Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!lll-tis!ames!nrl-cmf!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!triceratops!karl
From: karl@triceratops.cis.ohio-state.edu (Karl Kleinpaste)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Why doesn't my ~/.Xkeymap do what I want?
Message-ID: <7199@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>
Date: 25 Feb 88 15:08:41 GMT
Sender: news@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu
Lines: 38

Configuration is a Sun3/50 running SunOS 3.4 and Xv10r4.  (Yes, I know
X11 is out there in a big way.  Find us the time to install it...We
seem to have pretty much decided to wait for Xv11r2 instead of
bothering with r1.)

I was interested in leaving behind the archaic world of qwerty
keyboards, preferring to condition my fingers to a Dvorak keyboard
arrangement.  I don't know if this is totally correct, but the Dvorak
arrangement I had in mind was:

+--------------------------------+
| ;  ,  .  p  y  f  g  c  r  l   |
|  a  o  e  u  i  d  h  t  n  s  |
|   /  q  j  k  x  b  m  w  v  z |
+--------------------------------+

I took the Xkeymap.default I found in the keycomp directory, and went
through a thoroughly straightforward replacement of whole lines of key
descriptions at different places.  Fortunately, the file is laid out
so that you can take care of a whole sequence of keys easily, e.g.,
it's arranged by vertical rows, so replacing the t-g-b line with a
y-i-x line was quite easy.

The result, however, is that the mapping is not complete.  Notably, my
Z key, over there on the right now, generates `z' and `Z' but not
`^Z.'  It still generates `^_' just as it did before the change.
Interestingly enough, the / key (where Z used to be) also generates
`^_', so I am left with 2 instances of `^_' and no '^Z.'

Complicating matters further, I find that my new W, V, and S keys
(where , . and ; used to be) can't generate control characters at all.

Needless to say, I can't live with a keyboard in this condition, so
I've removed my .Xkeymap file.  Is this problem an artifact of Suns,
or is it an artifact of X10?  Or have I possibly missed something in
the documentation about keycomp?

Any replies appreciated.  A response of RTFM is fine if you'll just
tell me which FM to R...