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How do I swap the left Alt and the left Super ("windows") keys in Saucy Salamander? I just upgraded and I have noticed the keyboard layout dialog has changed, and I can no longer find the options window. I use this option because occasionally I use a Sun keyboard that has super next to space, which I'm not used to.

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3

You can use the following commands in terminal to swap Left Alt with Left Super:

xmodmap -e "keycode 64 = Super_L NoSymbol Super_L"    #this will make Alt_L to act as Super_L
xmodmap -e "keycode 133 = Alt_L Meta_L Alt_L Meta_L"  #this will make Super_L to act as Alt_L

To get this change for every session, after you have run the ​​previous commands create a file called .xmodmap with the new keymaps, using the following command:

xmodmap -pke > .xmodmap

Then, create a file called .xinitrc in your home directory, containing the following line/command:

xmodmap .xmodmap
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  • Thank you for your answer! Unfortunately I don't find modifying the Xmodmap configuration every time I change keyboards (once or twice per day) very user friendly. – Joni Oct 23 '13 at 16:29
  • @Joni the change is permanent (for your user) if you create the .xinitrc file as he indicates – Braiam Oct 23 '13 at 16:33
  • @Braiam, depending on where I am I use the laptop keyboard or the Sun keyboard with the funny layout, which means having to swap or unswap the keys almost every time I start work. – Joni Oct 23 '13 at 17:11
  • I'm marking this answer as accepted because it's more general and may help future visitors better even if it's not the best solution in my particular case. – Joni Oct 24 '13 at 9:42
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The layout options can be changed in gnome-tweak-tool, in the "Typing" section. The setting to configure "Alt/Win key behavior" is the last one in the list.

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    While your answer is correct and straight to the point, this it can't be generalized to any two keys. – Radu Rădeanu Oct 23 '13 at 16:16
  • the "Typing" section doesn't appear to even be in the gnome-tweak-tool an ymore... – chrismarx Mar 13 '14 at 18:11
  • Are you taking about the 14.04 beta @chrismarx? In 13.10 it's there. – Joni Mar 13 '14 at 22:20
  • Ah, I'm on 12.04, maybe that's the problem- – chrismarx Mar 14 '14 at 14:13
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    Works great for Ubuntu 16.04 using a Mac keyboard – Khai Dinh May 6 '16 at 15:23

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