Reversing role of pressing shift+number
Solution 1:
This is actually pretty easy to achieve using xmodmap. Simply make a new file, with the following:
keycode 10 = exclam 1 exclam 1
keycode 11 = at 2 at 2
keycode 12 = numbersign 3 numbersign 3
keycode 13 = dollar 4 dollar 4
keycode 14 = percent 5 percent 5
keycode 15 = asciicircum 6 asciicircum 6
keycode 16 = ampersand 7 ampersand 7
keycode 17 = asterisk 8 asterisk 8
keycode 18 = parenleft 9 parenleft 9
keycode 19 = parenright 0 parenright 0
Save it in the root of your home directory as .Xmodmap (capitalization is important). Now, just log off and back in (you may have to reboot), and your keys will be swapped. Keep reading for how I came up with this. The information I used to figure this out came from here. Fire up a terminal and type the following command:
xmodmap -pke
This will spit out a bunch of keycode setting/value pairs, like this:
......
keycode 27 = r R r R
keycode 28 = t T t T
keycode 29 = y Y y Y
keycode 30 = u U u U
keycode 31 = i I i I
keycode 32 = o O o O
keycode 33 = p P p P
keycode 34 = bracketleft braceleft bracketleft braceleft
keycode 35 = bracketright braceright bracketright braceright
keycode 36 = Return NoSymbol Return
keycode 37 = Control_L NoSymbol Control_L
keycode 38 = a A a A
keycode 39 = s S s S
keycode 40 = d D d D
keycode 41 = f F f F
keycode 42 = g G g G
keycode 43 = h H h H
keycode 44 = j J j J
keycode 45 = k K k K
......
The keycode is the key on your physical keyboard, and the value on the right of the equals sign is what gets sent to your PC. The reason there are four is the first is plain, the second one is with shift pressed, and the third (plain) and forth (shift) seem to be enabled once you click the Scroll Lock button. As you can see, this give you a lot of flexibility to do whatever you can dream up to modify your keyboard.
Now, this will only work when you are logged in to X (as in the GUI), hence the name. If you fire up a terminal in Gnome, Unity, etc. you are still good using Xmodmap, but if you want the same functionality in the console (i.e. after pressing CTRL+ALT+1, sshing into a box, working on a server, or a PC with no GUI) you will need to use loadkeys. Although the general idea is the same, loadkeys offers much more functionality and granularity, so it is slightly more complicated. Now, these commands all MUST be done from the actual console, they can not be done with a terminal emulator, or you will receive an error, like this: Couldn't get a file descriptor referring to the console.
First we will need to create our default keymap, like this:
dumpkeys > ~/my_keymap.map
It would be a good idea to make a copy of this in case you really mess it up. Now, we just need to edit it, with our changes. Each key definition looks like this:
keycode 2 = one exclam one one
alt keycode 2 = Meta_one
shift alt keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
altgr alt keycode 2 = Meta_one
shift altgr alt keycode 2 = Meta_one
shiftl keycode 2 = one
shift shiftl keycode 2 = exclam
altgr shiftl keycode 2 = one
shift altgr shiftl keycode 2 = one
alt shiftl keycode 2 = Meta_one
shift alt shiftl keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
altgr alt shiftl keycode 2 = Meta_one
shift altgr alt shiftl keycode 2 = Meta_one
shiftr keycode 2 = one
shift shiftr keycode 2 = exclam
altgr shiftr keycode 2 = one
shift altgr shiftr keycode 2 = one
alt shiftr keycode 2 = Meta_one
shift alt shiftr keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
altgr alt shiftr keycode 2 = Meta_one
shift altgr alt shiftr keycode 2 = Meta_one
shiftl shiftr keycode 2 = one
shift shiftl shiftr keycode 2 = exclam
altgr shiftl shiftr keycode 2 = one
shift altgr shiftl shiftr keycode 2 = one
alt shiftl shiftr keycode 2 = Meta_one
shift alt shiftl shiftr keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
altgr alt shiftl shiftr keycode 2 = Meta_one
shift altgr alt shiftl shiftr keycode 2 = Meta_one
ctrll keycode 2 = one
shift ctrll keycode 2 = exclam
altgr ctrll keycode 2 = one
shift altgr ctrll keycode 2 = one
alt ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_one
shift alt ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
altgr alt ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_one
shift altgr alt ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_one
shiftl ctrll keycode 2 = one
shift shiftl ctrll keycode 2 = exclam
altgr shiftl ctrll keycode 2 = one
shift altgr shiftl ctrll keycode 2 = one
alt shiftl ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_one
shift alt shiftl ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
altgr alt shiftl ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_one
shift altgr alt shiftl ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_one
shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = one
shift shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = exclam
altgr shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = one
shift altgr shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = one
alt shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_one
shift alt shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
altgr alt shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_one
shift altgr alt shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_one
shiftl shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = one
shift shiftl shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = exclam
altgr shiftl shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = one
shift altgr shiftl shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = one
alt shiftl shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_one
shift alt shiftl shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
altgr alt shiftl shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_one
shift altgr alt shiftl shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_one
As you can see, it offers a lot more functionality/granularity. For each key, just swap the shift and regular values, i.e. here would be the swapped one key:
keycode 2 = exclam one exclam exclam
alt keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shift alt keycode 2 = Meta_one
altgr alt keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shift altgr alt keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shiftl keycode 2 = exclam
shift shiftl keycode 2 = one
altgr shiftl keycode 2 = exclam
shift altgr shiftl keycode 2 = exclam
alt shiftl keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shift alt shiftl keycode 2 = Meta_one
altgr alt shiftl keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shift altgr alt shiftl keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shiftr keycode 2 = exclam
shift shiftr keycode 2 = one
altgr shiftr keycode 2 = exclam
shift altgr shiftr keycode 2 = exclam
alt shiftr keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shift alt shiftr keycode 2 = Meta_one
altgr alt shiftr keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shift altgr alt shiftr keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shiftl shiftr keycode 2 = exclam
shift shiftl shiftr keycode 2 = one
altgr shiftl shiftr keycode 2 = exclam
shift altgr shiftl shiftr keycode 2 = exclam
alt shiftl shiftr keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shift alt shiftl shiftr keycode 2 = Meta_one
altgr alt shiftl shiftr keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shift altgr alt shiftl shiftr keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
ctrll keycode 2 = exclam
shift ctrll keycode 2 = one
altgr ctrll keycode 2 = exclam
shift altgr ctrll keycode 2 = exclam
alt ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shift alt ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_one
altgr alt ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shift altgr alt ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shiftl ctrll keycode 2 = exclam
shift shiftl ctrll keycode 2 = one
altgr shiftl ctrll keycode 2 = exclam
shift altgr shiftl ctrll keycode 2 = exclam
alt shiftl ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shift alt shiftl ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
altgr alt shiftl ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shift altgr alt shiftl ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = exclam
shift shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = one
altgr shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = exclam
shift altgr shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = exclam
alt shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shift alt shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_one
altgr alt shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shift altgr alt shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shiftl shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = exclam
shift shiftl shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = one
altgr shiftl shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = exclam
shift altgr shiftl shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = exclam
alt shiftl shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shift alt shiftl shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_one
altgr alt shiftl shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
shift altgr alt shiftl shiftr ctrll keycode 2 = Meta_exclam
The reason for the extra granularity, is because you tend to use a lot more keyboard shortcuts when using the console, due to it's nature.
Now, to test your changes, you can use the following command:
loadkeys ~/my_keymap.map
Play around, use some programs you usually use, and make sure it works the way you want. If you messed up, you can just use the loadkeys command to fall back to the default. To make it permanent, you can add the command to the end of your ~/.bashrc file.