linux - Disc light comes on when pressing keys in Iceweasel Preferences? Is this malevolent?

07
2014-04
  • user288490

    On Linux,I'm using the Iceweasel web browser (it's effectively Firefox), and in Edit/Preferences/General/Startup, when I type a URL into the "Home Page" box, the hard disc light comes on for EVERY press of a key (eg www.google.com). This seems odd (and unnecessary). I've tried entering text in other boxes in Preferences, and the disc light DOESN'T come on.

    Do you know why the disc light is coming on, and does it suggest that something sneaky and malevolent is happening? Thanks very much.

    Dave

    • Answers
  • Oxymoron

    Could it be your swap?

    Check out iostat and iotop to track down what's going on. Could alternatively be a question for the iceweasel community, point them here for more feedback.


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  • DigitalRoss

    Xorg uses an input driver on linux called evdev that can do something like that via a mouse button.

    See man 4 evdev. Typically the feature you want is accomplished via Option "EmulateWheel", although you will need a keyboard equivalent to mouse buttons 4 and 5.

    Another approach is via packages xautomation and xte. The combination of these two packages can do amazing things. Essentially you can program xbindkeys to run xte with arbitrary commands. Try installing the packages and typing man xautomation and man xte.

    For an example of something vaguely related, and how it was solved with xautomation and xte, see: Where do I start making a linux input hack? on stackoverflow.