Recovering Ctrl-Alt-Backspace functionality in Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic

I posted here about my upgrade, here about getting my Epson scanner to work, and here about losing the shutdown confirmation timer. In this post, I’ll cover getting Ctrl-Alt-Backspace to reset the x-server.

Prior to Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty, holding down Ctrl-Alt-Backspace simultaneously instantly closed the current session and reset the X server. This was incredibly useful when changing or upgrading video drivers, or when needing a quick logout after changing groups and permissions. But, the developers said that some folks wanted it changed because they hit this sequence by accidentally or unintentionally and lost their work. What???? How do you hold three keys down simultaneously by accident?

Anyway, recovering the capability required editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf manually as I documented here. In Karmic, it’s a bit easier. Simply go to System -> Preferences -> Keyboard. Click on the Layouts tab:

Next, click on the Layout Options… button:

About 1/2 way down the page, click on the arrow next to “Key sequenct to kill the X server” as shown above. Then simply click in the checkbox to show a check there as in the screenshot. Click on Close and you’re done. That’s it – functionality restored!

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