Good day, I’m trying to figure out how to configure my keyboard so that I can not only use my caps lock key as a control key, but also use my left control key as a hyper key, with that hyper key being a separate modifier (not the same as win/super/meta) in Keyboard Shortcuts. I could use some help. Sorry this is so long but I’m not sure what’s relevant and what isn’t. Thanks in advance.
Here’s where I started:
- Current KDE Neon, meaning Plasma 6.0.3 running on Wayland.
- Keyboard model is “Generic | Generic 104-key PC” in System Settings > Keyboard > Hardware.
Here’s how things are working in that setup:
| physical key | sym in wev |
modifier in wev |
key name in Shortcuts |
|---|---|---|---|
| caps lock | Caps_Lock | Lock | CapsLock |
| left shift | Shift_L | Shift | Shift |
| left control | Control_L | Control | Ctrl |
| windows key | Super_L | Mod4 | Meta |
| left alt | Alt_L | Mod1 | Alt |
| right alt | Alt_R | Mod1 | Alt |
| right control | Control_R | Control | Ctrl |
| right shift | Shift_R | Shift | Shift |
This all seems pretty reasonable so far. In System Settings > Keyboard > Shortcuts, all these keys except CapsLock show up as modifiers, e.g. I can make an “Alt+W” with either of my alt keys. (I can make CapsLock — by itself — a keyboard shortcut, which is weird but okay.)
OK so, now I want to make my capslock key be a control key and make my control key be “hyper”, a totally different modifier, so I set “Configure keyboard options” under System Settings > Keyboard > Advanced and then select Ctrl position > Caps Lock as Ctrl.
Here’s how things are in that configuration:
| physical key | sym in wev |
modifier in wev |
key name in Shortcuts |
|---|---|---|---|
| caps lock | Control_L | Control | Ctrl |
| left shift | Shift_L | Shift | Shift |
| left control | Hyper_L | Mod3 | Meta but broken |
| windows key | Super_L | Mod4 | Meta |
| left alt | Alt_L | Mod1 | Alt |
| right alt | Alt_R | Mod1 | Alt |
| right control | Control_R | Control | Ctrl |
| right shift | Shift_R | Shift | Shift |
Everything looks correct in wev, but in Keyboard Shortcuts my new hyper key kinda acts like a meta key, but I can’t actually type another key with it. Instead, when I hold down my left control (hyper) key, the shortcut widget changes from Input … to Meta+ … and then nothing changes when I type a letter key and the widget kinda gets stuck like that until I release the left control (hyper) key and either press it again (in which case the shortcut gets set to Meta by itself) or hit another key (in which case the shortcut gets set to, say, Meta, A). These both actually work, but they’re of no use to me.
So to sum things up, how can I make Plasma’s keyboard shortcut system interpret Hyper_L/Mod3 as a different modifier than Super_L/Mod4, instead of interpreting them both as Meta, but making Hyper_L kind of a broken Meta?
Here’s my wev output:
default configuration
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 2178; time: 10343382; key: 66; state: 1 (pressed)
sym: Caps_Lock (65509), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 2
depressed: 00000002: Lock
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000002: Lock
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 2181; time: 10343534; key: 66; state: 0 (released)
sym: Caps_Lock (65509), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 2
depressed: 00000000
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000002: Lock
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 2184; time: 10347003; key: 66; state: 1 (pressed)
sym: Caps_Lock (65509), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 2
depressed: 00000002: Lock
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000002: Lock
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 2187; time: 10347165; key: 66; state: 0 (released)
sym: Caps_Lock (65509), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000000
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 2190; time: 10349587; key: 50; state: 1 (pressed)
sym: Shift_L (65505), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000001: Shift
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 2193; time: 10349764; key: 50; state: 0 (released)
sym: Shift_L (65505), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000000
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 2196; time: 10351526; key: 37; state: 1 (pressed)
sym: Control_L (65507), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000004: Control
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 2199; time: 10351732; key: 37; state: 0 (released)
sym: Control_L (65507), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000000
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 2202; time: 10352814; key: 133; state: 1 (pressed)
sym: Super_L (65515), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000040: Mod4
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 2205; time: 10353048; key: 133; state: 0 (released)
sym: Super_L (65515), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000000
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 2230; time: 10357067; key: 64; state: 1 (pressed)
sym: Alt_L (65513), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000008: Mod1
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 2233; time: 10357269; key: 64; state: 0 (released)
sym: Alt_L (65513), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000000
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 2635; time: 10439598; key: 108; state: 1 (pressed)
sym: Alt_R (65514), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 2
depressed: 00000008: Mod1
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000002: Lock
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 2638; time: 10439766; key: 108; state: 0 (released)
sym: Alt_R (65514), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 2
depressed: 00000000
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000002: Lock
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 2641; time: 10440441; key: 105; state: 1 (pressed)
sym: Control_R (65508), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 2
depressed: 00000004: Control
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000002: Lock
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 2644; time: 10440610; key: 105; state: 0 (released)
sym: Control_R (65508), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 2
depressed: 00000000
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000002: Lock
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 2647; time: 10441319; key: 62; state: 1 (pressed)
sym: Shift_R (65506), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 2
depressed: 00000001: Shift
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000002: Lock
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 2650; time: 10441463; key: 62; state: 0 (released)
sym: Shift_R (65506), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 2
depressed: 00000000
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000002: Lock
Caps Lock as Ctrl, Ctrl as Hyper
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 3568; time: 11436054; key: 66; state: 1 (pressed)
sym: Control_L (65507), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000004: Control
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 3571; time: 11436203; key: 66; state: 0 (released)
sym: Control_L (65507), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000000
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 3574; time: 11438754; key: 50; state: 1 (pressed)
sym: Shift_L (65505), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000001: Shift
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 3577; time: 11438933; key: 50; state: 0 (released)
sym: Shift_L (65505), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000000
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 3580; time: 11440718; key: 37; state: 1 (pressed)
sym: Hyper_L (65517), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000020: Mod3
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 3583; time: 11440912; key: 37; state: 0 (released)
sym: Hyper_L (65517), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000000
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 3586; time: 11443442; key: 133; state: 1 (pressed)
sym: Super_L (65515), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000040: Mod4
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 3589; time: 11445104; key: 133; state: 0 (released)
sym: Super_L (65515), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000000
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 3626; time: 11452279; key: 64; state: 1 (pressed)
sym: Alt_L (65513), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000008: Mod1
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 3628; time: 11452412; key: 64; state: 0 (released)
sym: Alt_L (65513), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000000
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 3630; time: 11454109; key: 108; state: 1 (pressed)
sym: Alt_R (65514), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000008: Mod1
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 3632; time: 11454239; key: 108; state: 0 (released)
sym: Alt_R (65514), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000000
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 3634; time: 11454702; key: 105; state: 1 (pressed)
sym: Control_R (65508), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000004: Control
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 3636; time: 11454830; key: 105; state: 0 (released)
sym: Control_R (65508), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000000
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 3638; time: 11455649; key: 62; state: 1 (pressed)
sym: Shift_R (65506), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000001: Shift
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000
[14: wl_keyboard] key: serial: 3640; time: 11455767; key: 62; state: 0 (released)
sym: Shift_R (65506), utf8: ''
[14: wl_keyboard] modifiers: serial: 0; group: 0
depressed: 00000000
latched: 00000000
locked: 00000000