Alt key in Ubuntu 12.04 Unity window manager

[Sharven Raabe]

I am normally using Windows 7 on my notebook computer, but having installed the latest LTS version of Ubuntu, mostly for work, I wanted to try Second Life again; if only to see whether ATI's OpenGL support truly works.

My problem is that the alt key doesn't properly work. The mouse curser changes in SL but I can't use it for camera control. The SL Q&A in the viewer suggest to modify the window manager's behavior to move functions on the alt key to another key, but I can't find any setting that is bound to the alt key alone. Even though it does have an effect - holding it causes the menu to be displayed in the title bar*, tapping it causes a search window to appear.

Does anyone have a suggestion how to use SL with Unity?

 

 

* Unity behaves like Mac OS X rather than Windows, having a single top title bar which is at the same time system bar and only active for the currently selected application - a behavior I find better than the typical Windows behavior to give each application an individual menu within the application Window itself

[Baloo Uriza]

Try unbinding whatever's binding alt-drag in Unity.  I've got a JIRA open about this, though I don't recall the number.

[Jean Horten]

Two options:

1.

Don't use the Untiy toy device UI but something more sane like XFCE, LXDE, KD, MATE etc.

 

2.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=10659621&postcount=3

 

Jeannie

[Sharven Raabe]

Instead of reconfiguring Unity and the behavior of all my applications... isn't it possible to reconfigure SL? Use the 4th mouse button instead of alt?

[Baloo Uriza]

Unfortunately, no. This is why opened a bug in the JIRA about this. It's not just Unity that has this problem, either. LXDE has the same problem with SL and doesn't appear to have a way to solve the alt key collision from that end either.

[Tristan Lawksley]

1. Install Compbiz Configuration Settings Manager.

( sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager )

2. Under the Desktop Section, click the Ubuntu Unity Plugin.

3. Disable the ALT key to show the HUD (It's the very first setting.) - You can set this to one of the other three key options if you'd like.

 That should take care of the problem until Canonical or Linden Lab breaks it again.

[Sharven Raabe]

Thank you. That has been extremely helpful.

I never use that HUD anyway - from what I figure it searches browser history and bookmarks. But I see no reason not to simply do that in the browser.