Diff for "Keyboard" - Debian Wiki

Differences between revisions 25 and 26

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?Discussion

Portal/IDB/logo_portal.png Welcome to the Debian portal for keyboard information

Contents

Keyboard configuration
How to set keyboard layout in initramfs
How to enable USB keyboard in initramfs
How to switch a keyboard layout in X11 / graphical desktop environment

Keyboard configuration

The keyboard settings are stored in /etc/default/keyboard file. It's provided by keyboard-configuration package (it's a part of the console-setup source package), and other packages use this information in order to configure the keyboard on the console or in X Window System.

You can change your keyboard settings by:

# dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration

As usual, it will prompt you for the model of keyboard (what the keyboard *is*), and then for the keyboard layout (what the keys should *do*). Use this tool to change your keyboard map, e. g. from QWERTY to QWERTZ or to Dvorak, or for non-English layouts.

You can also edit /etc/default/keyboard manually, here's an example:

# KEYBOARD CONFIGURATION FILE

# Consult the keyboard(5) manual page.

XKBMODEL="pc105"
XKBLAYOUT="us,de,fr,ua,ru"
XKBVARIANT=""
XKBOPTIONS="grp:alt_shift_toggle"

BACKSPACE="guess"

XKBMODEL is a keyboard model variable (look at a /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/base.lst (plain text) or /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/base.xml (XML) for a full list);
XKBLAYOUT variable contains a list of used layouts;
"grp:alt_shift_toggle" sets a layout switching key combination (<Alt>+<Shift>).

How to set keyboard layout in initramfs

The appropriate section of /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf needs to be changed to have a localized keyboard layout at boot time:

#
# KEYMAP: [ y | n ]
#
# Load a keymap during the initramfs stage.
#

KEYMAP=y

Apply changes:

# update-initramfs -u

How to enable USB keyboard in initramfs

The initramfs-tools must include the usbhid module and its dependencies for USB keyboard support at boot time. Either the configuration file /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/driver-policy must include most modules, or they will have to be specified in another file:

#
# MODULES: [ most | netboot | dep | list ]
#
# most - Add most filesystem and all harddrive drivers.
#
# dep - Try and guess which modules to load.
#
# netboot - Add the base modules, network modules, but skip block devices.
#
# list - Only include modules from the 'additional modules' list
#

MODULES=most

If the configuration above was not set to include most modules, then the necessary modules have to be specified in the file /etc/initramfs-tools/modules:

# USB keyboard at boot
usbcore
uhci_hcd
ehci_hcd
usbhid

Apply changes:

# update-initramfs -u

How to switch a keyboard layout in X11 / graphical desktop environment

Use your favorite desktop keyboard layout switcher applet. You can also switch the layout from the terminal, e. g.:

$ setxkbmap de
$ setxkbmap fr
$ setxkbmap us

-  ⇤ ← Revision 25 as of 2012-12-16 19:07:25 → 
  Size: 2961
  Editor: JPierreGiraud
  Comment: Add link to french translation
+   ← Revision 26 as of 2013-01-02 17:39:28 → ⇥
  Size: 4029
  Editor: ?BobBib
  Comment: formatting, cleanup, new info (config, switch layouts)
-Deletions are marked like this.
+Additions are marked like this.
 Line 9:
-The keyboard settings are stored in '''/etc/default/keyboard'''. This file provided by '''keyboard-configuration''' package and other packages use this  information in order to configure the keyboard on the console or in X Window.
+== Keyboard configuration ==

The keyboard settings are stored in '''{{{/etc/default/keyboard}}}''' file. It's provided by DebPkg:keyboard-configuration package (it's a part of the DebPkg:console-setup source package), and other packages use this  information in order to configure the keyboard on the console or in X Window System.
-Line 12:
+Line 14:
-Line 14:
+Line 15:
-$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration
+# dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration
-Line 17:
+Line 18:
-As usual it will prompt you for the ''model'' of keyboard (what the keyboard *is*), and then for the keyboard ''layout'' (what the keys should *do*). Use this tool to change your keyboard map e.g from qwerty to qwertz, or to dworak, or for non-English layouts.
+As usual, it will prompt you for the ''model'' of keyboard (what the keyboard ''*is*''), and then for the keyboard ''layout'' (what the keys should ''*do*''). Use this tool to change your keyboard map, e. g. from ''QWERTY'' to ''QWERTZ'' or to ''Dvorak'', or for non-English layouts.
-Line 19:
+Line 20:
- * Keyboard layout (keymap), see [[http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/ch08.en.html#_the_keyboard_input|debian-reference]].
+You can also edit {{{/etc/default/keyboard}}} manually, here's an example:
{{{
# KEYBOARD CONFIGURATION FILE
-Line 21:
+Line 24:
- * "{{{dpkg-reconfigure --priority=low xserver-xorg}}}" suggested by the above linked page does not work in Squeeze. You may try to add something like "{{{setxkbmap us,ru -option grp:ctrl_shift_toggle}}}" into {{{~/.xsessionrc}}} instead.
+# Consult the keyboard(5) manual page.
-Line 23:
+Line 26:
- * [[/MultimediaKeys|Configure additional multimedia key]]
+XKBMODEL="pc105"
XKBLAYOUT="us,de,fr,ua,ru"
XKBVARIANT=""
XKBOPTIONS="grp:alt_shift_toggle"
-Line 25:
+Line 31:
-== Set Keyboard Layout in initramfs ==
+BACKSPACE="guess"
}}}
-Line 27:
+Line 34:
-The file /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf must be changed to have the localized keyboard layout at boot time:
+ * XKBMODEL is a keyboard model variable (look at a {{{/usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/base.lst}}} (plain text) or {{{/usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/base.xml}}} (XML) for a full list);
 * XKBLAYOUT variable contains a list of used layouts;
 * "grp:alt_shift_toggle" sets a layout switching key combination (<Alt>+<Shift>).
-Line 29:
+Line 38:
+See also:
 * keyboard(5) man page.
 * Keyboard layout (keymap) section in [[http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/ch08.en.html#_the_keyboard_input|debian-reference]] ("{{{dpkg-reconfigure --priority=low xserver-xorg}}}" command suggested by the page linked above does not work in Squeeze. You may try to add something like "{{{setxkbmap us,ru -option grp:ctrl_shift_toggle}}}" into {{{~/.xsessionrc}}} instead).
 * [[/MultimediaKeys|Configure additional multimedia keys]].

== How to set keyboard layout in initramfs ==

The appropriate section of {{{/etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf}}} needs to be changed to have a localized keyboard layout at boot time:
-Line 39:
+Line 56:
-Apply changes.
+Apply changes:
-Line 45:
+Line 61:
-== Enable USB Keyboard in initramfs ==
+== How to enable USB keyboard in initramfs ==
-Line 47:
+Line 63:
-The initramfs-tools must include the usbhid module and its dependencies for USB keyboard support at boot time.  Either the configuration file /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/driver-policy must include most modules, or they will have to be specified in another file:
+The initramfs-tools must include the {{{usbhid}}} module and its dependencies for USB keyboard support at boot time.  Either the configuration file {{{/etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/driver-policy}}} must include most modules, or they will have to be specified in another file:
-Line 65:
+Line 80:
-If the configuration above was not set to include most modules then the necessary modules have to be specified in the file /etc/initramfs-tools/modules:
+If the configuration above was not set to include most modules, then the necessary modules have to be specified in the file {{{/etc/initramfs-tools/modules}}}:
-Line 75:
+Line 89:
-Apply changes.
+Apply changes:
-Line 80:
+Line 93:
+== How to switch a keyboard layout in X11 / graphical desktop environment ==

Use your favorite desktop keyboard layout switcher applet.
You can also switch the layout from the terminal, e. g.:
{{{
$ setxkbmap de
$ setxkbmap fr
$ setxkbmap us
}}}