ubuntu-x-swat team mailing list archive

[Tomislav <hefest@xxxxxxxxx>]

Public bug reported:

Binary package hint: x11-xkb-utils

Context
I use the "dvorak", "hr" (Croatian), "de", "it" and "es" layouts. I set them using setxkbmap and have encountered this problem only on this machine (of 4 ubuntu 9.04/9.10 machines I have access to). I tend to leave the machine suspended rather than shut it down (uptime 55 days up to today, restarted an hour ago).

Problem
I noticed that instead of the letters I typed, I see numbers or interpunction on the screen. This is a fresh example: I see "+o 21e p6ob-e0 +ee0+ 2o be xo64-6e-a2ed" instead of "so the problem seems to be xorg-related".
I have also noticed that when I use an external (USB) keyboard, the problem does not occur. However, switching caps lock on and off on the external keyboard will trigger the problem for the built-in keyboard. By "built-in keyboard" I mean the keyboard of the Asus Eee 904. I believe the specific OS flavour is Ubuntu Netbook Remix, but I'm not sure (any way to check?).

Workaround
When using e.g. the dvorak layout, run 'setxkbmap someOtherLayout" and then "setxkbmap dvorak" to change back. This allows me to write this bug report to you, but it gets corrupted again e.g. when I turn caps lock on and off, when I resume after a suspend (IIRC) and in other circumstances as well.

Not the problem
In the textual terminal (Ctrl-alt-F1), the problem doesn't seem to be present so the problem seems to be limited to xorg.
It is not a problem of a specific layout (dvorak or any other): I can reproduce the problem with the croatian layout as well if  I switch caps lock on and back off.
It is not a problem of Ubuntu 9.04 as such because I've never encountered it on 2 other 9.04 machines.
I stumbled upon what seems like a similar problem here (http://tinyurl.com/3s57u3) and have attempted to fix whatever problem existed in /etc/X11/xkb by reinstalling the xkb-data package, but the reinstalled directory is exactly the same as what I had before and the problem remains.

Other observations
Accessing preferences via System->Preferences->Keyboard->Layouts, I can see that the keyboard model has been set to "Generic 105 key (Intl) PC" which is obviously not the case, but:
1) I can see no model available specifically for the Eee (the best I could find is "Asus laptop")
2) another laptop running ubuntu 9.04 has the same "Generic 105 key" model set, but works just fine
3) lowercase letters and uppercase letters written using the shift key work fine until a caps lock switch or any of a number of other events break the layout
4) I tried playing a bit with the layouts, but the dialog to select a different model is *extremely* user-unfriendly with those huge country/language dropdowns which are *not* keyboard-searchable (e.g. typing "Uni" to select United States), at least on a 1024x600 screen, so I can't provide useful feedback there

This is a *very* important problem as it blocks use of the machine. The
only reasons I am able to get by is the availability of an external
keyboard and the fact that I have the necessary setxkbmap commands
available in the immediate history of the "run application" (Alt-F2)
dialogue.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
Package: x11-xkb-utils 7.4+1ubuntu2
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: x11-xkb-utils
Tags:  ubuntu-unr
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-18-generic i686

** Affects: x11-xkb-utils (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: apport-bug i386 ubuntu-unr

-- 
keyboard layout breaks down
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/531082
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