What is the "MOD" key?

[bushyiii]

I have been using WATT R9 for several months on the same T43 without any issue.  The laptop and its keyboard function as designed, there is no problem with the keyboard.

[blaze]

Ok. Can you burn wattOS R10 LXDE to a cd and see if that works? Maybe even install it, and add i3 yourself with apt, just too see what happens.

You could also try with the forums dedicated to Thinkpads and Lenovo support forums.

[bushyiii]

I thought I had replied to your post before but strangely I don't see it.  I have been using WATTOS R9 on the Thinkpad T43 for months, it works well, there is no problem with the keyboard using that OS.  It seems apparent the develpers hard coded the Mod keys expecting everyone to have a more typical keyboard, i.e one with a WINDOWS key and apparently didn't make a provision for someone using an older, pre-Microsoft keyboard.

[blaze]

Ooops, thinking in circles now. Personally I would try with what I suggested earlier. Install something that works, and add i3 manually and see what happens.

[blaze]

One small piece of additional information. During the google session yesterday, in a couple of threads, the problem were that xorg, sort of stole the i3 config during boot up. Which lead to a desktop that not functioned. I do not remember the solution now, at that moment it seemed as it not fitted this particular problem so I discarded it. I think it were at askubuntu, but I am not sure. Guess a google will reveal that if there is interest to investigate further.

[biffster]

Hi folks the i3WM docs have good info on key mods

http://i3wm.org/docs/userguide.html#_default_keybindings

Also if you want to edit the config file, its plain text in your home directory in the .config folder /home/yourname/.config/i3/config

As others have mentioned if you are really stuck you can go to another terminal (ctrl-alt-f2)and edit within your terminal text editor of choice (nano, vim, etc) - if your in the stock file manager with a gui (PCMANFM) then hit Ctrl-H to reveal the hidden folders to see the "dot files" navigate to the folder and edit in leafpad.....save then when done ctrl-H again to hide them if you dont want the clutter.

The top of that plain text config has an entry of set $mod Mod4  (which is the windows key)- change that to Mod1 and then save and restart i3, and you will have the alt key working as your modifier.

You can also change it to other keys, but thats beyond this post at this point.

As an aside, if you really want to play, you can delete (or I recommend rename) the config file, then restart i3, and "wizard" will come up to allow you to select your mod key, but you lose all the other customizations for apps, browser, etc. that are baked in wattOS.

Have fun....biff

[jeward]

I had the same problem. The configuration assumes you have a Windows key, but my Thinkpad X40 doesn't. I tried all kinds of things but then remembered I had a USB keyboard with a Windows key in a drawer for just such occasions. I'm installing using the external keyboard and once finished, I'll change the config to use the Alt key instead of the Windows key! I discovered this when I installed i3 on Bodhi Linux and the first time I ran it, it gave me the choice between Win and Alt keys. Microwatt comes preconfigured is all.

I hope this helps someone else with an ancient laptop to use Microwatt!