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1.12.1.8 grabs keyboard focus

Lionel Kitsune
Registered User
Join date: 2 Aug 2006
Posts: 1
09-14-2006 11:45
Is there an option that controls keyboard grab?

Between 1.12.1.5222 and 1.12.1.8 the behavior of window focus has changed. I am now unable to use my window manager, Ratpoison, to switch out of Second Life. Ratpoison switches windows using keystrokes, like GNU Screen. However, in 1.12.1.8 Second Life appears to grab the keyboard and none of my commands are reaching Ratpoison. This happens regardless of whether I choose fullscreen or window mode (I'm not sure whether the option to choose fullscreen or window mode is working). Due to this, unless I change window managers, when I run SL I can't switch to another program without exiting SL. So I probably won't be running SL in Linux anymore.
Valen Leinhardt
Registered User
Join date: 14 Jul 2006
Posts: 42
09-14-2006 13:42
Do as I do, and run two X servers, one dedicated to SecondLife and one dedicated to everything else. SL can't grab the Ctrl-Alt-Fx from X. Though I agree, it's a bit of a nuisence.
Adam Kaupas
Registered User
Join date: 20 Aug 2006
Posts: 24
09-14-2006 13:59
Lionel: in the meantime, before this gets fixed, consider changing the hotkey to swap window?
For instance, I can use meta+tab instead of alt+tab, and therefore everything works with SL.

Hopefully they'll fix it, but in the meantime that should work.
Tofu Linden
Linden Lab Employee
Join date: 29 Aug 2006
Posts: 471
09-15-2006 01:17
From: Lionel Kitsune
Is there an option that controls keyboard grab?
The keyboard grab on alt/ctrl combos was added because there are a whole lot of key/mouse combos used by SL (some critical) which are eaten by common window managers. This used to be pretty much the number one SL usability problem reported to us by new Linux client users.

We'll be making the key-grab generally more friendly soon and very likely add ways to toggle or disable it.
Llauren Mandelbrot
Twenty-Four Weeks Old.
Join date: 26 Apr 2006
Posts: 665
Control-Alt-Meta-CokeBottle
09-15-2006 07:39
From: Adam Kaupas
Lionel: in the meantime, before this gets fixed, consider changing the hotkey to swap window?
For instance, I can use meta+tab instead of alt+tab, and therefore everything works with SL.
I run KUbuntu Dapper, and I cannot alt-tab out of Second Life any more, either. How do I do this?

Also, I discovered that I cannot access the Alt-F3 window menu any more either.:eek: This was important to me, as I had previously set Second Life to run borderless, and needed to resize the window after installing the new client. I ended up accessing the settings I needed to change by running the System Settings application and setting "Force now" for the border. What happens if I raise the "Focus stealing prevention" level? Will this steal back the keystrokes that Second Life steals? Hmm, I`ll test it, and get back with you.