If you are a programmer, then you build some slide show with the allegro gaming library toolkit, SDL toolkit, FLTK, or FOX Toolkit. Such an approach would give full control over the entire screen and keyboard input.
I am not aware of any specific Linux presentation tool - most people usually get OpenOffice Impress for that task, but that didn't work for you. With Impress around there is no motivation to develop some other presentation software.
Arch Linux