Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2020 20:58:46 +0100
From: tlaronde@polynum.com
To: Ariadne Conill <ariadne@dereferenced.org>
Cc: ~alpine/users@lists.alpinelinux.org
Subject: Re: Fluxbox: AltGr not working (azerty keyboard)
Message-ID: <20201105195846.GA9976@polynum.com>
References: <20201105155225.GA7882@polynum.com>
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On Thu, Nov 05, 2020 at 12:33:35PM -0700, Ariadne Conill wrote:
> On Thursday, November 5, 2020 8:52:25 AM MST tlaronde@polynum.com wrote:
> > Hello,
> > 
> > Fabrice Bellard has developed an emulator in JavaScript, and it is now
> > possible to have, in a browser, Alpine/i586 running. See:
> > 
> > https://bellard.org/jslinux/
> > 
> > I'm the developper of KerTeX, a TeX and al. distribution and I'd like
> > to let people try it without installing, thus on Alpine/i586 in
> > JSLinux, the X11 version (there is also a console only version).
> > 
> > No problem with kerTeX: it works.
> > 
> > The problem is for non QWERTY users. If I switch the keyboard (right
> > click menu -> keyboard mapping-> french), all is OK except all the
> > letters that are accessed with AltGr---and Alt and AltGr simply don't
> > work (preventing from using backslash or pipe, and this is quite a
> > problem).
> 
> Are you experiencing this problem in Alpine itself or in Alpine while running 
> under JSLinux?  If the latter, it is probably JSLinux itself having issues 
> with your keyboard input.
> 

But the problem is that Alpine comes in two flavors under jslinux: one
command line only; one with X11. In command line only, I have no
problem (I have even not to set the keyboard mapping: it works as is).
The problem appears with the X11 version. Since it is a VM, the js
machine is the same; the difference if the stack of things running on
it.

Before asking, I have verified that similar problems have been
reported (not only with fluxbox and not only for Alpine) before. These
problems, always weird, had nothing to do with JavaScript...

You are right that this doesn't exclude a problem with JavaScript. But
this doesn't exclude either a problem with Fluxbox since there is a case
where everything works with the VM (command line). So the culprit seems
to be higher in the stack of things...

Note: this doesn't exclude either that for some reason my keyboard does
strange things. Unfortunately, it doesn't work when plugging a USB-PS/2
adapter---since the virtual machine is a 586, perhaps X11 is trying to
do smart things with something that can not be USB and since the 
keyboard doesn't understand legacy PS/2 not
everything is correctly emulated, while, with command line only, a more
simple and direct approach is used (raw scancodes or whatever) with
less smartness and interpretation or dialog with the device and it 
happens to work...
-- 
        Thierry Laronde <tlaronde +AT+ polynum +dot+ com>
                     http://www.kergis.com/
                    http://kertex.kergis.com/
                       http://www.sbfa.fr/
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