Frustration with new shortcut key mechanism in 1.16.0

[Mario Nigrovic]

Folks -

I was kind of mortified that the simple F8 (configurable) menu button got ubercomplicated to now requiring a complex set of keys that are completely impossible to strike with the left hand. What was so bad about the old system? Sure, I like the idea that I could easily toggle in and out of full-screen mode (I'd also like a simple mechanism to minimize the window), but having to strike multiple keys using both hands is really a huge step backwards! Why wasn't the old system simply expanded upon, rather than having this new, complicated way that's really not flexible enough?

-- Mario

[Pierre Ossman]

On 19/03/2026 22:03, 'Mario Nigrovic' via TigerVNC User

The problem was precisely that it wasn't easy to expand on. Adding more
shortcuts that were independent of each other would increase the risk of
conflicts in an unsustainable manner.

The point of the new system is that it allows us to have a basically
unlimited number of shortcuts at a (almost) fixed cost of conflicts with
other things.

Having to let go of the mouse is a downside, yes. My long term hope is
that we can get a toolbar in place to allow control of common things via
just the mouse as well. The ideal is to not have to switch between mouse
and keyboard at all.

Regards,
--
Pierre Ossman Software Development
Cendio AB http://cendio.com
Teknikringen 8 http://twitter.com/ThinLinc
583 30 Linköping http://facebook.com/ThinLinc
Phone: +46-13-214600

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?

[Flachs Flachs]

how do i use all of my emacs control meta key bindings? lots of emacs packages use that combo for their functions.  before i just avoided F8 in my custom bindings, now i have no idea how to best approach the new function.

[Pierre Ossman]

On 17/06/2026 16:05, Flachs Flachs wrote:
> how do i use all of my emacs control meta key bindings? lots of emacs
> packages use that combo for their functions. before i just avoided F8 in
> my custom bindings, now i have no idea how to best approach the new
> function.
>

You don't have to use Ctrl+Meta for TigerVNC. That's just the default.
Feel free to change to a different combo in the settings.

Regards,
--
Pierre Ossman Software Development

Cendio AB https://cendio.com
Teknikringen 8 https://twitter.com/ThinLinc
583 30 Linköping https://facebook.com/ThinLinc

[Flachs Flachs]

thanks! 

that is cool enough, the man page is informative.

i gather that vncviewer settings cant be put in the ~/.vnc/config any other spot for them?  or do i create a script/alias to supply these options?

[Pierre Ossman]

On 17/06/2026 22:13, Flachs Flachs wrote:
> thanks!
> that is cool enough, the man page is informative.
> i gather that vncviewer settings cant be put in the ~/.vnc/config any other
> spot for them? or do i create a script/alias to supply these options?
>

Those settings will be saved once you connect and then reused the next
time. The file used for that is ~/.config/tigervnc/default.tigervnc (or
~/.vnc/default.tigervnc if you're migrating from an older structure).

Regards,
--
Pierre Ossman Software Development

Cendio AB http://cendio.com
Teknikringen 8 http://twitter.com/ThinLinc

583 30 Linköping http://facebook.com/ThinLinc