Adding a delete key using Chromebook?

n2o

I'm using Solus on a Lenovo Yoga 11e Chromebook which doesn't have a delete key (it only has a backspace key). It does however have a "lock" key right where you'd find the delete key on standard Lenovo keyboards and it'd be nice to reassign that lock key to delete key functionality.

What is the easiest way to get that done?

JoshStrobl

You could try creating a .Xmodmap file with keycode # = Delete. Use xev -event keyboard (you'll likely need to install xev) from your terminal, it'll pop up a window. Press the lock key once while having the window focused, and you should see KeyPress and KeyRelease events in your Terminal. Look for the keycode in the event, replace # with the number, save the file and restart.

Example KeyRelease event:

KeyRelease event, serial 28, synthetic NO, window 0x4800001,
    root 0x1e2, subw 0x0, time 42279132, (15,111), root:(2646,491),
    state 0x0, keycode 41 (keysym 0x66, f), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (66) "f"
    XFilterEvent returns: False

n2o

Sounds promising! I did just that. When I tried xev, it gave me the keycode 64. Then I created the .Xmodmap file, rebooted and tried. It didn't work but when I hit the lock button, Solus starts the keyboard shortcut settings. Hmm.

JoshStrobl

Yea that is quite odd. keycode 64 reports as Alt_L Meta_L Alt_L Meta_L, no idea why that'd start the keyboard shortcuts of all things. I went ahead and did some further looking, maybe worth trying one of the following:

KP_Delete
KP_Delete KP_Separator KP_Delete KP_Separator
Delete NoSymbol Delete

n2o

Thanks for your help! None of these made any difference. I started to doubt that 64 was the right keycode and used xev again but that now doesn't show any keycode for that key anymore and only starts the keyboard shortcuts application:

KeymapNotify event, serial 24, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    keys:  4294967234 0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   
           0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0

I also tried resetting all keyboard shortcuts but that doesn't change anything. I think the problem is not bad enough for you to invest anymore energy into it though. Maybe it would be worth it to find a general solution for people with Chromebooks though and if you want to do that I'll be glad to assist!