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[Arturo Orlando <822872@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Public bug reported:

This is a _major ergonomics issue_ (not to mention Windows-Ubuntu
compatibility and newbie-friendliness). I shall explain why hereafter.

One of the principles for speedy and ergonomic touch typing is that one hand should generally not need to press two keys (especially if distant) at the same time. You can see this in the fact that keyboards have both a right and a left Shift/Ctrl/Alt/Win/Fn… key.
So, for example, a capital A should never be typed by pressing a LeftShift+A, but rather RightShift+A (using both hands, that is): this is what professional typists do, to reduce the burden on a single hand and distribute it on both.
For this reason, the Windows OS treats LeftCtrl+LeftAlt as a third level chooser equivalent to RightAlt+Key. The advantage of this may not be apparent to someone using a standard US keyboard, but many European keyboards, in fact, make extensive use of third level keys to input characters as vital as @, [ or ].

The Ubuntu keyboard preferences let one specify other third level choosers, but:
1) such a feature should be included by default in the Ubuntu OS, because it is vital for anybody extensively typing (one of the main uses of a computer!) through an extended keyboard layout (such as European layouts) and because anybody switching from Windows would expect to find it (just as one would expect LeftAlt+F4 to close a window, which it does in both OS);
2) none of the left-hand alternatives offered in the preferences is satisfactory (specifically: the left Win key is now used by Unity for the dash and launcher and is not as comfortable to reach as LeftAlt+LeftCtrl; LeftAlt cannot be used for this, as its shortcuts [such as LeftAlt+F4 to close a window] would then stop working; CapsLock already has a major function that cannot be traded off; Less/Greater is a character, and as such probably very important to some users).

I hope I have managed to set forth why it is so important to make
LeftCtrl+LeftAlt equivalent to RightAlt (AltGr) . If you still don’t
think so, please try pressing RightAlt and Y at the same time with your
right hand only and keeping the unused fingers still on the home row
(one of the rules of good touch typing). See how hard and bad for your
hand that was? Now imagine you had a vital character there, one that you
needed to type often: you would end up either injuring your right hand
or switching back to Windows!

I have taken care to write so much, because a previous (2006) report of
this problem (Bug #34126: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source
/xkeyboard-config/+bug/34126) turned into a flame for being
misunderstood and underestimated.

I have found many instances of such disregarded/misunderstood help requests on the net (mainly by Europeans) regarding this problem, none of them solved, which contributes to prove this bug’s importance. Here are a couple of links:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-general-1/how-to-make-control_l-alt_l-act-like-alt_r-alt-gr-449531/
http://serverfault.com/questions/264681/xfree86-keyboard-make-ctrl-alt-work-like-altgr
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=853249
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/15212/

Help, I beg you. Thank you very much.

** Affects: xkeyboard-config (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: keyboard newbies typing windows

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/822872

Title:
  LeftCtrl+LeftAlt+Key should be equivalent to RightAlt+Key

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