode 8, count 248

KeyRelease event, serial 41, synthetic NO, window 0x5000001,
    root 0x26b, subw 0x0, time 1371483, (106,-108), root:(879,370),
    state 0x1c, keycode 67 (keysym 0x1008fe01, XF86Switch_VT_1), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

MappingNotify event, serial 41, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    request MappingKeyboard, first_keycode 8, count 248

KeyRelease event, serial 41, synthetic NO, window 0x5000001,
    root 0x26b, subw 0x0, time 1372499, (106,-108), root:(879,370),
    state 0x1c, keycode 64 (keysym 0xffe9, Alt_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 42, synthetic NO, window 0x5000001,
    root 0x26b, subw 0x0, time 1373243, (106,-108), root:(879,370),
    state 0x14, keycode 37 (keysym 0xffe3, Control_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

I also tried to set Crtl+Alt+F1 as a keybinding for a random command in kwrite and the combination is not recognized, the input shows Ctrl+Alt+…, like it is waiting for another input, despite of me repeatedly pressing the Fx keys.

I have a Tt eSPORTS Poseidon Z Illuminated keyboard.

Thanks in advance, I really want to solve this!

2

Well, I’d say that this means that Ctrl+Alt+F1 is correctly recognized…

Maybe VT switching is disabled in the Xorg configuration?

grep -R DontVTSwitch /etc/X11/xorg.conf*

Other than that, it might be a good idea to tell what desktop you are using. It might have some settings for that and/or “grab” that key combination.

3

Same problem here, Leap 42.3 (upgraded from 42.2) on Dell Inspiron 15 with KDE.

However, Ctrl+Alt+F4 does work! (F5 + F6 do not)

4

I get no output from “grep -R DontVTSwitch /etc/X11/xorg.conf*”

I’m running openSUSE Leap 42.2 with KDE Plasma 5.8.6.

This is /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/00-keyboard.conf

# Read and parsed by systemd-localed. It's probably wise not to edit this file
# manually too freely.
Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "system-keyboard"
        MatchIsKeyboard "on"
        Option "XkbLayout" "us"
        Option "XkbModel" "microsoftpro"
        Option "XkbVariant" "basic"
        Option "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"
EndSection

This is /etc/X11/xdm/xdm-config

!
! xdm-config:    Configuration of the xdm
!
DisplayManager.errorLogFile:    /var/log/xdm.errors
DisplayManager.pidFile:        /var/run/xdm.pid
DisplayManager.authDir:        /var/lib/xdm
DisplayManager.keyFile:        /etc/X11/xdm/xdm-keys
DisplayManager.servers:        /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers
DisplayManager.accessFile:    /etc/X11/xdm/Xaccess
DisplayManager.willing:        su nobody -c /etc/X11/xdm/Xwilling
!
! ATTENTION: `authName' should be in general MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1
! For XDM-AUTHENTICATION-1 which is default for xterminals see
! manual page of xdm and the manual coming with the xterminal.
!
DisplayManager.*.authName:    MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1
DisplayManager.*.authComplain:    false
!
! All displays should use authorization, but we cannot be sure
! X terminals will be configured that way, so by default
! use authorization only for local displays :0, :1, etc.
!
DisplayManager._0.authorize:    true
DisplayManager._1.authorize:    true
DisplayManager._93.authorize:    true
!
! The scripts handling the setup, the startup, the session its self,
! and the reset of an X session.
!
DisplayManager.*.setup:        /etc/X11/xdm/Xsetup
DisplayManager.*.chooser:    /etc/X11/xdm/RunChooser
DisplayManager.*.startup:    /etc/X11/xdm/Xstartup
DisplayManager.*.session:    /etc/X11/xdm/Xsession
DisplayManager.*.reset:        /etc/X11/xdm/Xreset
!
DisplayManager._0.terminateServer:    true
DisplayManager._93.terminateServer:    true
!
DisplayManager*resources:    /etc/X11/xdm/Xresources
DisplayManager.*.terminateServer:    false
!
! SECURITY: do not listen for XDMCP or Chooser requests
! Comment out this line if you want to manage X terminals with xdm
!
DisplayManager.requestPort:    0

I am not sure this info is relevant, but I really want to fix this. Thanks.

5

Ok, that was just an idea.

It works fine here on several systems, and always did in the last 15 years…

I’m running openSUSE Leap 42.2 with KDE Plasma 5.8.6.

Try to login to IceWM instead and see whether it works then.

There’s also a KDE/Plasma setting for this in Input Devices->Keyboard->Advanced->Miscellaneous Compatibility Options (“Special Keys (Ctrl+Alt+<key>) Handled in a Server”) that might interfere (or maybe enabling it would help?).

I am not sure this info is relevant

Rather not.
Although you may try to switch the system keyboard layout to something else too as a test.
Mine is:

$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/00-keyboard.conf
# Read and parsed by systemd-localed. It's probably wise not to edit this file
# manually too freely.
Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "system-keyboard"
        MatchIsKeyboard "on"
        Option "XkbLayout" "de"
        Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
        Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
        Option "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"
EndSection
6

Tried that. No effect.

There’s also a KDE/Plasma setting for this in Input Devices->Keyboard->Advanced->Miscellaneous Compatibility Options (“Special Keys (Ctrl+Alt+<key>) Handled in a Server”) that might interfere (or maybe enabling it would help?).

Tried that. No effect.

Although you may try to switch the system keyboard layout to something else too as a test.
Mine is:

$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/00-keyboard.conf
# Read and parsed by systemd-localed. It's probably wise not to edit this file
# manually too freely.
Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "system-keyboard"
        MatchIsKeyboard "on"
        Option "XkbLayout" "de"
        Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
        Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
        Option "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"
EndSection

Tried setting “XkbVariant” to “nodeadkeys” but no effect.