Super key no longer opens menus (was: Something is missing in 12.04 )

[Jonathan Marsden]

Darth,

On 04/28/2012 06:27 PM, DarthBrady wrote:

> So I took a new job recently and have been too busy to install the
> newly released 12.04 on my laptop until now. There seems to be one
> thing missing: the Super key (windows symbol key) on my Latitude D820
> Laptop doesn't open the Menu like in previous Lubuntu releases. ...


I am pretty sure this was a deliberate design choice, made because (from
memory, as I can't find the bug right now!) the previous approach tried
to use that key in two different ways (a) as a key on its own to invoke
the menu and (b) as a modifier for some other keys.  This dual use
caused problems for people -- it tended to cause the menu to appear when
typing Super-D or Super-R etc.  A bug was raised about this issue, which
was solved in 12.04 by removing the "as a key on its own to invoke the
menu" case entirely, so that the "as a modifier" case works reliably.

In case you want to experiment, the relevant chunk of XML in the
per-user config file ~/.config/openbox/lubuntu-rc.xml used to be:

    <keybind key="Super_L">
      <action name="Execute">
        <command>lxpanelctl menu</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>
    <keybind key="Super_R">
      <action name="Execute">
        <command>lxpanelctl menu</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>


If you try this in Precise and it breaks, I think you are going to be
pretty much on your own... as far as I know it is not really intended or
expected to work, at least not reliably, and not on all machines, if you
also use the same keya as modifiers in other key bindings.

Jonathan