The official page says: "To make the changes permanent, here's an example of InputDevice section for xorg.conf"
But on a new Ubuntu, it seems to completely ignore my /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
Any ideas?
Colemak forum
Forum for the Colemak keyboard layout.
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Permanent Colemak in Ubuntu 10.10
- Started by erw
- 14 Replies:
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Anyway, how do you linux users use Colemak?
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In Debian Squeeze with Gnome - I go to System -> Preferences -> Keyboard -> Layouts, and add Dvorak (UK) in my case. I move it to the top of my layouts (to set as default), and add Colemak also to the mix. I then set up a key combo (under options) to switch between layouts. (You might want to then change the caps lock key behaviour to backspace at this point.) And then I'm done. I tend to keep the console (non windowed mode) with Qwerty layout, loading Dvorak if I need to (loadkeys). Alternatively you can specify your preferred layout at install time. (I do not add any keyboard settings to xorg.conf)
Last edited by pinkyache (19-Apr-2011 22:35:41)
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Ah yes, I have US/UK Colemak in that menu as well, but I'm using my own localized version which I set using setxkbmap. But the layout list doesn't seem to notice that I have added a Colemak version to my /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/dk.
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Urg, it's kind of a long story actually. At the very least, you'll have to update the list files in the xkb directory to make it a selectable choice.
Or you could install it as described in this site's FAQ for unix installs. That should work.
Last edited by DreymaR (26-Apr-2011 11:46:29)
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DreymaR said:
Or you could install it as described in this site's FAQ for unix installs. That should work.
It doesn't seem to work for me -- that's what the first post is about :-)
Do you know which xkb-files to update and how?
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Sorry for the late reply!
You may want to read this article on Creating Custom Keyboard Layouts for X11.
Basically, you'll want to add your layout to these files:
/etc/X11/xkb/rules/xfree86.lst
/etc/X11/xkb/rules/xfree86.xml
And then restart the X server (Ctrl+Alt+Backspace if you have that hotkey enabled). Maybe you have to remove the gunk from a proc/ folder but I can't remember the details of that so try without it first.
*** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
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Thanks.
I added my layout to
/usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/base.lst
/usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/base.xml
which have the symlinks (xorg.lst and xfree86.lst) and (xorg.xml and xfree86.xml), by the way.
But it didn't help. Then I added it to
/usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.lst
/usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.xml
which were identical to the base files but not symlinks for some reason. That worked; now my GNOME keyboard layout menu shows Denmark Colemak.
There's just one snag.
When I hold down control, it acts as if the keys are still qwerty. In gnome-terminal only, apparently. At least xterm, gvim, gedit, chrome and firefox act like they should. This is really weird. But still useless, unfortunately. Any ideas? :-/
Also, super shortcuts (Super+D for show Desktop) also work as if the keys were qwerty, but it's not a showstopper (and it also works that way with my "manual" setxkbmap).
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Haven't used the gnome-terminal much so although I vaguely remember hearing something pertaining to that problem I'm afraid I can't help. Try searching around the Linux forums maybe?
*** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
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Yes that's a gnome terminal bug. I think it takes the top most layout for keyboard shortcuts. It totally does your head in. Make sure you report the bug for your distro.
One solution, is to only specify one layout. Which of course isn't ideal. I ran into this recently as I wanted the qwerty layout for games. Placing Qwerty as my primary layout was the only way to get the games to work - but at the cost of my CTRL shortcuts. Looking for the bug - turfed out reports from a long time ago. Not sure if it's a regression.
Last edited by pinkyache (29-May-2011 19:01:01)
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Ah, thanks. That explains why the problem disappeared: I stopped having any qwerty layouts in my list.
I looked into reporting it, but there's like ten million reports about it in launchpad already and I'm not patient enough right now to get an overview. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … bug/307888 seems to be one of the more relevant ones, but I couldn't apply the patch and much seems to have changed since then. But the bug is still there in Ubuntu 11.04.
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The bug still exists for me in Debian Squeeze (Current stable) - I can totally understand your frustration. Not good! There are other terminal emulators available. Though I'm quite fond of Gnome-terminal.
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Yeah, me too. I don't get how all other terminal emulators can be so ugly :-)
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pinkyache said:
The bug still exists for me in Debian Squeeze (Current stable) - I can totally understand your frustration. Not good! There are other terminal emulators available. Though I'm quite fond of Gnome-terminal.
Did you ever get this figured out? I just made the change on my system running Squeeze, thankfully I do have a little bit of time to troubleshoot with the facebook app development I have been working on. Let me know if you come up with any ideas though, as it can be tough working without knowledge sometimes.
Last edited by typeloud (01-Oct-2011 20:12:54)
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(Debian Squeeze)
No I never bothered. It really puzzled me the first time I came across it. I just promote my main layout (Dvorak) to the top of the list (Sys->Prefs->Keyboard>Layouts (tab).
If I ever wish to play games and have Qwerty shortcuts, I go in and change the order. If you use more than one layout - it would be a right nightmare.
Last edited by pinkyache (16-Sep-2011 18:03:25)
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