hpr-knowledge-base/hpr_transcripts/hpr4413.txt

Episode: 4413
Title: HPR4413: KDE custom shortcuts are easy and useful
Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr4413/hpr4413.mp3
Transcribed: 2025-10-26 00:24:39

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This is Hacker Public Radio Episode 4,413 for Wednesday 2 July 2025.
Today's show is entitled, KDE Custom Shortcuts Are Easy and Useful.
It is hosted by GemLog, and is about 5 minutes long.
It carries a clean flag.
The summary is, the episode describes how to access the custom shortcuts and KDE desktop
things you can do.
You are listening to a show from the Reserve Q. We are airing it now because we had free
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GemLog again.
This could be quite a short recording, really, because on the one hand it is kind of trivial
to do.
On a KDE desktop, but on the other hand, it is so very, very useful that if you are not
doing it, you really should be, I think.
If you go to the system settings in the main menu for KDE and scroll down, you can get
to shortcuts, and under shortcuts, there is a thing called custom shortcuts, and you
can do anything you want in here, and you can attach it to anything.
For example, one of my very common things is I use what I still call the left omega key,
although it is Windows.
I use the left meta key, maybe, the, anyway, that left Windows key plus K to load up
Kate, because I need Kate all the time, and I need it with different configurations and
save bookmarks and stuff like that.
Another thing that I use the shortcuts for is typing characters that don't belong to
my keyboard.
I always have my keyboard set to EU, because that is mostly what I need, but there are
still some characters missing.
I miss me, which is to say, move in the Greek alphabet.
I miss the degree key, actually a degree key somewhere else, but I forgot where it is.
Pi, I need to post Pi sometimes, but I also got here.
Oh, the Welsh, W with a hat, need that sometimes, I need the O with a tick, I need the E with
a right tick, I need the E with a left tick, and some other things were there, like vowels
with unloads and stuff, so I have that.
Another thing you can do is you can tell it to run programs, depending on what key.
So, oh, wait, to go back, for typing weird characters, I echo the character, echo-n,
the character, pipe to x-clip, dash-sl-clip, so I use x-clip, but I'm given to understand
that Wayland will have the same functionality, but I don't know how to use it.
What else do I do with that?
In Terro Bang, yeah, that's just an extra thing.
Oh, share URL.
Yeah, you can call KD to connect CLI.
I make it do things with x-clip, you can do that.
I use it to pull up a calculator.
I just use left meta 1 as in 1, 2, 3.
Just pull that up.
I pull up K right with a slightly different version of the thing that I pull up KT,
spectacle, edit the clipboard.
Oh, converter now, I love converter now.
It's so excellent.
I mostly use it for currencies, but if you don't know converter now, you should go grab it.
And yeah, I use the left meta plus C for that.
Oh, I use it to resize screens, and I'll just go use it for.
Oh, I just attached everything.
GQRX, RGB, the things you can trigger are just endless.
Really?
So now I'm dabbling.
I'm sorry.
So anyway, I hope some of you found that useful at least.
Thanks very much.
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