So, here is the thing: I'm using antiX 13 (or maybe 13.1) on a Lenovo i5 core, 6 GB laptop, intel, and works fine. I have"updated" to debian testing and then to liquoris kernel, via smxi, its the 64bit edition. Now the problems: I'm using icewm, and like it very much (i had to use it for over 7 years, since I was using the slackware derivative Vector linux), but apparently something is wrong with the keyboard shortcuts. It must be icewm related, since shortcuts work in eg fluxbox (another past love).

1. Shortcuts are a bit arbitrary. The Alt + F2 is putting the window in every desktop, and cannot find the file to change this behaviour (this shortcut doesn't appear in the system files when opened from antixcc via geany). In general, shortcuts related to window behaviour (minimize, maximize etc, cannot be changed or am I wrong?
2. The keys file is there just for the sake of its beauty, since nothing edited or added in this file appears as a shortcut, not even its own preexistent ones.
3. Some apps, eg xmahjongg, work fine, but not in the keyboard shortcut level, ie I have to use the mouse to quit (rather than simple shortcut"q", or the mouse to undo rather than"u"). The same is true for pysolfc, where I have to use the mouse rather than"z" to undo a move, etc.

I'm mostly interested to fix behaviour described under 1. & 2., and have made a search in the forum, but the relevant findings were not helpful (except eg with some double entries in the menu, notably gparted & synaptic). BTW, synaptic is not working at all, but I've been a former debian user (potato and then wendy was it?) and know my way around with apt-get (had forgoten it though __{{emoticon}}__ . I don't need synaptic, except to find out if a package exists at all and what its exact name is.

I like the philosophy of antiX and its plethora of apps, since it reminds me my time with windows 95 or 98 sometimes. I think it is a very functional and sympathetic distro, and use it regularly. This from an archlinux user (since version 0.3).

The IceWM keys file seems to work here. I copied /usr/share/icewm/keys to my ~/.icewm/ directory and then added the line: You might have to restart IceWM to get the changes noticed. Now when I press <Alt-F2> A uxrvt terminal opens up. You restart by logging out and logging in again. This should be much improved in the next release where you will be able to restart directly from the desktop menu.

Thank you, I'll try and post the results. But I think the"keys" file is already in my ~/.icewm/ directory. Anyway, thank you for your response and time.

It's not working for me, but it should be clear that it wouldn't, since the file was in my ~/.icewm directory and had edited it. The problem is that many shortcuts are taken by the window behaviour (rightclick on title bar and then you can see the various shortcuts there, the"Alt+F2" is for placing the window in every workspace and cannot be changed, the"Alt+F12" is for toggling rollup etc). These cannot be changed by my definitions in aforementioned keys file. What I find most annoying is that I cannot define a working shortcut for run, it always has to be via the main menu. So, I'll leave it at this for the time being.

I'm sorry you are having such trouble with this feature.

I tested again on a fresh Live version of antiX-13.1_full in VirtualBox and it worked just as I described above. You could verify this yourself if you have recent antiX Live media available.

BTW: The spellings and meanings of the keycodes are give
========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://www.icewm.org/manual/icewm-6.html"
linktext was:"here"
====================================
. The spelling and capitalization in the keys file must be exact or it won't work.

I was able to get"Alt+F2" to launch urxvt on my second try. My first try failed because I had used a lower-case"f". I've now tried it on two different systems and it has worked on both of them.

If it is still not working for you then I have a few suggestions. You should check the permissions of the ~/.icewm/keys file and make sure it is owned by your normal user and you have read permission. You can also take a look in ~/.xsession-errors:0.0 for error messages. If the key is misspelled, that error will show up but if the command is misspelled then it will silently fail and revert to the original behavior. Perhaps the command you are trying to run is not on the path. I have not tried it here but you might have better luck if you give the absolute path to the command. Also make sure your user has permission to execute the command you are trying to execute.

Good luck. I hope this helps.

@BitJam
Thank you for your detailed response, I'll come back with results when I reboot to antiX.

Let me throw in 2 cents here if you don't mind.

The default ~/.icewm/keys file has incorrect key definitions for the"run" command at the bottom of the file. I've never noticed this before. The definitions in the file as shipped are:
however, those don't do anything because they are in the wrong format. (note no quotes, incorrect equal sign usage, and lower case f in the function key). So if you just changed one of those entries, it won't work.

doing this: gexec, being the run command, WILL override the window manager command, even though the shortcut key will still show up in the icewm window menu.

The examples at the end of the icewm keys file, (#Run command type theme) are just example and are not set up. BJ and d.o have posted how to get them set up.

The ones at the top, (##Sample icewm keys for antiX) should work OOTB.

No key works. The file is ~/.icewm/keys, has permissions 644, and has the following content: As a matter of fact, no key combination in this file (from the first and last categories, have not used the rest) works. The system is blind and deaf to the combinations. I even changed eg"gexec" with"/usr/bin/gexec".

As I've mentioned in my first post, keyboard doesn't work even in apps (games) like xmahjongg or pysol. There must be something other here. Every other debian based distro I've installed (including debian testing itself) works fine. As I said, I've upgraded to testing from wheeze and don't know if this is the problem. Maybe I'll remove the whole icewm thing and reinstall it. I don't think it's worth the effort anymore, either I accept it as it is, and use the mouse or I use fluxbox which doesn't seem to have problems with desktop shortcuts (have not tested if apps have problems though). The shortcut"Alt+F2" is mostly used for"run", and if icewm uses it for placing the window in every workspace, this poses a problem. I cannot override this behaviour with the keys file. Anyway, thank you all (and the site admin and project leader __{{emoticon}}__ ) for your readiness and response.

PS
Curiously, the shortcuts for window behaviour (Alt+F2 and friends) and the shortcuts for changing desktop (Alt+Ctrl+1 etc) work OK.

OK, some news. I restarted X (and icewm with it) and now the end shortcuts, ie the following:
work OK.

The upper shortcuts: don't work.

That's something. Now I'll try to make the upper shortcut group work.

Alt+control+f will not work if you get the rest working due to its double entry with antixfm and spacefm.

Ok, after every change to an icewm configuration file, you need to restart icewm before they will take effect. There is a"restart icewm" function on the icewm menu under the logout submenu. Here's a screen shot.



there is also a duplication in the file manager shortcuts, Alt+Ctrl+f, with the last one in the sequence taking precedence. Alt+Ctrl+f is defined as both spacefm and antiX-Filemanager.sh. I don't know if that's part of your problem, but I thought I would mention it.

also by default icewm is set up to use the left"windows" key as Alt+Ctrl. I don't think this is related to your problem, as the Alt+Ctrl combo should also still work.

***edit*** and Dave snuck in above about the Alt+Ctrl+f conflict while I was taking a screenshot __{{emoticon}}__ ****

@dolphin_oracle
Thank you for the info, I was aware of it, it΄s about the same as it was with icewm some years ago. I know I can restart it via some menu entry. I was absent during the last 4-5 days from my pc

@Dave
OK, thank you, provided I΄ll be able to find a solution to the non-working shortcuts.