Keyboard delays / incorrect characters

English Applications
1

Hi there,

I have been using SUSE 11.2 for some time now. I have 2 problems that I have been unable to resolve.

  1. I like to use the Caps-Lock key to type capital letters every now and then. I turn caps lock on, type the letter, turn it off, and type the rest of the word (Yes I know I can use shift. My brain is not willing to unlearn :slight_smile: ). After I turn the caps lock off, there seems to be a delay after which it switches off. This ends up making the second character caps as well. For example I want to type ‘Who’ instead I end up typing ‘WHo’.

What setting can I tweak to get rid of this ? I am not sure what to search for, if some one has already asked this question.

  1. I often select a couple of words using the ‘ctrl+shift+ left / right arrow key’ combination and attempt to overwrite the selection by typing in new characters. For example select the words ‘abcd xyz’ and then type ‘a’, which will replace the selected text. Sometimes I get this character â€˜Ă„â€™ instead of ‘a’. A similar thing happens for other characters. Sometimes the keyboard will not respond for the first 2-3 strokes and the system will send out a beep. I have no clue why this happens. It does not happen consistently either. But it does happen in all text related windows. For example in a browser / kwrite / <Insert an application that can handle text here>

Do you guys have any clue about this ?

Thank you for your time.

2

DeepakBala wrote:

maybe you have accidentally set your keyboard to use “slowkeys” (or
“slow keys”) a setting to allow special needs folks to be in
control
but, i forgot how to fix it
so, use the forum’s advanced
function to find the word “slowkeys” (or “slow keys”) and near there
you will find how to turn it off


that may, or may not, cure both your problems
come back if it
didn’t help


–
DenverD (Linux Counter 282315)
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
posted via NNTP w/TBird 2.0.0.23 | KDE 3.5.7 | openSUSE 10.3
2.6.22.19-0.4-default SMP i686
AMD Athlon 1 GB RAM | GeForce FX 5500 | ASRock K8Upgrade-760GX |
CMedia 9761 AC’97 Audio

3

Thanks for the reply. I checked this setting under

Main Menu/Programs/Configure Desktop/Accessibility/ Keyboard Filters / Slow keys.

It is already turned off. Could anything else be causing this ?

4

i have never heard those symptoms before


i have no idea what is causing it


the ‘slowkeys’ was just a stab in the dark


why in the dark? because you didn’t tell us a lot about your hardware,
like:

is this a USB keyboard?

laptop?

has the system always had this problem, from the very first minute
after the install? (or did it suddenly begin, one day)?

did you do this http://tinyurl.com/yajm2aq before install?

what graphic do you have and are you using an open or proprietary driver


is the machine underpowered or under RAMed? (i ask, because anything
that ties up the CPU so that it is TOO BUSY to respond to a button
push might cause the symptoms you mention)
does yours meet the
recommended system hardware needs?

what DE are you using? do you get the same symptoms if you turn off
“desktop effects”?

does this always happen–or only when some certain programs are also
running?

if you use YaST to add a new users, then log out and then back in as
the new user do you still have these problems?

–
DenverD (Linux Counter 282315)
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
posted via NNTP w/TBird 2.0.0.23 | KDE 3.5.7 | openSUSE 10.3
2.6.22.19-0.4-default SMP i686
AMD Athlon 1 GB RAM | GeForce FX 5500 | ASRock K8Upgrade-760GX |
CMedia 9761 AC’97 Audio

5

Did you test another keyboard?

6

is this a USB keyboard?

Yep its a USB keyboard.

laptop?

Nope desktop.

has the system always had this problem, from the very first minute
after the install? (or did it suddenly begin, one day)?

Its been there from day one :frowning:

did you do this http://tinyurl.com/yajm2aq before install?

I believe I did.

what graphic do you have and are you using an open or proprietary driver


I am using an on board device right now. I was using a GeForce card with a driver supported by SUse previously. It had the same problem.

does yours meet the
recommended system hardware needs?

To my knowledge it does. This is a dual core machine with 2 GB RAM. CPU utilization seems ok on the system monitor and there is at least 250 MB RAM memory free at any point in time.

what DE are you using? do you get the same symptoms if you turn off
“desktop effects”?

I will double check this and reply back here.

does this always happen–or only when some certain programs are also
running?

Seems to happen always. I do open IDEs and run application servers every now and then. But even when I open a document to write into it (and there is no IDE / App server running) this problem occurs.

if you use YaST to add a new users, then log out and then back in as
the new user do you still have these problems?

Mmmm I have not tried that. I will do the same and let you know if it helps.

**Did you test another keyboard? **

No I only have one.

I have configured the machine to dual boot with Windows as the other option. I do not have this problem with the keyboard in Windows.

Thanks for your opinions so far. Let me know if you can think of something that would cause this. I will update this thread after trying to add a new user and tweaking desktop effects.

7

Disabling desktop effects and creating a new user did not help,

However I notice that when I press ctrl + left / right arrow in some applications like my IDE, the focus shifts to another window in the IDE instead of the code window.

When I press a character twice or thrice the focus comes back to the code window and the weird Ă„ character appears as a result.

I am dumb struck. :X

8

DeepakBala wrote:
> Disabling desktop effects and creating a new user did not help,

too bad, that was the easiest


before i asked “DID YOU DO THIS HTTP://TINYURL.COM/YAJM2AQ BEFORE
INSTALL?” and you answered “I believe I did.” so want you to find the
install media and do it now
before we go further
because garbage
in garbage out


so, do that, and IF it has any errors reported come back here and
tell about it


but, if the media checks out as perfect then –

WAIT, where did you get the install media from? was it
software.opensuse.org or someplace else, like a magazine or book?

if it came from opensuse.org and checks 100% ok then i want you to
open YaST > Hardware > Keyboard Layout and look and see if YaST
correctly picked your keyboard, by brand and model
if not i want
you to see if your brand and model number is on the list, if it is
then spin to it


and, in the Layout block make sure the correct type is selected for
you language


and, in the Variant block, spin it to “basic”

then, click on the Options tab and make sure there are NO check marks
next to any options


THEN, cross your fingers and click Ok.

and come back here and tell us you fixed you machine
i sure hope
you do, other wise

> I am dumb struck. :X

i am dumb struck too!
good luck


–
DenverD (Linux Counter 282315)
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
posted via NNTP w/TBird 2.0.0.23 | KDE 3.5.7 | openSUSE 10.3
2.6.22.19-0.4-default SMP i686
AMD Athlon 1 GB RAM | GeForce FX 5500 | ASRock K8Upgrade-760GX |
CMedia 9761 AC’97 Audio

9

Hi Deepak,

I am facing the same problem as yours
 I thought I was the only one who had this issue and therefore I decided not to break my head over it. However, after digging deep into this issue, I realised that there are users who have faced this anomaly before - not just for OpenSUSE, but in Ubuntu as well. Here are the links that point towards the same problem:-
INteresting CAps LOck DElay - Ubuntu Forums
[all variants] Capslock Delay Problem - Ubuntu Forums]([all variants] Capslock Delay Problem)
[ubuntu] Please help: Keyboard capslock delay issue - Ubuntu Forums]([ubuntu] Please help: Keyboard capslock delay issue)
Caps lock delay - Ubuntu Forums

I am currently using Compaq Presario CQ60-430SA laptop with OpenSUSE 11.2 KDE.
I would like to know if anybody has found a solution for this bug since I am finding it very tedious and irritating to type lengthy word documents in Linux. Moreover, I have installed OpenSUSE twice and I have found the same issue repeating again.

Thanks!

10

I know this is a uber late reply, but I thought I would make it to benefit others that stumble across the same problem.

The bad news is, I have not found a solution to this problem as yet. It is interesting that ubuntu has the same problem. So I am guessing it is one of the following

  1. It has something to do with 32 / 64 bit specific installations ?
  2. The ISO installer that is written to disk has a MD5 hash mismatch and causes some sort of garbage behavior.
  3. The problem is specific to a keyboard model. Mine is Dell SK-8115

I am yet to try some of DenverD’s suggestions. I let this problem slip by a few months back, but I have time to kill this weekend :slight_smile:

Will update this thread if I find anything interesting. Thanks for all the help / information so far.

11

DeepakBala wrote:
> 2. The ISO installer that is written to disk has a MD5 hash mismatch
> and causes some sort of garbage behavior.

well, you know what they say: Garbage in, garbage out!
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIGO>

if you have installed from a disk which gives any error when doing
this: http://tinyurl.com/25ydj4a

then you MUST go back to step one, and thereby get the GARBAGE out of
your machine
and, see if that fixes your problem


anything more is a waste of time.

–
DenverD
When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD [posted via NNTP w/openSUSE 10.3]

12

anything more is a waste of time.

Yep agreed.

I tried install the latest Ubuntu 64 bit release (10.10 at the time of this writing) to check if the same problem persists. The ISO hash checked out before the install. This OS has the exact same problem ! Amazing !

I need to burrow down to the 32/64 problem Vs the keyboard problem. My keyboard model is selected generically as ‘US’. My Dell keyboard model does not appear on the keyboard selection screen. So I am beginning to suspect the weird texts may be because the right keyboard is not recognized.

Will update if I manage to crack this egg.