Setting up us_de keyboard layout on Slackware 13.37 and Ubuntu

It’s been some time since I talked about my us_de Keyboard layout (and a long time since I last blogged ;)) so I think it is time to update the installation instructions. You can download the layout here: us_de keyboard layout.

To set it up on Slackware do the following:

  1. Save the us_de file to /etc/X11/xkb/symbols/
  2. Copy 90-keyboard-layout.conf from /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/ to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/
  3. Take a look at the example and change the line Option “XkbLayout” “us” to Option “XkbLayout” “us_de”
  4. Save it and restart X :)

For Ubuntu you can find all the information there: http://people.uleth.ca/~daniel.odonnell/Blog/custom-keyboard-in-linuxx11

The short version:

  1. Save the us_de file to /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/
  2. Edit /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.xml and add a block like this to the section: 
    
<layout>
<configItem>
<name>us_de</name>
<shortDescription>USde</shortDescription>
<description>USde</description>
<languageList><iso639Id>eng</iso639Id></languageList>
</configItem>
<variantList/>
</layout>
  3. Then go to System->Preferences->Keyboard and klick on the Layouts tab.
  4. There click “Add”.
  5. Pick “By language”
  6. Set “Language” to “English” and “Variants” to “USde”.
  7. Click on “Add”
  8. Then remove your old layout (or move USde up as frist choice)

So much for easy to use eh ;)

Have fun with my layout!

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