Enable the Calculator Keyboard Button

Many keyboards have a dedicated Calculator button. The following steps show how to enable that button, by using xbindkeys.

0. Install xbindkeys

If xbindkeys is not already installed, install it. Then create a new default configuration file:

$ sudo pacman -S xbindkeys
$ xbindkeys --defaults > ~/.xbindkeysrc

NOTE: The default ~/.xbindkeysrc enables some example key bindings, which you will probably want to comment out.

1. Map the key to a command

Edit ~/.xbindkeysrc to assign a command to the XF86Calculator button:

"/usr/bin/galculator"
XF86Calculator

2. Start xbindkeys

Start xbindkeys by running:

$ xbindkeys

To ensure xbindkeys runs on startup, add it to your session autostart configuration, or include it in your .xinitrc or .xprofile file with:

xbindkeys &

X. Troubleshooting

Changes to ~/.xbindkeysrc should be automatically applied (or at least, fixed with a reboot). If you don't want to reboot, try restarting your X session, and/or killing xbindkeys (forcing it to restart):

$ killall -HUP xbindkeys