this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2026
24 points (96.2% liked)

Linux

61979 readers
2399 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I am a new Linux user and have settled on Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS in Wayland. In Windows, I used AutoHotKey to automate the keyboard to type repetitive text strings with a hotkey e.g. pressing Alt+E to type my@email.com

I believe the solution in Linux is to install an application like dotool or ydotool and then create a custom shortcut command. The problem is I cannot get dotool and ydotool to work. I'll document the issues I'm having with ydotool as there seems to be more awareness and support for this application.

I am following the instillation instructions here:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/1413829/how-can-i-install-and-use-the-latest-ydotool-keyboard-automation-tool-working-o

Everything seems to go fine until I get to this step and get the following error:

sudo systemctl enable ydotoold

Failed to enable unit: Unit file ydotoold.service does not exist.

I came across this issue which suggests it could be a permissions issue on /dev/uinput and tried to the solution provided in that post but I still can't enable ydotoold after a reboot.

Running this command works:

ydotoold --version

v1.0.4-38-g708e96f

But I am stuck here and not sure how to troubleshoot or progress further. Any help would be appreciated, thank you!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] DarkSpectrum@lemmy.world 1 points 4 weeks ago

Thanks, unfortunately ydotool has removed their sleep command stating 'this should be your shell's job'. I tried using the standard shell sleep command and used the semicolon to chain commands. Maybe thats not how to use the command field of the custom shortcut.