Ubuntu Unleashed: Howto: Setup Alt-Ctrl-Del to open gnome-system-monitor, Alt-Ctrl-End to open gnome-terminal!

Howto: Setup Alt-Ctrl-Del to open gnome-system-monitor, Alt-Ctrl-End to open gnome-terminal!

Labels: Alt-Ctrl-Delete in Ubuntu, Ubuntu Hotkeys, Ubuntu Shortcut Keys Posted by defcon on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at 5:18 AM

Last night I was bored and created a simple bash script that uses zenity as a simple install gui and wanted to create something useful, so I figured most users migrating from windows are used to a task manager executing when alt-ctrl-del is pressed so I made this tiny script to do that for you with a nice little addition to execute gnome-terminal when Alt-Ctrl-End is pressed.

Note: This only works for Hardy Heron

Here is what the installer looks like:

Download & Install:
Grab the files here
Now save that in a new directory of your choosing or right on your desktop
Right click shortcuts.tar.gz and select extract here

Double click on shortcut-install to install, click run to execute my script, then click ok to setup the shortcuts.

Now try it!
Alt-Ctrl-Delete is now binded to gnome-system-monitor
Alt-Ctrl-End is now binded to gnome-terminal
Alt-Ctrl-P is now binded to the logoff screen

You can uninstall the package by double clicking on shortcut-uninstall click run, then ok to uninstall.

P.S. If you know of any other applications to setup keybindings let me know

Comments (15)

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Wolfestine · 881 weeks ago

The script seems fine, and it even gives a success message in the end but it doesn't work on my Gutsy. Though I would like to add that setting the terminal shortcut from the keyboards shortcuts in preferences doesn't help either. I probably messed up something somewhere. Would you have any idea of what the problem might be? Other shortcuts set from the keyboard shortcuts do work though. Thanks

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defcon 52p · 881 weeks ago

try issuing these commands in the terminal with gutsy:

gconftool-2 -t str --set /apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/power "<Control><Alt>P"

gconftool-2 -t str --set /apps/metacity/global_keybindings/run_command_9 "<Control><Alt>Delete"

gconftool-2 -t str --set /apps/metacity/keybinding_commands/command_9 "gnome-system-monitor"

gconftool-2 -t str --set /apps/metacity/global_keybindings/run_command_10 "<Control><Alt>End"

gconftool-2 -t str --set /apps/metacity/keybinding_commands/command_10 "gnome-terminal"

4 replies · active 881 weeks ago

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Wolfestine · 881 weeks ago

Nope, these commands neither gave any error message, nor did they do the job they were meant to do. :(

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defcon 52p · 881 weeks ago

hmm, I wish I still had gutsy installed to see what gconf-editor settings need to be edited, you may want to open up gconf-editor and do a search for keybind

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Wolfestine 0p · 881 weeks ago

Everything seems to be in order in the gconf-editor. In /apps/metacity/global_keybindings run_command_9 has a value <Control><Alt>Delete and run_command_10 has a value <Control><Alt>End

In /apps/metacity/global_keybindings command_9 has gnome-system-monitor and command_10 has gnome-teminal

Even the power entry in /apps/metacity/global_keybindings seems right. Still no luck.

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defcon 52p · 881 weeks ago

weird, have u tried restarting x?, alt cltrl backspace

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Wolfestine 0p · 881 weeks ago

Yup, Did restart x and when that didn't work I rebooted the system. Still didn't work. And like I said, the terminal shortcut set from preferences>keyboard shortcuts doesn't work either.

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Prashanth Kanduri · 881 weeks ago

This is not working in Gutsy. I tried double clicking it, and then nothing happens. And then, i can add more keyboard bindings for the same thing by just adding "<Control><Shift>Esc" under "<Control><Alt>Delete" right..??

1 reply · active 881 weeks ago

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defcon 52p · 881 weeks ago

this only works in hardy heron

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Daniel Holm · 881 weeks ago

Awsome! Thanks man.

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Wolfestine 0p · 879 weeks ago

Okay man, I think I got what was wrong with my gutsy. I think it was compiz that was messing things up. I set the commands and the keys manually using compiz-config and they work now.