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If I press the calculator button in my keyboard, the gnome calculator app doesn't appear. I have double checked that the shortcut is ok in the settings app keyboard bindings config pane.

Jeff
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razor7
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2 Answers2

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I found that installing the calculator app via apt instead of snap (the default in 18.04) fixed this issue:

sudo snap remove gnome-calculator
sudo apt install gnome-calculator

This has the added benefit of making the calculator launch instantaneously again.

The cause of the problem is a bug in the gnome-settings-daemon package, which has been fixed in Ubuntu 18.10 and above. The workaround above remains necessary in 18.04, however.

Arthur Blair
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    Great! It also solved the complete transparency window by having enabled Communitheme! – razor7 May 07 '18 at 11:50
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    Much better! It definitely launches faster now! – Stefan Profanter Aug 31 '18 at 07:56
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    How could they possible break the *Calculator* ? Of all things that may be broken this one should always work on any OS, no matter what... *Imagine being a new person to (Ubuntu) Linux and finding that your calculator simply does not work with no error.* – Flatron Sep 10 '18 at 07:44
  • @Flatron: there are [even *more* basic things](https://askubuntu.com/questions/846030/how-to-set-keyboard-repeat-delay-and-speed-in-ubuntu-gnome-16-10#comment1790171_846035) that they broke in Ubuntu 18. – Dan Dascalescu Jan 02 '19 at 06:43
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    Working like a charm, with my Micorsoft keyboard! – Lizozom Feb 16 '19 at 11:33
  • For unknown reasons, I started getting a transparent calculator today in Ubuntu 18.04. No idea what I did. But these two steps restored the calculator to a working state. THANKS – Jeff Feb 28 '19 at 17:08
  • Great! apt version also comes with dark theme instead snap light only... – ruuter Mar 19 '19 at 11:52
  • thanks. It made my microsoft wired keyboard 600 work – IC_ Sep 03 '19 at 09:30
  • Wouhou ! Started to be tired of this bug, really fed up with pressing the Super key then "calcu", then 5 s waiting... You did not save my life, but almost ;-) ! Now Gnome Calculator starts instantly (my keyboard is a Microsoft Natural Comfort Curve 3000). – natsirt Nov 05 '19 at 18:04
  • Worked for me too :-) but now I wonder why the calculator takes sooo long to launch in windoze ?? – Andy May 07 '20 at 12:16
5

You can remove the default shortcut for "Launch Calculator"...

Remove default Calculator shortcut

and instead add a custom shortcut to run gnome-calculator, and assign the Calculator key to it:

Custom Calculator shortcut

Dan Dascalescu
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  • In my case shortcut button doesn't respond when I press calculator button. This doesn't also respond when I try to bind already defined shortcut – IC_ Sep 03 '19 at 09:31