[Solved] Accents on US keyboards

iopo · 2009-11-23 08:27:29

Hello everyone,

I have already solved this for my laptop, so I post the solution to help someone else.
My laptop is a Dell Inspiron E1505, with English-us keyboard. And my main language is Spanish, so I normally use accents like áéíóú, and ñ.

The solution suggested on the wiki was not helpful for me:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Acc … _keyboards

You may consider adding this other solution to the wiki.

I have found that the us xkb layout already has an International variant, with all the accents, so, to enable the accents on a us layout you only have to edit /etc/hal/fdi/policy/10-keymap.fdi and correct the following two lines as follows:

      <merge key="input.xkb.layout" type="string">us</merge>
      <merge key="input.xkb.variant" type="string">altgr-intl</merge>

Save, exit, reboot.
To use the accents, just press the right Alt + the key you want
Example: Alt+e = é
That way you get a lot of special characters (¿µñb®©œæøœïðßáöóíúüþëéåä, etc.)

That's it.
There's no need to modify xorg.conf or install extra stuff/config files or scripts to modify the default layout.
With this solution works perfect.

***************************
Updated - June 30, 2010

The HAL solution doesn't work any more with Xorg 1.8, so I solved it by adding the keyboard layout and variant to xorg.conf:

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier             "Keyboard Defaults"
    MatchIsKeyboard        "yes"
    Option                 "XkbLayout" "us"
    Option                 "XkbVariant" "intl"
EndSection

Use "intl" variant to get á wit 'a, or "altgr-intl" to get á with AltGr+a

Last edited by iopo (2010-06-30 21:39:15)

sokuban · 2009-11-23 15:10:45

What is the problem with the solution suggested in the wiki? Does it not work?

It seems pretty good because it allows you to make your own keyboard layout, which I got to get around to doing one day. (I currently use the Compose Key, but ever since about a year ago or so it won't make an ō or ā for me instead spitting out º and ª - and unfortunately, it doesn't seem like you can edit the Compose Key sequences, which really annoys me.)

ralvez · 2009-11-23 18:21:07

Are you sure /etc/hal/fdi/policy/ is the correct path?
I find nothing in that directory

R.

kazuo · 2009-11-23 18:42:04

I use the hal solution and I think this is more clean then the xmodmap solution. I use intl in place of altgr-intl so for é you type 'e. Xmodmap solution is good for customization but for only using accents I think that hal solution is more easy and fast to implement and understand.

But remember you need a initial 10-keymap.fdi in /etc as the default is a non-existent file. You need to copy the file from /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/10osvendor/10-keymap.fdi

@ralvez: the directory is correct, you need to create it and copy the file from /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/10osvendor/10-keymap.fdi

ralvez · 2009-11-23 19:00:20

@kazuo,

thanks ... I'll give it a try.

R

iopo · 2009-11-26 02:56:06

Hello all,

Excuse me for the delay,
For me, the problem with the Xmodmap suggested in the wiki was:
1- XKeyCaps program was buggy (didn't allowed me to select a keyboard)
2- The Example xmodmap file doesn't have the same keycodes of my keyoboard, so the solution was to manually create my own keyboard layout.

If I was going to create my own keyboard layout, I think that the most clear/clean solution is to create a custom layout for HAL. I was going to do that, taking the "us" layout as base, and that's how I found that the us layout already hast the international variant (and there are a few other variants, you can search the one that better fit your needs). The default International variant was good for me, so there was no need to create a new layout

I think that the Xmodmap solution is more like a patch, and it may create some problem or confusion in a future after several system updates...

Maybe some Arch expert can give us a better explanation about both solutions.

Regards.

ralvez · 2009-11-26 03:24:56

I tried as indicated but that did not work for me.
I tested in OOO and Thunderbird ... no joy.

R.

iopo · 2009-11-26 06:25:59

@ralvez,

Have you created the dir and file as @kazuo suggested?
Try this:
1-

# cp /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/10osvendor/10-keymap.fdi /etc/hal/fdi/policy/

2- Edit edit /etc/hal/fdi/policy/10-keymap.fdi to set the us layout, with international variant

      <merge key="input.xkb.layout" type="string">us</merge>
      <merge key="input.xkb.variant" type="string">altgr-intl</merge>

3- Restart your system
If it doesn't work, try:

# setxkbmap us

And test it in a simple text editor like mousepad or notepad to make sure it's working on your system. You can even test it on a terminal emulator.

iopo · 2010-06-30 21:34:58

Updated - June 30, 2010

The HAL solution doesn't work any more with Xorg 1.8, so I solved it by adding the keyboard layout and variant to xorg.conf:

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier             "Keyboard Defaults"
    MatchIsKeyboard        "yes"
    Option                 "XkbLayout" "us"
    Option                 "XkbVariant" "intl"
EndSection

Use "intl" variant to get á wit 'a, or "altgr-intl" to get á with AltGr+a

Last edited by iopo (2010-06-30 21:35:58)

RJQ · 2010-09-17 20:20:49

Great!! perfect for lightweight WM/DE like openbox in which configurations are more tedious, ....because there is a huge difference between anos y años. Thanks for sharing.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-11-23 08:27:29

[Solved] Accents on US keyboards

#2 2009-11-23 15:10:45

Re: [Solved] Accents on US keyboards

#3 2009-11-23 18:21:07

Re: [Solved] Accents on US keyboards

#4 2009-11-23 18:42:04

Re: [Solved] Accents on US keyboards

#5 2009-11-23 19:00:20

Re: [Solved] Accents on US keyboards

#6 2009-11-26 02:56:06

Re: [Solved] Accents on US keyboards

#7 2009-11-26 03:24:56

Re: [Solved] Accents on US keyboards

#8 2009-11-26 06:25:59

Re: [Solved] Accents on US keyboards

#9 2010-06-30 21:34:58

Re: [Solved] Accents on US keyboards

#10 2010-09-17 20:20:49

Re: [Solved] Accents on US keyboards

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