[Solved] how to write german "umlaute" on US keyboard?

keen90 · 2012-01-14 11:33:24

Hi,

I am German, but I use an US-keyboard since it I like it better for writing code. Is there a simple way to map key-combinations to "Umlaute". e.g. like o+windows-key for an "ö".
I'd be happy with a sollution for thunderbird but in case there is an universal trick go for it.

Thanks in advance,
Keen

Last edited by keen90 (2012-01-15 10:02:28)

thisoldman · 2012-01-14 11:57:21

In X, you probably want 'xmodmap'. See this post: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 09#p858309.

Mektub · 2012-01-14 12:52:32

keen90,

I have a US keyborad and no problem in writing "Umlaute" in "X".

Setup: in

/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf

I have

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "evdev keyboard catchall"
        MatchIsKeyboard "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "evdev"
        Option "Xkb_Layout" "us"
        Option "Xkb_Variant" "alt-intl"
        Option "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp"
EndSection

alt-inll does the trick. The combination "a (double quotes followed by 'a') outputs ä.

Hope it helps.

Mektub

keen90 · 2012-01-14 13:46:50

@Mektub:
Your propose worked out of the box, but I cant write singel quotes now any more and I dont figure out how to write a scharfes s.

@thispoldman:
Thanks for the link. I will give it a try.

keen90 · 2012-01-14 14:17:24

yep your link helped.

Here the summary what's to do:

1) Get your custom xmodmap

xmodmap -pke > ~/.Xmodmap

2) Use a key to toggle between modes (i used the windows key keycode:133)
change the line in your Xmodmap file to:
keycode 133 = Mode_switch NoSymbol Mode_switch

3) Change the Umlaut keys using this:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 09#p858309

4) make your changes work

modmap ~/.Xmodmap

5) check by typing windows-key+a, windows-key+shift+o, windows-key+s
you should get: äÖß

Note: Don't use this if you run XFCE it will affect your system performance on login. (dead key combinations, freeze)

Last edited by keen90 (2012-01-16 07:21:52)

Mektub · 2012-01-14 15:20:41

keen90 wrote:

@Mektub:
Your propose worked out of the box, but I cant write singel quotes now any more and I dont figure out how to write a scharfes s.

You are right, my solution is overkill for your case, since you only need umlaut and scharfes s.

I write also in languages that need á ó and so on, that's why to get a single quote you need to type "'-space."

The solution you linked to is interesting and I will try it for some special cases I have.

Schönes Wochenende,

Mektub

Last edited by Mektub (2012-01-14 15:21:55)

keen90 · 2012-01-14 17:32:05

Well the sollution I have right now is not as good as it seemed at first.
It realy slows down my login procedure ( > 8sec now) and there's some magical border of about a minute from login where XFCE shortcuts dont work, but then all shurtcuts entered so far are executed at once(!). And the entry in the .bashrc seems to be useless, since the xmodmap is modified with or without the line in the .bashrc. I'll backtrack and check if these issues are really caused by the xmodmap, but is seems reasonable, since

modmap ~/.Xmodmap

freezes my computer for some seconds, too.
Does anyone have experience here - especially for this weird delay thing?

@Mektub: Dir auch ein schönes Wochenende ;-)

keen90 · 2012-01-14 17:41:00

Ok I took an old xmodmap from a backup and still have the same symptoms
I did it this way

xmodmap myBackedUpXmodmap

is there another way to reset xmodmap? Is there a file I could delete?

thisoldman · 2012-01-14 18:15:02

The slowdown when using xmodmap may be an XFCE problem. It's mentioned in the XFCE wiki, English language version, on their FAQ page, http://wiki.xfce.org/faq#keyboard, under the question "Is it possible to use Media keys in the Shortcut Editor?" I didn't see this mentioned in the German language version.

Raynman · 2012-01-14 18:42:24

As an alternative, you could try the variant altgr-intl (instead of alt-intl in Mektub's setup). You get AltGr+s (AltGr is normally the right Alt key) for the scharfes s and similar combinations for common diacritics. See http://andries.filmer.nl/files/76/Keybo … -keys).png

WorMzy · 2012-01-14 19:43:15

If you don't mind remembering unicode.. uh.. codes, you can use u0308 for umlaut (combines with previous letter, if applicable), and u1E9E for ß.

e.g. type a, then press Ctrl+Shift+u0308 to make ä.

Not the greatest solution, but it should work in any gtk application (including thunderbird).

keen90 · 2012-01-15 09:53:25

Ok I got rid of the freeze. It looks like the pure existence of an .Xmodmap file in the homedir overrides the global settings so there's no need to load it on login manually but it also does mean, you have to remove this file to get rid of any xmodmap changes.

Last edited by keen90 (2012-01-16 07:24:07)

keen90 · 2012-01-15 10:02:12

Ok I decided for the altgr-intl trick proposed by raynman. Works fine. Thanks!

rgzfxf6bhu · 2016-07-12 09:05:30

I just tried to use the altgr_intl trick as well, but it doesn't work for me!?

I couldn't figure out what kind of input altgr_intl is expecting.

When checking my alt keys with xev then I get for the right (which is the AltGr key) and left alt key:

state 0x8, keycode 108 (keysym 0xffea, Alt_R), same_screen YES,
...
state 0x0, keycode 64 (keysym 0xffe9, Alt_L), same_screen YES,

Is this wrong? What do you get when you press your AltGr key?

WorMzy · 2016-07-12 09:12:52

Please don't necrobump, rgzfxf6bhu. Open a new topic for your issue.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Co … bumping.22

Closing.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-01-14 11:33:24

[Solved] how to write german "umlaute" on US keyboard?

#2 2012-01-14 11:57:21

Re: [Solved] how to write german "umlaute" on US keyboard?

#3 2012-01-14 12:52:32

Re: [Solved] how to write german "umlaute" on US keyboard?

#4 2012-01-14 13:46:50

Re: [Solved] how to write german "umlaute" on US keyboard?

#5 2012-01-14 14:17:24

Re: [Solved] how to write german "umlaute" on US keyboard?

#6 2012-01-14 15:20:41

Re: [Solved] how to write german "umlaute" on US keyboard?

#7 2012-01-14 17:32:05

Re: [Solved] how to write german "umlaute" on US keyboard?

#8 2012-01-14 17:41:00

Re: [Solved] how to write german "umlaute" on US keyboard?

#9 2012-01-14 18:15:02

Re: [Solved] how to write german "umlaute" on US keyboard?

#10 2012-01-14 18:42:24

Re: [Solved] how to write german "umlaute" on US keyboard?

#11 2012-01-14 19:43:15

Re: [Solved] how to write german "umlaute" on US keyboard?

#12 2012-01-15 09:53:25

Re: [Solved] how to write german "umlaute" on US keyboard?

#13 2012-01-15 10:02:12

Re: [Solved] how to write german "umlaute" on US keyboard?

#14 2016-07-12 09:05:30

Re: [Solved] how to write german "umlaute" on US keyboard?

#15 2016-07-12 09:12:52

Re: [Solved] how to write german "umlaute" on US keyboard?

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