On Linux, Control-C and Control-V don't work for copying and pasting in terminals. The Control modifier is used for its original purpose of inserting control codes. Instead, terminal apps require an extra Shift modifier, like Control+Shift+C. But what if there were hidden shortcut combos for copy and paste
  • enemenemu@lemm.ee
    72·
    1 day ago

    I got bored after reading 95%, including the end, and it does not mention what the “new” keyboard shortcut is.

    I also miss the point why you bring up external programmable keyboards and not mentioning alternative layouts like neo.

    • Kissaki@programming.devEnglish
      2·
      11 hours ago

      It doesn’t open with a summary or overview but dives right in to exploration, but I think the point comes across:

      The copy and paste key codes, which have no physical keys anymore, are - to a degree - supported in software. Their claim is that those key codes are the tool for universal copy and paste, and then it’s the input interpretations job (key and combination mapping) to offer bindings to those key codes.

      GTK added support the copy and paste keyboards in January 2025. QT also added support for copy and paste key codes the same month. I’m not sure of the first released version of the GTK toolkit that will contain the fix. For QT, it will be QT 6.10, scheduled for release in September 2025. Together, this will cover many apps built for Gnome and KDE as well as others that use the same toolkits.

      … followed by some more “current state of support for those key codes”.

    • chirping@infosec.pub
      3·
      2 days ago

      Did you (or I?) miss something here? In the 3rd paragraph it’s “revealed”:

      In a story of “what’s old is new again”, the solution dates back to ancient keyboards with physical keys for Copy and Paste.

      Neo seems like a cool layout, reminds me of “unexpected keyboard” for android, but I fail to see the relevance since it doesn’t have the copy/paste buttons (like the keyboard in the picture in the article) as far as I can see

      • enemenemu@lemm.ee
        61·
        2 days ago

        Buying a new keyboard with an unusual key (combination) is not the solution to a universal copy paste shortcut. I didn’t get why you’d write about adding a new universal shortcut by buying a new external keyboard that you can customize when you can customize what you already have. Yes, customizing the external keyboard is different but it is far far away from becoming universal.

        • brian@programming.dev
          2·
          3 hours ago

          ctrl v is convention for paste, but plenty of things (ex terminals) use that for something else. this is a universal (wrt the app receiving it) keycode that means paste. it lets you bind a key, or a keyboard shortcut, to the paste key and paste in any app. without this it isn’t possible.

          it doesn’t even have to be a new programmable keyboard. there exist software key remappers for linux.

          you could remap a mouse button to paste, you could remap ctrl v to always paste regardless of the app, etc., all in software, all not possible before.