Holding Super key doesn't bring up shortcut overlay.

[o'Flaherty]

After upgrading from 13.04 to 13.10, holding Super no longer brings up the help overlay. Holding Super worked before upgrading. Tapping the Super key still brings up the HUD, and holding it down still brings up the Launcher and after a second or so shows the numbers on the applications. In Compiz Config Manager, under Ubuntu Unity Plugin -> Launcher, the Key to show the Dash, Launcher and Help Overlay is set to Super. Under Ubuntu Unity Plugin -> General, Enable Shortcut Hints Overlay is checked.
This is also known to affect 14.04 (without compiz) when workspaces are enabled and screen resolution is 1024x768.

[Stephen M. Webb (bregma)]

The Shortcuts window is normally displayed at the same time as the numbers on the Launcher icons, unless your screen is below a certain size. What are the dimensions of your screen?

[Fred (fr3d)]

I also experience this same behavior as well. I upgraded from 13.04 to 13.10. The shortcut hints overlay did work fine in 13.04, but it no longer displays the shortcut hints in 13.10. I do get the numbers on the dash for each application when holding down the Super key in 13.10, but no shortcut hints overlay.

My screen size is 1366x768. Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook (128 GB SSD, 4 GB RAM, Sandy Bridge).

[Bruno Nova (brunonova)]

I have the same problem as Fred (however I have a fresh 13.10 install), and this worked fine in 13.04.

[Bruno Nova (brunonova)]

Strange... I booted the live CD (pen drive, actually), and this feature worked (most of the times).
Does this bug occur in a fresh install?

[Fred (fr3d)]

@ Bruno,

I just did a fresh 13.10 install last week and this bug still persists for me.

[Bruno Nova (brunonova)]

Yesterday I was playing with an external monitor connected to my laptop, and I noticed that the shortcuts overlay appears on the external monitor when holding the Super key (while the mouse cursor is in that monitor).

The external monitor's resolution was 1440x900.
I tried other resolutions too: all good with 1280x1024 and 1152x864, but no overlay with 1024x768 and smaller.
The resolution of the laptop's screen is 1336x768 (no overlay).

So I guess the problem is that the overlay is too big (and yes, that's what the said).
The overlay should be made smaller. People with resolutions like 1024x768 should still be able to see the overlay!

And another (probably unrelated thing): with an external monitor connected, all notifications (notify-osd) are sent to the external monitor. I think they should appear on the laptop's screen (or be configurable).

[Fred (fr3d)]

Today's Ubuntu kernel (3.11.0-15-generic) update fixed this problem. The shortcut hints overlay is now working again on my machine.

[Bruno Nova (brunonova)]

This kernel update didn't fix the issue for me.
The shortcuts overlay still doesn't appear in my laptop (1336x768 resolution).

[Fred (fr3d)]

@ Bruno,

A friend of mine also uses Ubuntu 13.10 and he brought to my attention that he's also experiencing this same issue as you. He couldn't figure out why my machine was able to see shortcut hints overlay but his couldn't? He looked over my machine and his in a side-by-side comparison since we both own laptops and he figured it out. His machine has workspaces enabled and mine doesn't. He enabled workspaces on my machine and the shortcut hints overlay no longer worked.

Funny thing is, the kernel update from 01-04 partially fixes this issue, only if workspaces is disabled. I don't use workspaces and I think starting in Ubuntu 13.04 (or maybe it was 13.10), they stopped enabling workspaces by default? Needless to say, this issue did persist while workspaces was disabled as you can see in my previous postings here. The latest kernel update fixed it for me since I don't have workspaces enabled.

So now we've narrowed down this bug being specific to workspaces being enabled.

[Bruno Nova (brunonova)]

You're right! When the workspaces are disabled, the shortcuts overlay does appear in my laptop!

But, previously I said that the shortcuts overlay was appearing on an external monitor (bigger resolution), and I didn't disable workspaces then. I'm pretty sure the overlay was a lot bigger in the external monitor.
I bet the overlay also displays the shortcuts to manage workspaces when they are enabled, making it bigger, which would explain why the overlay doesn't appear in laptops when the workspaces are enabled.
I'll test this in a few days, then I'll add a comment to confirm if my bet was correct.

BTW, I found this bug report https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/1245101 reporting what you said, Fred.

[Fred (fr3d)]

@ Bruno,

Thanks for the link to that other bug report. Spot on with what I was dealing with. Hopefully they'll have all this sorted out when 14.04 drops?

[Bruno Nova (brunonova)]

Ok, I tested this with an external monitor.
When workspaces are enabled, the shortcuts overlay displays 1 additional section with 3 shortcuts. This makes it bigger, which must be why it doesn't appear in screens with 768 or less pixels of height.
So, the overlay must be made smaller (there is a lot of padding).

[Fred (fr3d)]

@ Bruno,

For what it's worth, my laptop screen resolution is 1366x768 and ever since the last Ubuntu kernel update, the overlay hints has been working fine on my machine, granted workspaces is disabled as mentioned in my previous post. I never use workspaces, so that doesn't apply to my particular use case.

[Nasif Md. Tanjim (n-md-tanjim)]

I don't recall when, but at some point, both the dash and help overlay shortcut stopped working. But I do remember at least that the dash was working after upgrading i.e. taping the 'super' key would bring the dash. But now it no longer works along with help overlay.

I have already checked it with 'ccsm' and ccsm>ubuntu unity plugin>lanucher_tab>key to show the dash, launcher and help overlay is set to its default value(super key). But doing unity reset also doesn't help.

[peleng (plasmapeleng)]

this bug affects fresh Ubuntu 14.04 installation on Dell Inspiron M5110 laptop after enabling multiple workspaces via System Settings > Appearance

[aleandro (aleandrodasilva)]

Like the previus user I can confirm that the bug appears in a fresh Ubuntu 14.04 installation on a Dell Inspiron 15R laptop after enabling multiple workspaces via System Settings > Appearance. If there is only one workspace then the keyboards hints will appear as normally was.
The bug also has been appeared in onother old Inspiron 9400.

[Yanpas (yanpaso)]

This bug happens on my netbook after fresh install of 14.04. But if I connect screen with larger resolution everything ok. Netbook redolution 1024x600

[Patrik B. (inoki-deactivatedaccount)]

Same here, fresh install of 14.04 x64, no shortcuts.

[Zoellick (anton-kulinkin)]

Bug appears all the time i'm trying to use unity shortcuts with super button, like Super + NumKey for starting app or changing to anoter one. It doesn't matter if workspaces enabled or not as for previous commentators. System: Ubuntu 14.04 on netbook Asus EeePc 1225b.

[theme (theemathas)]

This also affects me on 14.04 it's annoying! (my screen resolution is 1024x768)

[Bruno Nova (brunonova)]

Oh look, it has been fixed! At least for me.
The shortcuts overlay is now working in my laptop with 1336x768 resolution, Ubuntu 14.04, both with workspaces enabled and disabled!

Anyone else with the latest updates installed confirms this on 14.04?

[Bruno Nova (brunonova)]

On another completely unrelated note, when I disable dash blur in Unity Tweak, the shortcuts overlay, alt-tab, and shutdown dialogs all lose transparency in 14.04. This didn't happen in 13.10.
Anyone else noticed this? (Sorry for asking this here)

[Bruno Nova (brunonova)]

Maybe what I mentioned above (unrelated to this bug) is due to the fix to Bug #1170508. So, forget what I asked.

Just to repeat what I wrote 2 comments above: this bug is fixed for me.

[Heiko L (hl1)]

Confirming: This bug is fixed for me, too. Thanks!

[Bruno Nova (brunonova)]

Is anyone still facing this issue?
If not, I think this should be marked as Fixed.

[Wilfred (wilfreddemik-r)]

Hello everyone,

I found this post after a google search. I'm using 14.04.1 and still experience this issue. With workspaces enabled the overlay doesn't work. Otherwise no problem. My screen-resolution is 1024*768

[Bruno Nova (brunonova)]

You're right!
With an horizontal resolution of 1024, the overlay is not display.
I took a screenshot of the overlay to see how it would look in 1024x768, and it doesn't fit horizontally, even with workspaces disabled.
Also, the horizontal size probably depends on the used language (the texts may be longer/shorter in other languages).

[Wilfred (wilfreddemik-r)]

No, it does fit. Only when workspaces are enabled it does not work. Take a look at this screenshot; my screen @ 1024*768:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rcg2z7c3sz7engi/Screenshot%20from%202014-11-05%2013%3A07%3A55.png?dl=0

I tested this in a fresh install of 14.10, same problem.

[Bruno Nova (brunonova)]

Like I said, the horizontal size of the overlay does depend on the current language.
In Portuguese (my native language), the texts are longer and the overlay doesn't fit (even with workspaces disabled), but in English it fits.

I think 1024x768 should be the minimum supported resolution by the overlay (in English, at least).
Maybe you should report a new bug (asking the overlay to be made smaller horizontally)?

[Stephen M. Webb (bregma)]

Yes, please file a new bug about the shortcuts screen not displaying on localized installations due to display size limitations.

[Bruno Nova (brunonova)]

@Stephen, it also affects English when workspaces are enabled (and horizontal resolution is 1024).
But yes, I think a new bug should be filed (the size problem in other languages could also be mentioned there).

[Wilfred (wilfreddemik-r)]

Aw, I didn know it was partially language related, thank you for pointing that out Bruno Nova. Maybe this is of interest to our situation, AFAIK it's the same bug:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+bug/1310656

[Wilfred (wilfreddemik-r)]

It seems the bug in the link is confirmed nut not fixed :(