Keyboard problem in 8.10

[Michael Hirsch]

On Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 12:26 PM, Bruce Marshall <bmarsh at bmarsh.com> wrote:
> I first put 8.10 on a lab computer to see what it was like.  I noticed that
> the "left arrow" key did not work when in KDE4 although it did work when I
> was in a true console session (out of X altogether)
>
> I thought it might have something to do with KDE4 but yesterday I put KDE3
> onto 8.10 and the problem still exists...  so it must lie in the X server.
>
> But yes, I also thought there might be something quirky with the keybd itself.
>
> Today I put 8.10 on my main computer and the problem is still there.  Totally
> different computer.
>
> I am very surprised no one else has experienced this problem.
>
> I would download the 8.10 iso again but it's a moot point now...  I won't be
> using Intrepid anyway, with or without KDE3.  I saw too many other problems
> to make me want to use it.     Sad.

I had some similar problems, but they were partly self inflicted.
Somehow the keycodes have changed on my keyboard.  I use xmodmap to
remap the windows keys to function keys and then bind the funtion keys
to useful things like "maximize vertically".  The change in keycodes
meant that I ended up mapping some of my arrow keys to these
functions.  I used xev to see what was going on, then redid my
.xmodmap file.

If you haven't done any remapping, I wouldn't think this would affect
you, but you can still use xev to see what's going on.  Run xev from a
terminal window, click the resulting window with your mouse, then try
hitting an arrow key.  See what X thinks is happening.

It sounds to me like your keyboard isn't quite getting recognized
properly.  You could  try another model of keyboard, too.

Michael