Multimedia Keys on Ubuntu 10.10

[TiGRETON]

Hi,

I'm trying to make VLC use the multimedia keys for a Dell Inspiron 9300 in Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition. Volume up, down and mute is already controlled by GNOME, but VLC does not respond to play/pause, next, prev and stop (XF86AudioPlay, XF86AudioNext, XF86AudioPrev and XF86AudioStop).

I'm reducing my tests to play/pause with a sample video. Using "--global-key-play-pause XF86AudioPlay" or "--global-key-play-pause 102" (the keycode xev returns me when I press the button) does nothing inside VLC. Using --key-play-pause instead of --global-key-play-pause has the same effect. Trying to map a new hotkey inside VLC doesn't work either (when I press the multimedia button nothing happens)

I've also tried disabling the keyboard shortcut, opening System -> Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcuts, the select the "Play (or play/pause) entry and hit backspace to disable it. Same luck

Keys work using another media player, such as Ubuntu's built-in one (Gstreamer, renamed to "Movie Player"), so I guess the problem is between GNOME and VLC not capturing the signals sent. I've seen some fixes, such as rebinding the multimedia keys to hidden "wget" against VLC's http interface, but would love to find a smoother solution.

Thanks!

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

There are two common reasons why a key doesn't work:

• Another application grabbed the key. This is usually evident - xev won't show any event when the key is pressed.
• The key is not known to the VLC plugin that handles it.

I don't have media keys on my keyboard, so I cannot reproduce your problem.

[TiGRETON]

Thanks for the reply Rémi. xev reports the following when pressing the Play/Pause button.

Code: Select all

KeymapNotify event, serial 34, synthetic NO, window 0x0, keys: 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Is there a way to tell VLC to catch this key? Using the default Preferences panel from VLC doesn't work.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

What you pasted is a not keypess events to begin with. (It's a notification that the keyboard mappings has changed.)

[skinnerd]

i've run across the same exact problem here; can't get VLC to recognize the laptop's multimedia keys ( [fn]+F9 [fn]+F10 etc.).
ubuntu 10.10 both vlc versions 1.1.4 & 1.1.7 were tested. same results all around.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

You need to stop the application that grabbed the multimedia keys.

[skinnerd]

this is happening on a vanilla install. there is to the best of my knowledge, no other applications (multimedia or otherwise) running.

[rykel98]

Hi, I am using a Prolink Wireless keyboard with multimedia keys too. Like the above post says, I can control Ubuntu Volume Control and Rhythmbox but NOT VLC Player. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks, Rykel

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Kill the Ubuntu Volume Control and Rythmbox then.

[rykel98]

Kill the Ubuntu Volume Control and Rythmbox then.

Hi Remi, only problem is... How?

Also, Rhythmbox should not be running as I never start it... but since Rhythmbox does appear as a link when I click on the Volume Control, I am not sure if it is auto-loaded by the OS at startup.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

This is not a Ubuntu support forum.

[akog82]

Sorry to necro-post, but I have been having a similar issue, and found very little in the way of help, despite a very thorough "Google-ing".

Will this issue remain unattended due to the original posters use of a GNU/Linux distribution?

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

There is no solution. GNOME thinks it's right for them to grab the multimedia keys (arguably correct for volume keys), and VLC is thus unable to receive them, even when it has the focus.

It's not a technical problem, it's a design decision from GNOME. The VLC forum cannot fix that.

[dowcet]

Over on a thread at the Ubuntu forum, it suggests deactivating the global shortcut keys, which is easy enough:

System>>Preferences>>Keyboard Shortcuts
Under Sound, clear the keys for "Play (or Play/Pause)", "Previous track", "Next track", and for that matter anything else that uses a key that you want to have in VLC.

These keys will now work when setting hotkeys in VLC. Problem solved.

But it still didn't work for me at first, because I didn't realize VLC sets *Global* hotkeys separately, in a column next to the regular ones. Once I defined the hotkeys there and restarted VLC, it worked fine.