Alt-Shift-Q shutdowns an XO even if in the middle of an activity

[greenfeld]

Pressing Alt-Shift-Q is a shortcut to exit Sugar. But pressing it shutdowns an XO with no confirmation and powers it off even if a user is in the middle of using an activity.

I can understand the need, but I don't know if this is a wise decision or something someone might stumble upon by accident.

Seen in 11.2.0 os15, but believed to be a historical feature.

[Quozl]

Pressing power button twice, or using the Shutdown menu item also shuts down and powers off an XO even if a user is in the middle of using an activity, so I don't see why the Alt-Shift-Q shortcut should be any different.

Pressing power button twice, or using the Shutdown menu item, is also something that may be stumbled upon by accident. We call that discoverable.

Alt-Shift-Q also works like this in 10.1.3.

It is defined in sugar.git/src/jarabe/view/keyhandler.py with a comment that the following are intended for emulator users. (Though I don't see why open search or say text are thus described, but patching that would take hours).

I think it is important that teachers who use emulators, and therefore may use Alt-Shift-Q, have a consistent experience when using an XO.

However, Alt-Shift-Q gives no immediate feedback ... on a unit with slow microSD, it can take several seconds before Sugar shows any sign of being shutdown.

[greenfeld]

By "in the middle of an activity" I meant that the activity may be in the foreground, as opposed to the Shutdown menu which requires you to be on one of Sugar's main screens with the XO character. It's not clear to me if saving current activity state to a journal entry is guaranteed when Sugar starts to shutdown the computer.

Pressing the Power button twice is kind of deliberate. Typing Alt-Shift-Q once instead of Shift-Q or Ctrl-Q may not be.

And yes I am aware that this shortcut is documented. I'm not quite sure what the proper fix (if any) would be.

[Quozl]

Replying to greenfeld:

It's not clear to me if saving current activity state to a journal entry is guaranteed when Sugar starts to shutdown the computer.

That would be worth testing.

Pressing the Power button twice is kind of deliberate. Typing Alt-Shift-Q once instead of Shift-Q or Ctrl-Q may not be.

I don't see much difference, except that the power button is typically introduced to the learner by the time they begin to use the keyboard, and the power button is labelled with international standard power symbol whereas Alt-Shift-Q is not.

[pgf]

it sounds like the real bug here is that there's no "are you sure?" mechanism in place for alt-shift-Q. ideally it would take you to the home screen and the shutdown menu entry. but for a keystroke to shut down the machine (picture a user mis-typing a nearby keyboard shortcut) seems a little harsh.

[erikos]

I think a kid would not hit it by accident, so I am not worried. On the other hand, I don't think an emulator user would mind having that shortcut gone, so I would be fine with removing it.