Strange problem with cursor jumping to menus in Slackware 12.1
 

I am having an odd problem that I've never had with any distro. I've got Slackware 12.1 installed to the hard drive. All of my hardware, including the mouse with scroll button, works fine.

The problem is that when I use some programs (usually LyX) I will be typing for a while (15 seconds or so) and then the cursor will jump to the LyX menus. It will open the menus according to what I'm typing. This makes it impossible to use Slackware for serious work right now, and I have no idea where to even begin looking.

It sounds like you are accidentally using a keyboard shortcut. Are you accidentally hitting the Ctrl key instead of the Shift key? For example, instead of hitting <Shift> G in order to type a capital G are you hitting <Ctrl> G to use whatever keyboard shortcut that <Ctrl> G specifies?

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Steve Stites

This happens no matter what I'm typing. Even if I don't type anything for 20 or 30 seconds, the cursor will jump to the menus.

does it always go to one certain menu or does it go to a random one?

It might sound silly (as it was):
once upon a while I had a "virus" that affected both my Linux (mandrake 8.2) and windows install (W2k).
You all look funny now with that face reading this, ain't You :-).
As same as I looked funny back then...
...then I realised the "source" of the "virus":

as I like sloppy clothes, i had my sleeve hit num-enter while i held the mouse, as the mouse stood below the desk plate and little in front of the keyboard...

what a fool was I for a couple of days... how hard did we laugh (my mates) afterwards...
:D :) :D

check any thing ;-)

What the cursor does is leaves the typing area of the application I'm using (LyX or OOo or whatever) and doesn't open any menus by itself. It is the equivalent of hitting Alt now that I look at it in more detail.

I have a USB keyboard and previously thought it must be something to do with using the wrong driver. However, I have the same keyboard info as in Debian in my xorg.conf, so that can't be it. I would like to be able to plug in another keyboard to try it out, but my computer only allows for a USB keyboard, and as I don't have another USB keyboard, this is not an option.

I also am skeptical of that possibility because it only happens with certain apps. Firefox, with which I am typing this, works perfectly. I thought it could be a Qt problem, as that is what LyX uses, but OOo is not a Qt app.

I like Slackware a lot, so I don't want to give it up, but I might have to reinstall. The problem didn't show up until I installed GNOME SlackBuild so perhaps that is the source of the trouble.

I've thought of all those things too. :)

As noted above, it only happens with certain apps, so that sort of thing can't really be the source of the problem.

Have you tried running the application under different window managers? Do you get the same thing under kde, xfce, fluxbox etc?

Yes, unfortunately it happens under xfce and kde as well. :(

Does it happen when the windows are all maximized or will it also go to the menu when the windows are in the "restore" mode (i.e able to be moved around)

Basically what i am trying to get at is if the mouse is going to the exact same spot every time or if it is jumping to other locations.

I checked and it happens in either mode.

I seem to have found the problem. I uninstalled GSB and everything works perfectly. Now the only problem is running Slackware without GNOME. Oh well, different problem for a different day when I have more time. XFCE will work fine for now. Thanks for the help you guys gave me.

You should file a bug report to GSB or at least let the devs know about the problem. There may already be a solution/workaround for it.

There is a way to customize KDE to look excactly like GNOME. Except it stays configurable.
:-)

Sorry, I happen to like KDE - just a matter of personal (dis?)taste.

IMHO: The devs would certainly have a clue to this. Give them a note.

Looks are superficial. The main issue with not having gnome on slackware is the missing operating environment infrastructure, such as gconf. Now, my personal opinion on gconf is that it's an abomination little better than MS Windows' Registry, however, as we have seen with the recent Firefox 3 topic, applications are starting to require gconf (and other parts of gnome) in order to work correctly. This is not a good thing.