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I may be an alien around here, but here's my problem: the speed limit on old Ubuntu releases (= before 11) was very very fast. It was really great for me.

Now, on Ubuntu 11, they may have thought: "who will ever want that speed? Nobody! So let's put the maximum speed to a lower limit".

It's so stupid that they tried to narrow down the speed to some other famous OS. If Linux is more powerful, why remove some of its power? I don't get that.

So is there any way to override that speed limit and get my keyboard as fast as it is on other previous versions?

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You mean the repeat rate, when you hold down a key? – psusi May 21 '12 at 15:59
@mateo_salta kbdrate doesn't work at all = has no effect on my keyboard: sudo kbdrate -r 30.0 -d 1440 and sudo kbdrate -r 2.0 -d 10 have same effect = nothing. – Olivier Pons May 22 '12 at 6:56
@psusi You're right I've changed the title – Olivier Pons May 22 '12 at 6:57
There are two Ubuntu releases whose numbers start with 11--11.04 and 11.10. You may want to edit your question to clarify which one you are running. – Eliah Kagan May 23 '12 at 20:56
Both releases: 11.04 and 11.10 – Olivier Pons May 24 '12 at 15:38
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3 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

You can temporarily override Ubuntu's max keyboard rate using the xset command if you're using GNOME 3 on Ubuntu > 10.04. Example:

xset r rate 220 160

You can also try adding (uncomenting) the following in /etc/kbd/config:

KEYBOARD_RATE="220"

KEYBOARD_DELAY="160"

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up vote 1 down vote

Given that this issue hasn't been fixed yet, and can be very frustrating, I here's a workaround:

Initially I used xset r rate, but the problem with it is that it's not persistent after sleep/awake, and sometimes the desktop reverts to limited rate at random times (probably gnome settings daemon does something which causes reinforcing the settings).

I was uselessly changing my old gconf keyboard settings, only to discover that the setting has been migrated to gsettings. The value limit is hardcoded in the system settings application (gnome-control-center in file ./panels/keyboard/gnome-keyboard-panel.ui:877).

You can easily override it:

gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.keyboard repeat-interval 15
gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.keyboard delay 150

As long as you don't change your settings from the gui, this setting should be persistent.

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This is a really good answer, and as soon as I can test it I'll verify if it works, and if so I'll check your answer as good. But I've reverted back to Ubuntu 10.04 which is far more stable, better, faster and friendlier than all other versions (from my point of view) – Olivier Pons Oct 22 '12 at 8:17
up vote -1 down vote

Go to System-> Preferences-> Keyboard, and adjust the Repeat Keys Speed slider to the far right. On later systems you access this control using the Unity Launcher's System Settings--the button with the wrench. The control panel is the same.

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I presume that's the dialog box he's already referring to. – neon_overload May 22 '12 at 23:13
@neon_overload, who is referring to what box where? There is no mention of a box in the question. – psusi May 22 '12 at 23:14
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He says that the maximum speed Ubuntu is allowing him to set is too low. Unless I see otherwise I presume he's talking about the regular keyboard settings dialog in Ubuntu. – neon_overload May 22 '12 at 23:15
@neon_overload, he doesn't mention setting anything anywhere, just that the speed is lower. – psusi May 22 '12 at 23:16
The control panel is the same, but the keyboard repeat rate is lower. – Olivier Pons May 24 '12 at 15:37
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