Couple of stupid questions

[Crashdamage]

A couple of really dumb questions...

 

I've been using Midnight Commander for a while and really like it. Kinda takes me back to the old days of DOS & Norton Commander or XTreeGold. Anyway, there's a keyboard command I just don't get. In MC's keyboard inputs, "C" is the Ctrl key, "M" is Meta, or Alt, etc. So" C-t" means hold down Ctrl while hitting t. OK, anyone reading this knows that, but what is "C-x t"? I mean, what key is "x"? Holding down ctrl+x while hitting t isnt't it, or ctrl+alt+t, or ctrl+shft+t, or etc, etc...I think I tried 'em all. I know this is a really dumb question. In fact, I can't believe I'm asking and probably deserve a flame or 2, but it would be worth a little abuse to know.

 

Second, when documentation mentions a "grey" key, what key is that?

[Steve Scrimpshire]

It's 'Control-x'... (release)... 't', etc

[Crashdamage]

Thanks - annoyingly dumb question, I know. I just couldn't remember...brain fart from self-abuse, I guess. That and been doing things the GUI way much too long. Tryin' to get in touch with my inner keyboard again. I'd forgotten how fast and easy it is to get stuff done with text apps like Mutt and MC once you get away from the friggin' mouse.

 

Still haven't figured out what a gray key is though.

[Cannonfodder]

I don't see any reference to a gray key in the mc manual or the docs... where are you looking?

[Steve Scrimpshire]

My wild guess is that a 'gray key' is a function key (F1, F2, etc).

[Crashdamage]

Sorry, guess I wasn't clear about that...yeah, there's no reference to a "gray" key in MC.

 

 

Lately I've come across it in 2 Windows programs, a business app and a MC/Norton Commander clone for Win2000 called File Commander. Looks and acts almost exactly like MC, pretty usable, but not as polished. Anyway, they have key bindings like "gray +" "gray -" etc. First thought was it meant the "Windows" key (arrrgghhh!) but no, unless for some reason it's just not working in either app.

 

I can't remember ever seeing a reference to a gray key in Linux, but figured maybe I just haven't run across it.

[qnr]

I've never heard of it until you brought it up, doing a google search for "gray key" +linux brought some things up that checking mc docs didn't

 

http://www.asp-linux.com/en/docs/guide/asp06_42.shtml

 

If I were to make a totally uninformed guess, it would be that +GRAY and -GRAY would refer to the keypad + and -

 

However, reading another, it appears that it would be the Page Up, Page Down, Home & End Keys

Fix Num lock disables Ctrl + gray key commands

 The Sun and power emulation keys ctrl + Home/End/Page Up/ Page Down/Delete added in rev MX21B would only work when NumLock was off. Now the state of NumLock is ignored for these commands.

 

 

Also, seeing the comment about Norton Commander, I just cast X Northern Captain, and there are lots of references to gray in the man page.

 

Here are some examples after searching for gray from the man page:

Screenshot of xnc man page

 

In the event you've never seen xnc, here's a shot of it (I love wasting bandwidth)

Screenshot of xnc (X Northern Captain)

 

if you want it:

http://xnc.dubna.su/

[Crashdamage]

Ah-HA!!

You have solved the Mystery of the Gray Keys! It's the keypad "+" & "-" keys. The link you gave to the MC docs did it. I hadn't seen that in there before, but then I'm not the most diligent RTFM guy.

 

Stoopid questions answered - thanks guys!

 

Oh, and as for XNC, yeah, when I started messin' with MC, naturally I installed and played around with XNC for just a few minutes. It's ok, but I'll take Midnight Commander. Like I said, for me, simpler is better. I was looking for a text-only file manager anyway. I've long missed XtreeGold.

 

Now if I can just get MC to run transparent in an aterm window...I think it will, it will in xterm, and I think I'm close, just need some time to fool with it some more.