I'll assume that you're referring to programs running in XWindows.
Here's a possible solution using WindowMaker:
Edit the WindowMaker file (either by hand, or with wmakerconf or WPrefs) to add a new command to the root menu (that appears when you right click on the background). Here you can associate a file to execute (or do whatever with) with a keyboard shortcut. I just wrote a script that toggles my keyboard from the german layout to the US and vice versa and associated it with a key combination using this method. it works well, is executed in the background, and is independently of the focus.
I know that Sawmill also allows one to bind shortcuts if you're running gnome; however, I'm not sure if you can change more than just the window commands.
I hope this helps some. I suspect some of the other window managers may support something similar, although I haven't played around with them as much. Good luck!
Cheers!
|