Keyboard LED panel indicator for Unity Desktop

Question

I own a notebook running Ubuntu 16.04 with Unity DE that does not have any keyboard LEDs to indicate NUM-Lock or CAPS-Lock states.

It would be useful for me to see them anyway, ideally through an indicator in Unity's panel.

Please note that I only want to see the states of NUM-Lock, CAPS-Lock and optionally Scroll-Lock. I do not want to see whether any other modifier keys like Shift, Ctrl, Alt, Super etc. are currently pressed. I only want a replacement for my missing LEDs.

Are there any working indicators available?

---

I already have read How to add a keyboard modifier state applet to Unity panel?, but it does not suit my needs. indicator-xkbmod only displays a wrong icon but does not react on keyboard NUM-/CAPS-Lock status changes, kbstate is for KDE only and key-mon does not show the NUM-/CAPS-Lock states but indicates key presses to modifier keys.

Answer 1

Introduction

Disclaimer: I am the author of this indicator

The lks-indicator allows showing the status of all the lock keys , such as Caps, Num, and Scroll lock. By default it shows green icon when no keys are engaged, and switches to red if one or more is engaged, while also showing text representation of which key is active.

Usage:

As shown by -h option:

usage: lks-indicator [-h] [--show-all] [-m]
                     [--ignore-keys IGNORE_KEYS [IGNORE_KEYS ...]]

lks-indicator - Indicates on/off status of Lock keys.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --show-all            Show all keys in label
  -m, --monochrome      Use monochrome icon
  --ignore-keys IGNORE_KEYS [IGNORE_KEYS ...]
                        Ignore specified keys (C, N or S)

Starting the indicator via command line is simple:

python lks-indicator

Users can specify which keys to ignore , with multiple keys separated by spaces. For example,

python lks-indicator --ignore-keys N S

By default , indicator only shows text representation of keys when they are engaged. If you want to always show them use --show-all option.

Please use, Quit button to close the indicator, as Ctrl+C shortcut via command line doesn't work well with app-indicators

The indicator by default works with color icons, red and green, but there's also -m option to use monochrome icon.

Installation

git approach

For those who have git installed:

1. cd /opt
2. sudo git clone https://github.com/SergKolo/lks-indicator.git
3. chmod -R +x /opt/lks-indicator/

git will also allow keeping it updated easily with cd /opt/lks-indicator ; git pull , so I strongly recommend using this method.

Zip package approach:

Alternatively, you can download zip package and extract it where you see fit. Debian package is also available in the repository.

To make it start on every login into Unity , please consult this post: How do I start applications automatically on login?

Gnome Users : you will need AppIndicator Support installed , and optionally Gnome Tweak Tool. Otherwise the bracketed text wont be displayed, only red/green icon.

The indicator also has been tested in MATE and Ubuntu Kylin.

Answer 2

I have also written an application indicator which, in my opinion, looks better.

indicator-keyboard-led

It shows the state of the locks using filled/unfilled circles.

Default appearance of the indicator with Num lock on and Caps and Scroll locks off.

Menu of the indicator, shown on click. The locks can be toggled by clicking the respective item in the menu.

Alternative (short) appearance of the indicator.

You can also change which locks are displayed and in what order.

Installation:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:adrianiainlam/indicator-keyboard-led
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install indicator-keyboard-led

After installation the postinst script will prompt you for preferences configuration. Visit the GitHub repo for full explanation on these settings.

Usage:

The indicator will be configured to autostart on log-in. To start using the indicator after installation, log-out and log-in again, or manually start the indicator (search for "indicator-keyboard-led" in the dash).

The indicator should be shown at the top right corner, with a filled circle representing a lock turned on and an unfilled circle representing a lock turned off.

Clicking on the indicator should result in a menu with the three locks. Clicking on the menu item would cause the corresponding lock to toggle.

_{Bug reports and feature requests welcome.}

Answer 3

I personally use indicator-keylock, it's one the first apps I install when I setup my Ubuntu system. It is included in ubuntu oficial repos for quite some time, works great and looks pretty.

To install, simply: sudo apt install indicator-keylock