Comments on: How to use Magic System Request Keys in Ubuntu Linux

By: Saint DanBert

Saint DanBert — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:03:23 +0000

Sorry, but some of the text did not make it into my original post.
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My laptop requires a “function key” {Fn} to shift between {PrtSc} and {SysRQ} . I found the following dance makes the magic-keys work.
** press and hold {ALT} through the following
** press and hold {Fn}
** tap {PrtSc/SysRQ} then pause 3 seconds
** tap {magic-key> then pause 3 seconds
** release {Fn}
… repeat for all of the you want
** release {ALT}

When I tap {SysRq} I get a text splash of the same help text as the ‘H’ magic-key.

When I tap {magic-key} I get a brief string announcing whatever that key is supposed to do.
Any details generated by the magic-key get written into /var/log/syslog.

I have never been able to get magic-keys to work while X11 is running -- whether X11 is stalled or not. Also, if I have a blinking LED situation (caps-lock, new-moon, etc) the magic-keys don’t seem to work.

~~~ 0;-Dan

By: Saint DanBert

Saint DanBert — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:58:58 +0000

My laptop requires a “function key” to shift between and . I found the following dance makes the magic-keys work.
** press and hold through the following
** press and hold
** tap then pause 3 seconds
** tap then pause 3 seconds
** release
… repeat for all of the you want
** release

When I tap I get a text splash of the same help text as the ‘H’ magic-key.

When I tap I get a brief string announcing whatever that key is supposed to do.
Any details generated by the magic-key get written into /var/log/syslog.

~~~ 0;-Dan

By: RobotCow

RobotCow — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:51:55 +0000

BTW, there are some Logitech keyboards that have no system requisite key. That’s why I traded my keyboard to a friend even though this is an m$ keyboard :/

By: RobotCow

RobotCow — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:08:43 +0000

Do sys req magic keys work during a fork bomb?

By: dhughes

dhughes — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:57:59 +0000

It doesn’t work in Intrepid (8.10) and I hear rumours it doesn’t work in Jaunty (9.04) either, just a massive amount of screenshot windows open which unfortunately I have experienced.

There is a bug report about this at launchpad https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/303601

By: Anony-mouse

Anony-mouse — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 04:28:23 +0000

Some laptops which require the user to press a Fn (Function key) to access the SysRq / PrntScrn function of a key may not work with these commands, it is a known bug that should be fixed by the next release.

If you really can’t wait re-bind the key somewhere else (a good way is just to switch PrntScrn and SysRq round).

By: TaZMAn

TaZMAn — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:59:22 +0000

@ Ben2K

Your laptop probably needs you to also press the Function key to enable the SysReq key as that key rather a Print Screen key.

Laptops make it difficult due to the bad habit of requiring the pressing of that extra key.
So now you will have to press the Alt - Function - SysReq keys while pressing each of the R E I S U B keys.
Having a great finger span like guitar or piano players have will be a huge help.
Or you can use your nose!

TaZMAn

By: Ben2K

Ben2K — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 06:33:17 +0000

Duh! Why didn’t I thnk of that. Oh. I did. Both produce print-screen behavior. So my system doesn’t seem to respect this feature.

My point was to try to get the article’s author to be more precise in his labeling.

By: Some Guy

Some Guy — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 02:06:53 +0000

@ Ben2K

Um, well then try each and see which works… jeesh, you have two options, it’s not f’ing rocket science here.

By: Ben2K

Ben2K — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 06:39:43 +0000

No, Prtsc and Sysreq are usually in the same key. I'm looking at a keyboard where that is not the case!

By: admin

admin — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 06:30:51 +0000

@Ben2k

Both Prtsc or Sysreq are in the same key please check and let me know

By: Ben2K

Ben2K — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 01:23:51 +0000

Still doesn’t answer my question about which key you are really talking about.

By: admin

admin — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 18:49:26 +0000

@Kim and Fr33d0m

I have modified the article thanks for your comments

By: Fr33d0m

Fr33d0m — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 15:35:00 +0000

“keep in mind that the underlined keys must be kept pressed”

This would be really cool if there were underlined keys to begin with. I presume the Alt and PrntScreen keys were intended to be underlined.

As Kim said, “please proofread”.

By: Ben2K

Ben2K — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 07:07:28 +0000

Now I’m confused. The article is supposed to be about SysRq key combinations, but the text talks about Alt+PrintScreen. Now this may not make a difference on many keyboards, but I’m typing this on a laptop where SysRq and PrintScreen are on separate, adjacent keys.

So which is it? SysRq or PrintScreen?

By: Kim Kleyboecker

Kim Kleyboecker — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 04:11:57 +0000

Please proofread!

“Raw (take control of keyboard back from X), tErminate (kill -15 programs, allowing them to terminate gracefully), kIll (kill -9 unterminated programs), Sync (flush data to disk), Unmount (remount everything read-only), reBoot.” = Alt+PrintScreen+R+E+I+S+U+B NOT “Alt+PrintScreen+R+S+E+I+U+B”

By: Jorge Garcia

Jorge Garcia — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:27:18 +0000

How safe is this? I mean, Would I be able to do it in a console waiting for a user/password with Linux working properly? If so, I would be able to restart any computer with Linux in the planet just by using its keyboard

Thanks in advance for satisfying my curiosity!

Jorge