ctl-c (control-c) doesn't work

I have a IBM T42 laptop with OpenSuse 11.1 installed with Gnome desktop.

ctl-c works on a local console terminal,ctl-b gives ^B on keyboard, stty -a shows “intr” to be ^C, so I think there is nothing wrong with the laptop keyboard or it’s setup.

However, if I either “rdesktop” to a remote windows system, or “nxclient” (or vncviewer) to a remote OpenSuSe system, when I type ctl anything (e.g. ^c, ^b), it merely prints the letter c or b on the terminal).

If I do the same from my desktop OpenSuse system, things are fine.

Is there anything in the setup of my laptop’s OpenSuse that would cause this? It worked fine a day or so ago and I don’t recall making any type of system changes.
I just installed the latest updates (there were only 3 of them I think) and am wondering if that might have caused it.

Where would there be kept a history of updates and maybe I can undo them and see if it helps.

Baffled,

Jim

Found the patch/install history in /var/log/zypp. Actually quite a few updates were installed, so have to look thru there.

But still baffled,

Jim

Hmmmm - among the many updates was a new kernel - 2.6.27.25-0.1. Unfortunately, for some reason, that is the only kernel in my system. I thought the previous one would be kept around for fallback, but it is not there.

A VM running WinXP under VirtualBox also has the non-functioning ctl-c.

Even more baffled,

Jim

I also faced with this problem and got meaningless answers like - use cut instead, I’m not using it etc,etc.
The only thing what I can suggest is to look at the running applications, maybe somewhere the Ctrl+C is assigned as a hotkey for some action.
Good luck.

> The only thing what I can suggest is to look at the running
> applications, maybe somewhere the Ctrl+C is assigned as a hotkey for
> some action.

that will probably find the problem…or, maybe he should start by
looking under the “Personal Settings - Configure Desktop” icon (that
is what it is called here, on KDE3. in 10.3, it is probably something
else there…i don’t know what, but) open it and then go "Regional &
Accessibility > Keyboard Shortcuts

look around to see if ctrl+c is used for anything other than what you
wish to use it for…


brassy
CAVEAT: The author of this posting does not warrant the accuracy,
completeness, legality, or usefulness of its content and is not
responsible for consequences resulting from its use.

Another weirdness is that ctl-c works correctly if I telnet or ssh to the remote systems.

Jim

And also, if I login to my laptop using iceWM, I get the ctl-c on my remote sessions.

I deduce from this that Gnome is messed up somehow.
This laptop system is turned into useless because of this -my job depends on connections to these remote systems.

I didn’t install KDE, but that may be the only answer - maybe.

Suggestions are welcome.

Thanks,

Jim

Have you tried CRTL+SHIFT+C for copy and CNTRL+SHIFT+V for paste?

ctl-shift-c, ctl-shift-v
Both work on my local terminal.
Both merely produce a “C” and a “V” on my remote systems using rdesktop, vncviewer, and nxclient.
telnet to remote system, they work fine.

I also tried removing my ~/.gnome2 and ~/.gnome2_private directories and restarting system.

Same bad results.

Thanx,

Jim

you are not just trying to copy/paste are you??
if so, try copy with ctrl+insert, and paste with shift+insert…

but, since we now know that your gnome is messed up, why don’t you add
a new user, and log into that account and see if cttl+c works there…

if so then i’d guess some time consuming work comparing files in
/home/[you]/.gn* and /home/[new user]/.gn* would eventually fix
whatever is broken…

see man diff

but first, think back…what in your home have hand edited?? i’d look
there first…(now, i KNOW you are not likely to have a mistake…but…)


brassy
CAVEAT: The author of this posting does not warrant the accuracy,
completeness, legality, or usefulness of its content and is not
responsible for consequences resulting from its use.

I had already removed the two ~/.gnome* directories to no avail.
Had also already logged in as root and determined things were OK there, so knew it had to be something to do with my userid.

Now I removed ~/.gconf and logged out/in and now things are working again.

Sooooooooo… either now have to redo all my setup/icons/etc or do the diff to see what is in there.

Think I will try to see what the difference is first so I hopefully don’t do whatever I did again.

Thanks,

Jim

Solved, sort of.
The “thing” causing the problem is in ~/.gconf/desktop/gnome/peripherals.
Removing that directory fixes it.

I am still really puzzled as to why this causes the problem, but apparently it does.

Thanks,

Jim

Here’s what’s in that peripherals subdir:
ls -lR
.:
total 8
-rw------- 1 jww staff 0 2009-06-24 22:38 %gconf.xml
drwx------ 3 jww staff 4096 2009-07-31 10:56 keyboard
drwx------ 2 jww staff 4096 2009-07-31 14:45 mouse

./keyboard:
total 4
-rw------- 1 jww staff 0 2009-06-24 22:38 %gconf.xml
drwx------ 3 jww staff 4096 2009-06-24 22:38 host-jlap

./keyboard/host-jlap:
total 4
drwx------ 2 jww staff 4096 2009-07-31 15:04 0
-rw------- 1 jww staff 0 2009-06-24 22:38 %gconf.xml

./keyboard/host-jlap/0:
total 4
-rw------- 1 jww staff 135 2009-07-31 12:51 %gconf.xml

./mouse:
total 4
-rw------- 1 jww staff 465 2009-07-28 15:22 %gconf.xml

And here is what is in the ONLY two non-empty files:
keyboard file:
<gconf>
<entry name=“numlock_on” mtime=“1249059024” type=“bool” value=“false”>
</entry>
</gconf>

mouse file:
<?xml version=“1.0”?>
<gconf>
<entry name=“left_handed” mtime=“1248808909” type=“bool” value=“false”>
</entry>
<entry name=“locate_pointer” mtime=“1248808914” type=“bool” value=“true”>
</entry>
<entry name=“cursor_size” mtime=“1245938024” type=“int” value=“24”>
</entry>
<entry name=“cursor_theme” mtime=“1245938024” type=“string”>
<stringvalue>default</stringvalue>
</entry>
</gconf>

> Had also already logged in as root and determined things were OK there,
>
> Think I will try to see what the difference is first so I hopefully
> don’t do whatever I did again.

NEVER log in (to Gnome, or any other Linux GUI) as root again, EVER!

i know, i KNOW! some (many?) folks say it is ok as long as you are
very careful and don’t do it often…but, THAT is bull because i
know for sure it can and does cause STRANGE and hard to track
down/solve problems because the GUI opens/reads/modifies/saves so
many files in the background but does so as root instead of you

sometimes so damaging the file properties that you can’t even log in
again as yourself…or, if you can you can’t do what you used to
do…BUT, root still can–if you log in AGAIN as root…


goldie

Hmmmm… don’t think that is what caused my problem. Not even sure it is as dangerous as you say, other than being root is dangerous anyway - I have,a few times, unwittingly done “rm -rf *” in the wrong directory - much fun that is.

But I almost never log in as root and I NEVER do merely “su” or “su root” - but always “su - root” - thus ending up in /root home dir (at least on Linux).
Further, anytime you do “yast” you are becoming root.

None of the files in my ~/.gconf or even in my home directory are owned by root user/group.

But your caution is probly a wise one to follow.

Thanx,

Jim

On Fri, 31 Jul 2009 01:26:11 GMT, j1mw3b
<j1mw3b@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

>
>Hmmmm - among the many updates was a new kernel - 2.6.27.25-0.1.
>Unfortunately, for some reason, that is the only kernel in my system. I
>thought the previous one would be kept around for fallback, but it is
>not there.
>
>A VM running WinXP under VirtualBox also has the non-functioning
>ctl-c.
>
>Even more baffled,
>
>Jim

Ah. Based on what i have read here you should reinstall VirtualBox
after any kernel update.


Transmitted with recycled bits.
Damnly my frank, I don’t give a dear