gnome sticky keys ignores "two keys pressed together" setting

[Martin Pool]

Binary package hint: at-spi

(Not sure if this is really in at-spi)

I'm using Hardy.

In 'Keyboard Preferences' I turned on 'Simulate simultaneous keypresses' (ie sticky keys) and left turned off 'Disable sticky keys if two keys are pressed together.'

However, pressing two keys together does always disable sticky keys, as if that option had been pressed. This is very intrusive for the way I use sticky keys

[Luke Yelavich (themuso)]

THis is not related to at-spi. At-spi is only used if different accessibility technologies, such as magnifiers, on-screen keyboards, or screen readers wish to get information from GNOME in regards to what the user is doing. However, I am unsure as to what part of GNOME this bug applies to. Possibly gnome-settings-daemon, but I'm not 100% sure.

[Martin Pool (mbp)]

Please don't invalidate it if it's just in the wrong package.

[pauls (paulatgm)]

Same problem here. Sticky keys works for less than a minute and then shuts itself off. Probably, it thinks the shutoff feature is checked, but I'm sure it's not.

For me, sticky keys are essential, so I have shifted over to using kde exclusively until this bug gets fixed.

BTW, this also occurred on gutsy and feisty.

The underlying program is xorg (accessx), but since it works on kde, it must be related to the way gnome sets it up.

regards,

[pauls (paulatgm)]

I just noticed this thread in ubuntuforums which indicates the problem is in the ubuntu settings applet (apparently).

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5121945&posted=1#post5121945

According to that thread, the gconf-editor shows that the two key shut off is not being disabled when the settings window is unchecked. This should be any easy fix for whoever wrote that code.

Anyway, adjusting the settings as noted in that thread does fix the problem in hardy for me.

[davidr (davaweb)]

My post referred to by pauls is:

For those who are having trouble with the system turning off sticky-keys if two keys are pressed or if a modifier key is pressed with another key, I found a setting in Configuration Editor which has stopped that misbehaviour - for me. So, in case it helps others:

In Assistive Technologies Preferences > Keyboard Accessibility > Accessibility tab, I have always set:
1. Simulate simultaneous keypress - ticked
2. Disable sticky keys if two keys are pressed - never ticked
Notifications: General:
3. Beep when accessibility features are turned on or off - ticked
4. Beep when toggle key is pressed - ticked
Sticky Keys:
5. Beep when a modifier key is pressed - ticked

However, despite 2. above, I found 100% of the time pressing a modifier key and another key undid my settings. Very annoying with a trembling hand!

Then I looked in Configuration Editor:
Applications > System Tools > Configuration Editor > desktop > gnome > accesibility > keyboard.

I noticed that 'stickykeys_two_key_off' was still ticked which did not seem logical given my choices. So I unselected it and since then have not had a problem.

Hope this helps and works for you - sorry, I don't know a CLI way of doing it.

David

[truant (launchpad-ninj4)]

So, on previous installs of ubuntu, David's solution has worked for me. (previous versions: hardy64, intrepid64, netbook-remix-lpia) but it's just stopped working on my latest install (intrepid i386 + netbook-remix).

gconf-editor reports as expected - that stickykeys_two_key_off is unticked, and stickykeys_enable is ticked. However - stickykeys is not enabled, unless I turn it on via the gnome accessibility preferences panel. stickykeys_two_key_off always behaves as if turned on, regardless of settings in either gconf or the Accessibility panel.

I notice this bug also appears in Debian: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=511999

Not having stickykeys is, quite literally, a major pain for me. Looks like it's time to give KDE a whirl....

[davidr (davaweb)]

Can I just remind the developers that the Caps Lock key is technically a modifier key - but never beeps.

Thanks,
David

[truant (launchpad-ninj4)]

Stickykeys in KDE works as one would expect, and retains it's settings - but the status notification panel applet hasn't been ported to KDE4 yet. So you can use stickykeys but you can't tell what state they're in. Which is actually worse.

Currently running Mint 6, which is basically a themed intrepid with a fancy menu - it uses the ubuntu repositories for all the important stuff, so the following should work on any (gnome+debian)ish system.

On my system, the following is is the only way I can find out what the actual gconf settings are - gconf-editor reports that stickykeys is enabled (it's not) and that two_key_off is off (it's on), whereas:

 gconftool-2 -R /desktop/gnome/ | grep stickykeys

gives me:

 stickykeys_modifier_beep = true
 stickykeys_enable = false
 stickykeys_two_key_off = true

Here's the clever bit. Set the appropriate keys:

 gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/accessibility/keyboard/stickykeys_two_key_off --type bool 0
 gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/accessibility/keyboard/stickykeys_enable --type bool 1
 gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/accessibility/keyboard/stickykeys_modifier_beep --type bool 0

grepping the output of the -R command, now, gives:

   stickykeys_modifier_beep = false
   stickykeys_enable = true
   stickykeys_two_key_off = false

Which is right, and works like it says it should. (!) And it seems to stay working too. (!!) I haven't rebooted for a while, but I have logged out/in a bit.

hope this helps someone.

[truant (launchpad-ninj4)]

Just for anyone following the ongoing saga of buggy stickykeys, this bug has changed in Jaunty.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-applets/+bug/383649

I've also reported it upstream to the Gnome people, please go and confirm if you're having the same problem(s).

http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=584938

[Charlie Kravetz (cjkgeek)]

Could someone experiencing this issue please take a look at bug 209532 and see if this is a duplicate? It does look like they are duplicates to me.