Prevent games from grabbing every key & mouse button

I've been gaming a lot of native linux games (especially the Humble Bundle ones), and a great deal of them tend to grab the all the keyboard and mouse keys/buttons.
This means that NO keys work; for example, I've a mouse with lots of buttons, and some of these control my volume (via xbindkeys). Some media keys on my keyboard do this as well, and control vlc play/stop (also via xbindkeys), and some other switch desktop, minimize, etc (via compiz keybinds).
Is there a way to keep these games for grabbing these keys/mouse-buttons? I kind of lose control of my desktop while they're running. I belive they grab the mouse entirely somehow, though I must admit, I'm not an expert on this area.

I've made two AUR packages for this:
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php? … _Search=Go
I'm just using libx11-nokeyboardgrab now, so I let the sdl one go unmaintained.
libx11-nokeyboardgrab is incompatible with dmenu (edit: and password screensavers), but works with everything (also dialog pop-ups).
sdl-nokeyboardgrab doesn't grab non-sdl programs (Virtualbox, maybe Wine, I haven't tested it).
It doesn't prevent mouse grab, because that's necessary for FPS games and Virtualbox mouse mode.
I have thought of adding in a mechanism where the mouse is only grabbed on some condition. Like the existence of a "/tmp/grabmouse" file. But I've been fine without it.
One problem that occurs even with mouse grab enabled is that when the game loses focus, it loses the mouse grab too. When you switch back to the game, you need to do something to make it re-grab the mouse.
For instance in Urban Terror (FPS), when you switch back to the game, the mouse behaves erratic until you press ~ for Console (which normally ungrabs the mouse) and then press it again.
Last edited by Procyon (2012-01-23 20:14:08)

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Prevent application from grabbing some keys.

I have media keys for volume control on my keyboard and use them. I have mapped them with KDE hotkeys control module. All work fine. However, some applications, for example, SDL-based ones, grab all keyboard input, including media keys. I lose ability to change audio volume until I stop the application.
The question is: How can I protect some keys from being grabbed by applications? I mean, how to make sure that some key events always reach target app, even when another app tries to grab all input. For example, Ctrl-Alt-F1 still works in all apps. Is there X server config to protect another key?
Last edited by Barafu Albino Cheetah (2011-09-16 20:20:31)

I've made two AUR packages for this:
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php? … _Search=Go
I'm just using libx11-nokeyboardgrab now, so I let the sdl one go unmaintained.
libx11-nokeyboardgrab is incompatible with dmenu (edit: and password screensavers), but works with everything (also dialog pop-ups).
sdl-nokeyboardgrab doesn't grab non-sdl programs (Virtualbox, maybe Wine, I haven't tested it).
It doesn't prevent mouse grab, because that's necessary for FPS games and Virtualbox mouse mode.
I have thought of adding in a mechanism where the mouse is only grabbed on some condition. Like the existence of a "/tmp/grabmouse" file. But I've been fine without it.
One problem that occurs even with mouse grab enabled is that when the game loses focus, it loses the mouse grab too. When you switch back to the game, you need to do something to make it re-grab the mouse.
For instance in Urban Terror (FPS), when you switch back to the game, the mouse behaves erratic until you press ~ for Console (which normally ungrabs the mouse) and then press it again.
Last edited by Procyon (2012-01-23 20:14:08)

How do I prevent iPhoto from starting every time I connect to a camera card?

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In the iphoto Preferences disable "connecting Camera opens" - set it to "No application".
If that does not suffice, do the same in Image Capture:
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Is there a way to prevent timeline from opening every time?

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Try this:
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Open a Project
Type F6 (or select Hide Timing Pane from the Window Menu -- IF the timing pane is showing!)
Quit Motion. (Don't close the window first... Quit... with the window open!)
Restart Motion.
Not guaranteed to work forever. You might occasionally have to redo these steps. (let me know if this worked for you!)

How do I prevent iTunes from opening every time I sign on to Windows?

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This is crazy. If they are going to make iTunes available in Windows, must they punish Windows users by making us change config settings just to keep a program from opening at Startup? A simple checkox in the Settings box of iTunes would make it much easier. Why do Apple-based programs that are made available to Windows users not work as Windows programs do?

Prevent application from stealing all input

Some applications grab all keyboard keys in such a way, that my window manager (i3) does not get the keys any more that are meant for it. Until recently, I only came across dosbox and the qemu window with this behavior. But both of them offer a way to stop grabbing every input of the X server (by default, dosbox uses the key binding CTRL+F10, QEMU uses CTRL+ALT). But then I ran OgreSampleBrowser for which I could not find such a key binding (did I miss something). Thus, now I'm interested in a general way to prevent applications to grab every key event if they are part of a key binding of my window manager. Is there some way to only whitelist the ones, which may grab all keys? Additionally to that, OgreSampleBrowser also unconditionally grabbed all mouse input, but I could live with that.
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[SOLVED] [Gnome 3] Move/resize with alt+mouse button not working

Hi,
Anyone have any ideas why I can't move or resize windows in Gnome 3 with the alt key + mouse button?
From what I've read it should be possible to do this in Gnome 3, or have they removed it?
The alt key works fine for other tasks, like alt+f4. By looking at xev the keyboard seems to generate a correct alt key as well:
KeyPress event, serial 32, synthetic NO, window 0x2200001,
root 0x15d, subw 0x0, time 74162047, (-380,478), root:(2169,522),
state 0x0, keycode 64 (keysym 0xffe9, Alt_L), same_screen YES,
XLookupString gives 0 bytes:
XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes:
XFilterEvent returns: False
Both the middle and the right mouse button works fine for other stuff, like pasting and opening menus.
Anyone have any ideas?
Last edited by mr_echo (2011-09-23 20:18:45)

I suffer the same problems. metacity is already installed. Any idea what else I might look for?
And did it reactivate Alt+right-click to resize?
For geoffm and anyone who stumbles across this, as per http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions … dows-again, you used to be able to use the gconf editor, but now it's (from the command line)
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences resize-with-right-button true
This nearly did my head in back when it changed.. now I just have to find out how to change the behaviour that seems to have cropped up in latest gnome 3.10 update, where you have to click the _left_ mouse button to finish/stop the resize.. Quite annoying

I have an Ipod Touch 5th Geneation and Windows Vista. Unfortunately, everytime I plug in my Ipod, it changes my monitors display (resolution and bit from a 32 down to an 8) How can I prevent this from happening everytime? I am unable to read my screen

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All I can suggest is:
Removing and reinstalling iTunes, QuickTime, and other software components for Windows Vista or Windows 7
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1923
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1923Seems it is a windows problem.
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i dont mean dated stuff like 2 weeks ago, i mean every page.
i swipe and have to wait while safari refreshes, then swipe back again, wait for the refresh and repeat this. if i quickly swipe back 4 pages, the 4th page back will appear for a second, then the 1st page re-appears cos it is fully refreshed.
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I am part of a web marketing company and we discovered a very heavy aggravation on top of all the above described annoyances of the refreshing process of safari on iPhone and iPad.
If the page in refreshing process it was after a direct click on a google "pay per click add", then safari it would re-emulate the click on the google add as well, who will charge the customer for what it looks like a legitimate click !!!!!
Now my customer put me in charge to collect all the company server's logs and analyse them through one by one ... (millions…),
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Apple, to allow such automatic unconditioned refreshing generating false "pay per click", and Google for charging the customer for illegal clicks. Keep in mind that we receive from 500 to 600 clicks per day at a CPC min £1.90 to max £6.80 depends from competitors biddings, the highest percentage of clicks its about CPC £3.10, making the company spending easily £3,000 per day.
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TS4080 apple thunderbolt display image on display intermittently goes dark, does not wake from sleep after clicking mouse or keyboard, but there is "bonk" sound after clicking mouse or pressing keys. Rebooting by pressing the power button resolves issue.

My apple thunderbolt display (which I purchased 1.5 years ago; OS 10.7.5 Mac Mini) intermittently goes dark, does not wake from sleep after clicking mouse or keyboard, but there is "bonk" sound after clicking mouse or pressing keys, so am thinking it is a hardware problem with the display. Rebooting by pressing the power button turns the screen back on, but the same phenomenon has occurred several times. Could this be a software issue, or do I need to have my display repaired? Your feedback would be appreciated.

Hi ED, tough to tell, but it does sound like it's waking with the bonk, just not displaying.
Long shot but...
I wonder if it's a variation of this, of which I've seen many different symptoms...
Resolution
Move the mouse or trackpad cursor over the center area of the login window so you can see the user icons. Click on the icon of the user that you would like to login as, type in the user's password, and press Return.
If the login window is configured to show only the name and password fields, type in the user's name and password into the fields, and press Return (even if you cannot see the rest of the login window).
Additional Information
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http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4135?viewlocale=en_US

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Put on shoe.
Take one shoe-lace in each hand.
Lay them across each other.
Then place one of them under the first.
You now have the first fasting.
To make the loops, again take each shoe-lace in each hand.
Fold one of them double into a loop and hold the loop with the other hand.
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Fasten the loops by dragging them in opposite directions.
How did I do? Clear enough? (English is not my first language by the way).

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* On Windows: Hold the '''Shift''' key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
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When the Firefox Safe Mode window appears, select "Start in Safe Mode".<br>
[[Image:Safe Mode Fx 15 - Win]]
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I allow my grandchildren to play free games on my ipad that I download for them. Is there a way to prevent them from accidentally (or otherwise) purchasing upgrades? My 6 yr old just did so and has no idea how she did it. Can I block this access?

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Prevent games from grabbing every key & mouse button

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