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This is my biggest issue with Linux and the main reason I don't use it as my main working OS.

Whenever I use caps lock to write something in upper case and disable it in order to keep writing the next letter AFTER I've disabled it is written in upper case.

So, my text comes out weird, as SOMETHING *L*ike this

I've tried Linux Mint, Fedora ... and the issue keeps happening.

Searching Google I've found some very rare persons have the same issue, but I was unable to find any solution.

Is there any way to solve this or am I DOOMED *F*or life?

BTW, whenever I ask this question someone suggest I should learn to use shift, instead of caps lock. I know, that's the right way, but I'm used to use caps lock and, well, it should work.

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What is your keyboard (model and wired/wireless) and Ubuntu version? – belacqua Sep 8 '11 at 21:32
Maybe we're attacking this the wrong way. Do you need caps lock? If not, then it'd be fairly easy to remap it to nothing - so when you hit the capslock key it won't do anything. – jrg♦ Sep 10 '11 at 12:57
I had this problem a few years ago, and I fixed it. Or it went away. I've just looked back at old xorg.conf files, and I think that maybe the following line (in the Keyboard "InputDevice" section) might have fixed it. I'm really not sure though... : Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30" – ed. Sep 21 '11 at 18:37
1  
@GeorgeEdison It is not "obviously" not a hardware issue. Souljacker, you should try with a different keyboard on that computer and also try the faulty keyboard on another computer, with a linux OS. If the new keyboard works, probably your keyboard lacks compatibility with linux. If the new keyboard has the same problem, or something similar, I would start thinking the problem is your computer. If the old one doesn't work on an other pc, it is the faulty keyboard that is the problem. Replace it. – David M. Sousa Jul 4 '12 at 14:08
1  
Why not just make the Caps Lock key another Shift key? – Tom Brossman Sep 1 '12 at 9:40
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2 Answers

up vote 4 down vote

This is quite easy to fix. I have successfully used this technique on two people with a 100% success rate:

  1. Put the blade of a knife or tip of a flathead screwdriver underneath the capslock key.
  2. Twist.

The key should come flying off and you can dispose of it the best way you see fit. The recovery from such an operation is surprisingly short. Your little finger (what should be controlling that stuff) should quickly learn to find the shift key.

In all seriousness this is a long-standing but extremely rare bug. By long-standing I mean there are reports of it occasionally popping up all the way back to 2003.

Ultimately this is something you either have to get onto (hunt down an X developer, give them your laptop for a few weeks and probably pay them for their time), or put up with.

I would opt for learning to type properly. It's much quicker with the Shift key.

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up vote 1 down vote

Souljacker, you should try with a different keyboard on that computer and also try the faulty keyboard on another computer, with a Linux OS.

  • If the new keyboard works, probably your keyboard lacks compatibility with Linux.
  • If the new keyboard has the same problem, or something similar, I would start thinking the problem is your computer.
  • If the old one doesn't work on another PC, it is the faulty keyboard that is the problem. Replace it.

Source: comment by David M. Sousa

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