lose keyboard functionality with desktop effects

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1

I suppose this would qualify as a compiz or a metacity issue, but I’m not certain.
I’ve just switched to OpenSuSE 11.1 and have an nVidia 8600GTS, an iogear wireless keyboard with three sets of function keys at the top.
The first set contains (as the keyboard shortcut config manager calls them) XF86HomePage / XF86EMail / XF86Favorites / XF86Search.
The second set contains XF86PlayPause / XF86NextTrack / XF86VolumeDown / XF86VolumeMute / XF86VolumeUp
The third set, which is where the problem is contains 0xc6 / XF86Calc / 0x81 / XF86Stanby
I assume the 0xc6 and 0x81 keys are atypical keys and not included in XFree86 for whatever reason, but they behave oddly. When I do not have desktop effects enabled, they work fine with the bindings I have set for them. When I enable desktop effects, though, I get no response from them whatsoever. No errors in Xorg.log or /var/log/messages, either.
It is also notable that as my desktop gets bigger, I lose more and more keyboard functionality. If I set my resolution to “1280x1024(SXGA)” I lose only 0xc6 and 0x81. If I go all the way up to “1440x900(WXGA+)” I lose XF86HomePage and one or two others which I forget, but their names are also changed from an XF86*** macro to a 0x** hexadecimal macro until I shrink my resolution again.

I read this post already: keyboard shortcut problem - openSUSE Forums
I tried what he suggested by running compizconfig-settings-manager, but compiz doesn’t register that I’m pressing anything when I press a shortcut key with a hex macro.

Yes, I know I could just use another shortcut for this but I’ve been using this keyboard for nearly three years with Fedora and Ubuntu and pushing that key to open a terminal (which I do constantly) is pretty much burned into my brain.

If there is any further information I could provide to clarify, let me know.

Here is the xev output from pushing 0xc6 with effects on:

KeyPress event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x5600001,
    root 0x13b, subw 0x0, time 959506, (12,-18), root:(16,87),
    state 0x10, keycode 198 (keysym 0x0, NoSymbol), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x5600001,
    root 0x13b, subw 0x0, time 959626, (12,-18), root:(16,87),
    state 0x10, keycode 198 (keysym 0x0, NoSymbol), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

Here is the xev output from pushing 0xc6 with effects off:

FocusOut event, serial 33, synthetic NO, window 0x2200001,
    mode NotifyGrab, detail NotifyAncestor

FocusOut event, serial 33, synthetic NO, window 0x2200001,
    mode NotifyWhileGrabbed, detail NotifyNonlinear

PropertyNotify event, serial 33, synthetic NO, window 0x2200001,
    atom 0x14f (_NET_WM_ICON_GEOMETRY), time 1147674, state PropertyNewValue

FocusIn event, serial 33, synthetic NO, window 0x2200001,
    mode NotifyNormal, detail NotifyNonlinear

Obviously it is different…

2

I still haven’t figured out the reason for these problems.
I tried keytouch but that ended up giving me even more problems, such as losing Control and Alt functionality.
In the end I just set up xbindkeys to run in .bashrc and that’s gotten the one key working again.

I would not, however, consider this solved.

3

Hi,

I had this problem and a reinstall of Compiz making sure that I had the correct repo (the XGL one not the Compiz one) fixed the problem.

However, after working fine for several weeks, an update came through and the problem returned.

In the end I disabled Compiz, and am a happier (but less pretty) user.

Cheers