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Killing the CAPS LOCK key

For some time, I have been interested in disabling the CAPS LOCK key. I frequently press it accidentally and it is a continuing aggravation. The old way of doing it no longer worked and I got discouraged.

This might work. (Skip to the very last Update below for a workable solution for me.)

Find the file in /etc/X11/xorg/conf.d that contains the "InputClass" section. Into that section, add

Option "XkbOptions" "caps:none"
Option "XkbOptions" "shift:both_capslock"

At the command line:

$ setxkbmap -option "caps:none"

$ setxkbmap -option "shift:both_capslock"

But that will not survive a reboot; the file edit above will or you can add it to rc.local.

Update: I have been unsuccessful using this in rc.local, so I created an entry in ~/.config/autostart that had both commands after EXEC= and that failed. It was not until I created two .desktop files, k1 and k2, that executed the commands in the proper order that didn't always work so well.

Update: I have not had a consistent experience using rc.local or the .desktop files in this manner, but since I use the LXDE desktop, I have some better options.

FINALLY, . . .
I use the LXDE desktop and this solution only applies to that. It may work in a similar fashion for other desktops. You just need to locate a file or location of a file that will be executed every time th desktop environment is launched.

In /etc/lxdm there are several files that provide the opportunity to set options system wide. In the PostLogin file, I added the following two lines:

setxkbmap -option "caps:none"
setxkbmap -option "shift:both_capslock"

Now, capslock is disabled every time I log in. The information was found in the well-maintained ArchLinux Wiki.

FINAL UPDATE SUCCESS!!
I stumbled upon the file /etc/default/keyboard. Inside, it reads

 # KEYBOARD CONFIGURATION FILE
# Consult the keyboard(5) manual page.
XKBMODEL=pc105
XKBLAYOUT=us
XKBVARIANT=
XKBOPTIONS=
BACKSPACE=guess

Consulting the man page for keyboard reveals the following interesting information

KEYBOARD(5)             
Console-setup User's Manual    

NAME
       keyboard - keyboard configuration file

DESCRIPTION
       The  keyboard file describes the properties of the keyboard. It is read by setupcon(1) in order to configure the keyboard on the  console.   In Debian  systems  the  default  keyboard layout is described in /etc/default/keyboard and it is shared between X and the console.
       The specification of the keyboard layout in the keyboard file is  based on the XKB options XkbModel, XkbLayout, XkbVariant and XkbOptions.  Unfortunately, there is little documentation how to use  them.   Description  of all possible values for these options can be found in the file xorg.lst.
       You might want to read “The XKB Configuration Guide” by Kamil Toman and Ivan U. Pascal:
http://www.xfree86.org/current/XKB-Config.html

       Other possible readings are:
      https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/X_KeyBoard_extension
http://pascal.tsu.ru/en/xkb/
http://www.charvolant.org/~doug/xkb/

The complete XKB-specification can be found on
http://xfree86.org/current/XKBproto.pdf

       The file keyboard consists of variable settings in POSIX format:

              VARIABLE=VALUE
Only  one assignment is allowed per line.  Comments (starting with '#') are also allowed.

A descriptions of options, other errata and some examples follow that.

Of interest to use are those associated with XKBOPTIONS and examples of that are given are


EXAMPLES
       The following configuration will give you the standard US QWERTY layout us). The  key will act as a compose key (compose:menu) and will act as third control key (ctrl:nocaps).

           XKBLAYOUT=us
           XKBVARIANT=
           XKBOPTIONS=compose:menu,ctrl:nocaps

       In the following configuration the right   key  (grp:toggle)  will toggle between US QWERTY layout (us) and Greek (gr) layout.  The option grp_led:scroll is ignored on the console but in X in means to  use  the     ScrollLock  keyboard  led  as  indicator  for the current layout (US or Greek).

           XKBLAYOUT=us,gr
           XKBVARIANT=
           XKBOPTIONS=grp:toggle,grp_led:scroll

       In the following configuration the  +  key  combination will  toggle grp:ctrl_shift_toggle) between French keyboard (fr) without dead keys (nodeadkeys) and British (gb) “Dvorak” (dvorak) keyboard.
       The  right key will be a compose-key (compose:rwin) and the right  key will function as AltGr (lv3:lalt_switch).

           XKBLAYOUT=fr,gb
           XKBVARIANT=nodeadkeys,dvorak
           XKBOPTIONS=grp:ctrl_shift_toggle,compose:rwin,lv3:ralt_switch

My goal is to disable the CAPSLOCK key and turn the left Windows key into a RETURN key.

So, perusing xorg.lst we find

caps:none            Caps Lock is disabled
lv3:enter_switch     Enter on keypad

Therefore, in /etc/default/keyboard we enter

XKBOPTIONS=caps:none,lwin:enter_switch

. . . and reboot.


RESOURCES 

 https://www.linux.com/learn/hacking-your-linux-keyboard-xkb

ArchLinux Wiki - LXDE

xorg.lst
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