Fix TightVNC keyboard issues

if you are using TightVNC as VNC server, the default configuration will map Meta_L and Meta_R to mod4, Alt_L and Alt_R to mod1. It’s VNC server problem that the ALT key doesn’t work. use xmodmap to solve it.

Here we can see the DEFAULT config:

seba@desktop2:~$ xmodmap
xmodmap:  up to 2 keys per modifier, (keycodes in parentheses):

shift       Shift_L (0xa),  Shift_R (0xb)
lock
control     Control_L (0x8),  Control_R (0x9)
mod1        Alt_L (0xe),  Alt_R (0xf)
mod2
mod3
mod4        Meta_L (0xc),  Meta_R (0xd)
mod5

You can load the following file with xmodmap, or run some of the commands directly on the command line:

~/my_xmodmap

!! Note the ! are comment characters

!! suggested to make Emacs work under VNC
keysym Alt_L = Meta_L
keysym Alt_R = Meta_R

!! xmodmap -e 'keysym Alt_L = Meta_L' -e 'keysym Alt_R = Meta_R'
!!
!! some environments still cant handle alt key properly
!! add this:
!!
clear Mod1
add Mod1 = Meta_L Meta_R

!! or
!! xmodmap -e "clear Mod1" -e "add Mod1 = Meta_L Meta_R"

This is the line that worked for me on TightVNC running on Ubuntu 16.04 :

seba@desktop2:~$ xmodmap -e 'keysym Alt_L = Meta_L' -e 'keysym Alt_R = Meta_R'

We can check now that the mappings were changed:

seba@desktop2:~$ xmodmap
xmodmap:  up to 2 keys per modifier, (keycodes in parentheses):

shift       Shift_L (0xa),  Shift_R (0xb)
lock
control     Control_L (0x8),  Control_R (0x9)
mod1        Meta_L (0xe),  Meta_R (0xf)
mod2
mod3
mod4        Meta_L (0xc),  Meta_R (0xd)
mod5

After that, I needed to close Emacs Gui and open it again and the Alt key started to work normally 🙂 Happy ending.

Original from

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/848878/how-do-i-remap-meta-to-alt Fixing the tab key on TightVNC and xfce4

Setting up a simple VNC server such as TightVNC (tightvncserver) has gotten a lot harder in recent Ubuntu distributions, because the tab key seems not to work properly! I find that using the command line is nearly impossible when the tab key doesn’t work in VNC. The problem seems to depend on the window manager in use (I use xfce4). After some hunting, it became apparent that the default window manager key bindings global binds the ““-Tab combination to a feature known as “switching windows within the same application.” I don’t know what a “Super” key is and apparently neither does the system, because it always treats the Tab key as ““-Tab, triggering this feature rather than passing the Tab key event through to the application. Clearing this key from xfce4-settings-manager => window manager => keyboard fixes the problem, as does the following command line equivalent:

xfconf-query -c xfce4-keyboard-shortcuts -p /xfwm4/custom/’<’Super’>’Tab -r

original from:

http://blog.zerosum42.com/2011/10/tech-fixing-tab-key-in-vnc.html