Ubuntu
unity-2d package

alt+tab brings up the hud unwelcomed when external monitor is connected

Bug #977683 reported by Steve Langasek on 2012-04-10

This bug report is a duplicate of: Bug #923410: HUD - closing a window with <Alt>+<F4> opens the hud. Edit Remove

This bug affects 2 people

Affects		Status	Importance	Assigned to	Milestone
	unity-2d (Ubuntu)	Confirmed	Critical	Unassigned

Bug Description

When I have an external monitor plugged into my system running unity-2d and I press alt+tab, after switching windows, the hud is brought up about 75% of the time. If I tap Alt again to clear it, I'm taking back to the previous window! This makes window switching completely unusable.

If I only have the internal screen connected, this doesn't happen.

The problem persists even if I disable the LVDS display in the display preferences in gnome-control-center.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: unity-2d 5.8.0-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-22.35-generic 3.2.14
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-22-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.0-0ubuntu4
Architecture: amd64
CheckboxSubmission: 017452a27eca3c8b498abbfa5ef91db9
CheckboxSystem: ecaaad6fa1e0799a0aa1126bf620f39e
Date: Mon Apr 9 19:53:17 2012
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release amd64 (20100816.1)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
TERM=xterm
PATH=(custom, user)
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: unity-2d
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2011-11-08 (153 days ago)

Tags:

Revision history for this message

Steve Langasek (vorlon) wrote on 2012-04-10:

Dependencies.txt Edit (7.4 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")

Changed in unity-2d (Ubuntu):
importance:	Undecided → Critical

Revision history for this message

Albert Astals Cid (aacid) wrote on 2012-04-10:

How is your external display connected? Via a regular port or via some propietary hardware system? It seems kind of strange that adding a new screen would trigger this issue.

If you feel adventurous please install unity-2d from this ppa https://launchpad.net/~aacid/+archive/ppaprecise/ and do the following
* Open a terminal
* Write "killall unity-2d-shell"
* Write "killall unity-2d-shell" again
* Write "unity-2d-shell"
* Try to reproduce the problem with alt+tab triggering the hud
* Attach here the output of the "unity-2d-shell" command, which shall contain the logging of which keys you pressed/released and why the hud was triggered

Revision history for this message

Steve Langasek (vorlon) wrote on 2012-04-12: Re: [Bug 977683] Re: alt+tab brings up the hud unwelcomed when external monitor is connected

Download full text (3.4 KiB)

On Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 08:16:26AM -0000, Albert Astals Cid wrote:
> How is your external display connected? Via a regular port or via some
> propietary hardware system?

Er, it's a regular port.

> If you feel adventurous please install unity-2d from this ppa
> https://launchpad.net/~aacid/+archive/ppaprecise/ and do the following

> * Open a terminal
> * Write "killall unity-2d-shell"
> * Write "killall unity-2d-shell" again
> * Write "unity-2d-shell"
> * Try to reproduce the problem with alt+tab triggering the hud
> * Attach here the output of the "unity-2d-shell" command, which shall contain the logging of which keys you pressed/released and why the hud was triggered

Took a while to reproduce the problem, but here it is. As it happens, my
external monitor was not connected when this occurred.

unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:17.483" You released Alt it was a hold
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:18.915" You pressed Alt
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:19.075" You released Alt it's a tap
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:19.947" You pressed Alt
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:20.197" You pressed Alt for 250 ms, it's a hold
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:20.411" You released Alt it was a hold
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:30.619" You pressed Alt
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:30.843" You released Alt it's a tap
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:32.372" You pressed Alt
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:32.595" You released Alt it's a tap
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:32.915" You pressed Alt
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:33.107" You released Alt it's a tap
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:34.188" You pressed Alt
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:34.438" You pressed Alt for 250 ms, it's a hold
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:37.595" You released Alt it was a hold
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:38.875" You pressed Alt
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:39.126" You pressed Alt for 250 ms, it's a hold
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:39.155" You released Alt it was a hold
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:39.540" You pressed Alt
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:39.790" You pressed Alt for 250 ms, it's a hold
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:39.811" You released Alt it was a hold
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:40.004" You pressed Alt
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:40.254" You pressed Alt for 250 ms, it's a hold
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:40.411" You released Alt it was a hold
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:40.803" You pressed Alt
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:41.035" You released Alt it's a tap

So perhaps this has nothing to do with the external monitor at all, and is
just because I type faster when I'm on my external *keyboard* and can
Alt+Tab between windows quicker?

I assumed unity had some way of noticing whether other keys were pressed
while Alt was held down, and if so to ignore it. I gather from the
debugging output that this is not the case?

--
Steve Langasek Give me a lever...

On Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 08:16:26AM -0000, Albert Astals Cid wrote:
> How is your external display connected? Via a regular port or via some
> propietary hardware system?

Er, it's a regular port.

> If you feel adventurous please install unity-2d from this ppa
> https://launchpad.net/~aacid/+archive/ppaprecise/ and do the following

>  * Open a terminal
>  * Write "killall unity-2d-shell"
>  * Write "killall unity-2d-shell" again
>  * Write "unity-2d-shell"
>  * Try to reproduce the problem with alt+tab triggering the hud
>  * Attach here the output of the "unity-2d-shell" command, which shall contain the logging of which keys you pressed/released and why the hud was triggered

Took a while to reproduce the problem, but here it is.  As it happens, my
external monitor was not connected when this occurred.

unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:17.483" You released Alt it was a hold 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:18.915" You pressed Alt 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:19.075" You released Alt it's a tap 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:19.947" You pressed Alt 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:20.197" You pressed Alt  for 250 ms, it's a hold 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:20.411" You released Alt it was a hold 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:30.619" You pressed Alt 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:30.843" You released Alt it's a tap 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:32.372" You pressed Alt 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:32.595" You released Alt it's a tap 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:32.915" You pressed Alt 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:33.107" You released Alt it's a tap 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:34.188" You pressed Alt 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:34.438" You pressed Alt  for 250 ms, it's a hold 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:37.595" You released Alt it was a hold 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:38.875" You pressed Alt 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:39.126" You pressed Alt  for 250 ms, it's a hold 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:39.155" You released Alt it was a hold 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:39.540" You pressed Alt 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:39.790" You pressed Alt  for 250 ms, it's a hold 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:39.811" You released Alt it was a hold 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:40.004" You pressed Alt 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:40.254" You pressed Alt  for 250 ms, it's a hold 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:40.411" You released Alt it was a hold 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:40.803" You pressed Alt 
unity-2d-shell: [DEBUG] KeyDebug "19:11:41.035" You released Alt it's a tap

So perhaps this has nothing to do with the external monitor at all, and is
just because I type faster when I'm on my external *keyboard* and can
Alt+Tab between windows quicker?

I assumed unity had some way of noticing whether other keys were pressed
while Alt was held down, and if so to ignore it.  I gather from the
debugging output that this is not the case?

-- 
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                    http://www.debian.org/
slangasek@ubuntu.com                                     vorlon@debian.org

Revision history for this message

Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote on 2012-07-22:

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.