Shift key gets stuck when using as client on Lucid and leave screen with mouse

[LukeW]

Binary package hint: synergy

I am running synergy client on Lucid Alpha 3. I am connect to a synergy server on a LAN. Upon connection everything works fine until I move the mouse to another computer. Then the shift key gets stuck on my Lucid machine. It continues to remain stuck until I force a reconnect from the synergy server.

[CydeSwype (ircone)]

I can confirm this issue. I just started seeing it today after the latest update though...had been fine prior. Shift key, Super key, Ctrl key...they all seem to get "stuck" and make working very difficult. Killing off synergyc fixes the problem right away though. Using lucid as the synergy client and a WinXP box as the server.

[Matthew Glennon (c-administrator-fnsnet-net)]

I have this problem as well, just installed Beta 2 of Lucid from 9.10 and my synergy has a constant shift key. restarting synergy doesn't always fix the issue. I'm running with a second keyboard and mouse right now, but it's frustrating to say the least. I have a WinXP-SP2 box as the server with Lucid and another XP-SP2 box as clients.

[LukeW (lwoydziak)]

Note that this also affects synergy+ manual install when using the client on Lucid.

[Gerhard Siegesmund (d-launchpad-jerri-de)]

I am using synergy on my laptop as a client. When I reboot the laptop, everything works normal as expected. The problem seems to arise after closing the laptop lid, which puts the computer to standby. With 9.10 I had zero problems with the shift key. Now it really is a problem.

[GonzO (gonzo)]

It REALLY is a problem. I can't really use it for much other than pointing and clicking; have to reset the shift or CTRL keys every single time. Makes Synergy all but unusable.

[Gerhard Siegesmund (d-launchpad-jerri-de)]

I also think this bug should have a higher importance. Rebooting the laptop works as a workaround. but is a big nuisance. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to exist an alternative to synergy on linux. Is there anything I can do to help fix this bug?

[GonzO (gonzo)]

...actually, I have to take it all back.

When I encountered this problem, I was launching Synergy as root from GDM. Since I stopped this practice, launching both synergys and synergyc using Gnome's session manager (which runs as the user, after X and XKB load fully and set the proper keysets), I haven't encountered this issue even once.

(Synergy server: Ubuntu Karmic
Synergy client(s): Ubuntu Lucid, WinXP)

Also, I'm using Synergy+ 1.3.5 on every box in this configuration.

[Matthew Glennon (c-administrator-fnsnet-net)]

As I have no keyboard or Mouse of the Ubuntu client, I have to use the
synergy connection in order to login. The synergy client runs on startup,
then quits after login and runs again. I don't remember exactly where I've
placed the second execution, but it was per the installation instructions.

Matt

On Wed, May 19, 2010 at 12:06 PM, GonzO <email address hidden> wrote:

> ...actually, I have to take it all back.
>
> When I encountered this problem, I was launching Synergy as root from
> GDM. Since I stopped this practice, launching both synergys and
> synergyc using Gnome's session manager (which runs as the user, after X
> and XKB load fully and set the proper keysets), I haven't encountered
> this issue even once.
>
> (Synergy server: Ubuntu Karmic
> Synergy client(s): Ubuntu Lucid, WinXP)
>
> Also, I'm using Synergy+ 1.3.5 on every box in this configuration.
>
> --
> Shift key gets stuck when using as client on Lucid and leave screen with
> mouse
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/532125
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in “synergy” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: synergy
>
> I am running synergy client on Lucid Alpha 3. I am connect to a synergy
> server on a LAN. Upon connection everything works fine until I move the
> mouse to another computer. Then the shift key gets stuck on my Lucid
> machine. It continues to remain stuck until I force a reconnect from the
> synergy server.
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/synergy/+bug/532125/+subscribe
>

--
Matthew Glennon
Owner, FNSNetwork
Schedule: http://www.fnsnet.net/?q=node/13

[GonzO (gonzo)]

Workarounds:

1) Add Synergyc to Gnome's "Startup Applications".

2) One must modify two files in GDM to let GDM launch Synergy; one for the GDM session, and one for whatever session GDM starts. The second file edit exists because the GDM session usually closes programs as it launches the logged-in session. Either leave this modification out, or instruct the file to close any running synergyc processes (instead of checking to see if one is up, and launching a new one if it is not).

This should shift the synergyc session from being GDM-launched as root, to user-based and launched with GNOME, after X's XKB extension is loaded.

[Charley Robinson (charley-robinson)]

I can confirm this in Lucid as well. Even after GonzO's workaround to ensure the synergy client is running by the user (not root), shift gets stuck after a cycle of bringing the mouse back and forth. This also persists through restarts of both the client and the server (after subsequent mouse-shift cycles).

Also: left mouse clicks also have shift stuck to them. This happens independent of the shift key has been triggered stuck or not. Seems related to the same bug, so not filing separately.

synergys: OS X 10.6.3
Loads as LoginHook or manually -- same result

synergyc: Lucid Lynx 10.04
Loads as Gnome Startup Application or manually -- same result

[Charley Robinson (charley-robinson)]

Also: leaving a keyboard plugged into the linux box, even if unused, alleviates the problem.

[Matthew Glennon (c-administrator-fnsnet-net)]

I realized this yesterday.. it sure does.. inconvenient, but effective.
Matt

On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 3:01 PM, Charley Robinson <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Also: leaving a keyboard plugged into the linux box, even if unused,
> alleviates the problem.
>
> --
> Shift key gets stuck when using as client on Lucid and leave screen with
> mouse
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/532125
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in “synergy” package in Ubuntu: Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: synergy
>
> I am running synergy client on Lucid Alpha 3. I am connect to a synergy
> server on a LAN. Upon connection everything works fine until I move the
> mouse to another computer. Then the shift key gets stuck on my Lucid
> machine. It continues to remain stuck until I force a reconnect from the
> synergy server.
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/synergy/+bug/532125/+subscribe
>

--
Matthew Glennon
Owner, FNSNetwork
Schedule: http://www.fnsnet.net/?q=node/13

[Gerhard Siegesmund (d-launchpad-jerri-de)]

The keyboard on my laptop is not unpluggable. So this doesn't seem to be the problem here. :)

[Lyle Brulhart (lbrulhart-gmail)]

I'm using OS X as the server, and having the same problem. Leaving a keyboard plugged into the linux client doesn't seem to make a difference.

It always works fine at first till the mouse moves off and back onto the screen; then synergy becomes unusable.

[Gerhard Siegesmund (d-launchpad-jerri-de)]

Rebooting the laptop always works as a workaround. Something seems to get into a strange state after putting the laptop to sleep mode. As a sidenode when synergy has problems with the shiftkey sometimes keys also get repeated some times. After leaving the computer and moving back to it, sometimes keys also get stuck and are repeated a lot of times.

Another thing I found: If the network connection is very saturated, sometimes keys also get repeated some times. Maybe a problem with the timing of synergy. Was there something changed with the timers in the kernel or in X from 9.10 to 10.04?

[Speed (speedsk8x-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount)]

Also having the problem. It seems that it can occur as soon as just 2-3 minutes after the connection has been made.

[Quelyn (jrdunphy)]

My process is running as user and not root, I am sure of that.
I have a keyboard always connected.
When this problem happens on Synergy, it also breaks the local computer for a time, typically cycling the service fixes it. I had this problem in Ubuntu 9.10 but adding this:
halfDuplexCapsLock = true
to synergy.conf worked. Now I have upgraded to 10.04 and I cannot get it to work ever. Each and every time I use the Shift key in this setup I see the same issue.

I have Windows XP server running 1.4.1, and my Ubuntu client is running 1.3.4 the latest release.

[Quelyn (jrdunphy)]

I found a work around that appears to work for now. In Ubuntu change the settings from "Generic 105-key PC (intl)" to "Generic 104-key PC". Since doing that I've had better luck.

[Quelyn (jrdunphy)]

Spoke too soon, it's only a band-aid work around. The problem presented itself again.

[Matt Elsberry (elsberrymatt)]

Running Synergy server on Windows 7 box with Ubuntu as the client. Client is set to auto run before login. I am having the same issue with the shift key, also, for some reason it broke the ability to rotate my desktop cube by using Ctrl+Alt+Button1 ...
The two machines are connected via gigabit switch with no other clients (other that the router) connected.

[kryptokatalyst (kryptokatalyst)]

Same setup as Matt ^.

Synergy server (latest build) on Windows 7 x64 machine.
Synergy client (latest build) on Lucid nix box.

Both machines networked with a Linksys/Cisco 16-port gigabit switch, and are the only two machines using Synergy.

Leaving a USB keyboard plugged into the nix box does not resolve the problem.

Rotating the Compiz cube works for me until the Shift key gets "stuck," at which time it really becomes Shift+Ctrl+Alt+Button 1 and naturally does not work.

[mce (mc2-seznam)]

same problem here, synergy server and client running on ubuntu lucid, second client kinda winXP. logging out from X helps. very frustrating...

[Vince (tucsonclimber)]

I have found that by running synergyc only as a startup application (System->Preferences->Startup applications) without any changes to /etc/gdm/Init/Default or /etc/gdm/PreSession/Default mostly eliminates the problem for me. If synergyc is started in either of these configuration files (even if it kills the existing instance first) the shift problem is constant. Of course this means that the synergy shared keyboard is not available on the gdm login screen, so this workaround only works if there is a physically attached keyboard.

[Max Brustkern (nuclearbob)]

I have this issue when synergyc started automatically via LightDM on precise, but not if it is started manually after login.

[Aaron C. de Bruyn (darkpixel2k)]

Synergy 1.6 appears to fix the issue for me. I had to download the source from https://github.com/synergy/synergy and manually compile it: https://github.com/synergy/synergy/wiki/Compiling