hardware wizards of fedi, i have a question
on my old laptop, the 'p' key stopped working. not just the keycap itself, but the underlying key. even if i rip off the keycap and press on the rubber part, it never types anything. other keys work, more or less, at least they type.
this would be ok because i use the old laptop mostly as a server, but now it's bad because it's currently turned off and the luks password, the user password and root password all contain 'p' somewhere in them.
if i had graphics, i could copy a 'p' from somewhere and paste it. but i don't, the first password prompt (disk decryption) is in the ramdisk phase and the second (user login) is from a terminal, not a graphical display manager. as far as i know i don't have copying abilities in any of them.
does anyone know of a way of inputting a character at least once without physically pressing the key? i cannot unlock the disk; i cannot login; i cannot chroot because that requires unlocking the disk. there is no sshd running, i start services manually after booting up.
i know i can probably get a usb keyboard and plug it in and use that, but i don't really want to buy stuff unless i have to. is there any obscure and creative way of having a 'p' without the 'p' key?
arihi :bocchi_arch: :naima_padoru: :blobcatchristmastree: :ibrs2: :ene:
npub188…jglkl
2026-06-12 14:45:13 UTC
Author Public Key
npub1887fe0nagc0c5dctz6t7w70sd36k96zka4lcwga8lmfn97wct02qgjglklSeen on
wss://relay.momostr.pinkPublished at
2026-06-12 14:45:13 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "hardware wizards of fedi, i have a question\r\n\r\non my old laptop, the 'p' key stopped working. not just the keycap itself, but the underlying key. even if i rip off the keycap and press on the rubber part, it never types anything. other keys work, more or less, at least they type.\r\n\r\nthis would be ok because i use the old laptop mostly as a server, but now it's bad because it's currently turned off and the luks password, the user password and root password all contain 'p' somewhere in them.\r\n\r\nif i had graphics, i could copy a 'p' from somewhere and paste it. but i don't, the first password prompt (disk decryption) is in the ramdisk phase and the second (user login) is from a terminal, not a graphical display manager. as far as i know i don't have copying abilities in any of them.\r\n\r\ndoes anyone know of a way of inputting a character at least once without physically pressing the key? i cannot unlock the disk; i cannot login; i cannot chroot because that requires unlocking the disk. there is no sshd running, i start services manually after booting up.\r\n\r\ni know i can probably get a usb keyboard and plug it in and use that, but i don't really want to buy stuff unless i have to. is there any obscure and creative way of having a 'p' without the 'p' key?",
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