How to config hotkeys for switching between consoles in ubuntu

Solution 1:

Oneiric provides a utility for this. Forgive the cattiness of this post; I can't for the life of me figure out why Ubuntu continues to ship with these keyboard shortcuts enabled in the first place.

Click on the "Dash Home" icon in the top/left end of your toolbar, and search for "keyboard". Open "Keyboard Layout", select the (typically only) layout in the list (why isn't it preselected for you?), then click "Options" and open up "Miscellaneous compatibility options". Select "Special keys (Ctrl+Alt+) handled in a server". Spend the next thirteen seconds thanking the developer who added this little checkbox, and the next ten wondering (again) why the little checkbox isn't checked by default.

In good humor, JB

Solution 2:

Those shortcuts are not defined by ubuntu, they are part of the basic linux kernel keyboard drivers. Changing them appears to be possible by following the instructions here:

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/187

The basics are that you need to create your own custom keymap file, then set up a custom upstart job to load that at boot time. Note that you can make your keyboard completely unusable by doing this, so test it out before setting up the upstart job.