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#1 2009-12-12 14:05:09

petter
Member
From: Sandvika, Norway
Registered: 2009-11-01
Posts: 8

[Solved] XFCE4 - enable keyboard third level

Hi. I'm having problems using my keyboard's third level characters.

The graphical tool doesn't have this configuration (gnome does).
I tried editing my ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/keyboard-layout.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<channel name="keyboard-layout" version="1.0">
  <property name="Default" type="empty">
    <property name="XkbDisable" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="XkbModel" type="string" value="latitude"/>
    <property name="XkbLayout" type="string" value="us"/>
    <property name="XkbVariant" type="string" value="dvp"/>
    <property name="XkbOption" type="string" value="lv3:ralt_switch"/>
  </property>
</channel>

but no luck.

What else can i do?

Last edited by petter (2009-12-13 11:49:55)

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#2 2009-12-12 18:21:15

azleifel
Member
Registered: 2007-10-28
Posts: 486

Re: [Solved] XFCE4 - enable keyboard third level

If you're using evdev to manage the keyboard then it can be configured through hal by copying /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/10osvendor/10-keymap.fdi to /etc/hal/fdi/policy/10-keymap.fdi and editing as required (see http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Evd … figuration).  For example, I have:

      <merge key="input.xkb.layout" type="string">gb</merge>
      <merge key="input.xkb.variant" type="string" />
      <merge key="input.xkb.options" type="string">lv3:ralt_switch_multikey</merge>

in my /etc/hal/fdi/policy/10-keymap.fdi and don't have keyboard problems in either xfce or openbox.

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#3 2009-12-12 19:04:19

petter
Member
From: Sandvika, Norway
Registered: 2009-11-01
Posts: 8

Re: [Solved] XFCE4 - enable keyboard third level

I'm on a pretty standard Arch install (i followed the install instructions rather closely), and i'm not using evdev to my knowledge. According to my xorg.conf i should be using the kbd driver instead (if that makes sense). However i think xfce has it's own way of managing keyboard layouts, so i'm not really sure what's actually used.

So, i don't think your suggestion is what i'm looking for, but thanks anyway!

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#4 2009-12-12 23:14:20

azleifel
Member
Registered: 2007-10-28
Posts: 486

Re: [Solved] XFCE4 - enable keyboard third level

If you've got a standard Arch install then the keyboard ought to be managed by evdev, mostly because it has to be explicitly disabled in xorg.conf, and Xfce's Keyboard settings dialog should look something like this by default:

tMno5OQ

If you really aren't using evdev then you'll have to set the keyboard options in xorg.conf rather than in a custom keymap.fdi.

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#5 2009-12-13 11:48:41

petter
Member
From: Sandvika, Norway
Registered: 2009-11-01
Posts: 8

Re: [Solved] XFCE4 - enable keyboard third level

Ok, you were right. You're solution does what i want.

However, i can't help but feel confused as to why this is the only way i can make it work. I thought XFCE was managing the keyboard, hence the keyboard-layout.xml file, but not 100%. Modifying this would surely alter the layout and variant, but NOT the options?! (This is the file the gui tool modifies as well [Menu - Settings - Keyboard].) The gui doesn't have provide any means of setting options, so i assume that it's not supported even through it's config file. Secondly, i thought xorg.conf was involved, but apparently it's not involved at all, altering keyboard settings here makes no difference. Modifying rc.conf does however, this controls the keyboard layout in the virtual console, but has no effect in XFCE.
One way i got it working in XFCE was with setxkbmap:
setxkbmap -model latitude -layout us -variant dvp -option lv3:ralt_switch
But this wouldn't persist through booting. And i can't figure out what it does as apparently no file is accessed or modified with this command (find /etc /usr /home /opt -mmin -1)

Then it's your solution who brings in yet another dimension to this, that works smile


Thank you!

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#6 2011-01-23 19:21:48

petter
Member
From: Sandvika, Norway
Registered: 2009-11-01
Posts: 8

Re: [Solved] XFCE4 - enable keyboard third level

I googled for a solution to this issue again (after using gnome for a year). This thread was the first result, but the solution given (with HAL) is no longer valid (HAL is no longer installed as of xorg-server v.1.8). So, after finding a suitable solution i thought i should post an update.

$ sudo vim /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "evdev keyboard catchall"
        MatchIsKeyboard "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "evdev"
        Option "XkbLayout" "us"
        Option "XkbVariant" "dvp"
        Option "XkbOptions" "lv3:ralt_switch"
EndSection

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#7 2013-04-20 12:22:23

Ivy2012
Member
Registered: 2012-09-26
Posts: 14

Re: [Solved] XFCE4 - enable keyboard third level

petter wrote:

I googled for a solution to this issue again (after using gnome for a year). This thread was the first result, but the solution given (with HAL) is no longer valid (HAL is no longer installed as of xorg-server v.1.8). So, after finding a suitable solution i thought i should post an update.

$ sudo vim /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "evdev keyboard catchall"
        MatchIsKeyboard "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "evdev"
        Option "XkbLayout" "us"
        Option "XkbVariant" "dvp"
        Option "XkbOptions" "lv3:ralt_switch"
EndSection

I can confirm that this is a good working solution for third level keys.
Using an Acer Aspire 7250 here, with Norwegian keyboard.
Pressing right alt now allows me to use third levels symbols on keys.
(the laptop came with Windows 7 originally, and third level symbols could originally be used with ctrl + alt + key).
If someone knows how to change this:
lv3:ralt_switch
into a code that allows me to use ctrl + alt again, please let me know smile

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#8 2023-02-12 14:01:47

marblehead
Member
Registered: 2023-02-12
Posts: 1

Re: [Solved] XFCE4 - enable keyboard third level

petter wrote:

I googled for a solution to this issue again (after using gnome for a year). This thread was the first result, but the solution given (with HAL) is no longer valid (HAL is no longer installed as of xorg-server v.1.8). So, after finding a suitable solution i thought i should post an update.

$ sudo vim /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "evdev keyboard catchall"
        MatchIsKeyboard "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "evdev"
        Option "XkbLayout" "us"
        Option "XkbVariant" "dvp"
        Option "XkbOptions" "lv3:ralt_switch"
EndSection

Thank you, this really helped! But instead of "10-evdev.conf" file I have "00-keyboard.conf". I created "10-evdev.conf" and putted the text and it didn't work. So I inserted the text into "00-keyboard.conf", saved the file and got notification something like "Sticky keys enabled" and it started to work (and deleted "10-evdev.conf" before).

Last edited by marblehead (2023-02-12 14:03:56)

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