Create your own personal keyboard layout

[LuciusMare]

And what if i dont have any "pt" ?

root@tomas-desktop:/# cd /etc/X11/
root@tomas-desktop:/etc/X11# ls
app-defaults             xkb                                  xorg.conf_zaloha
cursors                  Xloadimage                           Xresources
default-display-manager  xorg.conf                            Xsession
fonts                    xorg.conf.backup                     Xsession.d
rgb.txt                  xorg.conf.dist-upgrade-200904232119  Xsession.options
X                        xorg.conf.dist-upgrade-200911012211  XvMCConfig
xinit                    xorg.conf.failsafe                   Xwrapper.config
root@tomas-desktop:/etc/X11# cd xkb
root@tomas-desktop:/etc/X11/xkb# ls -a
.  ..  base.xml
root@tomas-desktop:/etc/X11/xkb#

[henriquemaia]

And what if i dont have any "pt" ?

root@tomas-desktop:/# cd /etc/X11/
root@tomas-desktop:/etc/X11# ls
app-defaults             xkb                                  xorg.conf_zaloha
cursors                  Xloadimage                           Xresources
default-display-manager  xorg.conf                            Xsession
fonts                    xorg.conf.backup                     Xsession.d
rgb.txt                  xorg.conf.dist-upgrade-200904232119  Xsession.options
X                        xorg.conf.dist-upgrade-200911012211  XvMCConfig
xinit                    xorg.conf.failsafe                   Xwrapper.config
root@tomas-desktop:/etc/X11# cd xkb
root@tomas-desktop:/etc/X11/xkb# ls -a
.  ..  base.xml
root@tomas-desktop:/etc/X11/xkb#

just change pt for your selected keyboard.

what's your keyboard? Just use the one you have.

[Abhinav K Sahdev]

Hi
I am using ubuntu 9.10 on a compaq presario v5205TU laptop. I need to create a personal layout as everything dosen't work with the default one. I tried your method but there is no pt file or symbols directory in the /etc/X11/xkb dir. what should i do now?
thanks

[henriquemaia]

The files are now located at /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols

Still works once you edit the desired file (you can use your language as base for the modification).

Good luck.

[ernsttremel]

I've just installed Ubuntu 10.04 some days ago.

On my system there is nothing in
/etc/X11/xkb

So can you pleas tell me where the in builted keyboard layouts in this Ubuntu version are located.
Am I right to suppose that one can modify one of these keyboard layouts to make a new one?

[henriquemaia]

I've just installed Ubuntu 10.04 some days ago.

On my system there is nothing in
/etc/X11/xkb

So can you pleas tell me where the in builted keyboard layouts in this Ubuntu version are located.
Am I right to suppose that one can modify one of these keyboard layouts to make a new one?

As stated in the previous post, the files are now located in the folder /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/

example:

henriquemaia@EeePC ~ $ ls /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/
ad        cn            gn       kr              nbsp      sn
af        compose       gr       kz              nec_vndr  sony_vndr
al        ctrl          group    la              ng        srvr_ctrl
altwin    cz            hp_vndr  latam           nl        sun_vndr
am        de            hr       latin           no        sy
ara       digital_vndr  hu       level3          np        terminate
az        dk            ie       level5          olpc      th
ba        ee            il       lk              pc        tj
bd        epo           in       lt              pk        tm
be        es            inet     lv              pl        tr
bg        et            iq       ma              pt        typo
br        eurosign      ir       macintosh_vndr  ro        ua
brai      fi            is       mao             rs        us
bt        fo            it       me              ru        uz
by        fr            jp       mk              se        vn
ca        fujitsu_vndr  keypad   mm              sgi_vndr  xfree68_vndr
capslock  gb            kg       mn              shift     za
cd        ge            kh       mt              si
ch        gh            kpdl     mv              sk

**I've updated the howto to reflect xkb's files new locations.

[ernsttremel]

Thank you.
Now I found the necessary files.

I inspect to make a new keyboard layout for Avestan (Unicode ranges U+10B00 to U+10B3F and U+10B78 to U+10B7F)

This language is written from right to left, like Hebrew but without any diacritics like there and in Arabic.
In Open Office Writer using the Symbols-Input feature shows that these Unicode ranges are supported.

So I think I should modify the Hebrew keyboard layout. I tried to find it in \.\.\symbols but I could not locate it.
Can you plese give e some informations which file in \.\.\symbols I can take as starting file?

[henriquemaia]

Unfortunately I cannot assist you in this because I haven't dug that deep when I made the research for this howto. That is a very particular instance where you need the help of someone far more knowledgeable than me.

You've probably tried that first, but have you googled specificly for that?

[simosx]

Thank you.
Now I found the necessary files.

I inspect to make a new keyboard layout for Avestan (Unicode ranges U+10B00 to U+10B3F and U+10B78 to U+10B7F)

This language is written from right to left, like Hebrew but without any diacritics like there and in Arabic.
In Open Office Writer using the Symbols-Input feature shows that these Unicode ranges are supported.

So I think I should modify the Hebrew keyboard layout. I tried to find it in \.\.\symbols but I could not locate it.
Can you plese give e some informations which file in \.\.\symbols I can take as starting file?

The Hebrew keyboard layout is located at /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/il
All layouts are found in /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/

There is an advanced tool for keyboard layout creation at http://github.com/simos/keyboardlayouteditor
Requires some skill to setup and use.

Having read the Wikipedia page on the Avestan language, I see that just recently the Avestan script has been added to the Unicode standard. I suggest to
1. Install a Unicode Avestan font in Linux. Apparently ALPHABETUM UNICODE supports the Avestan script. You install new fonts in ~/.fonts/
2. If the script is right to left or left to right, this is not a problem with the keyboard layout, so there is no requirement to use the Hebrew layout as starting point.
3. What I would wholeheartedly recommend is for you to design the keyboard layout first. Use a drawing program so write the Unicode codepoints (such as 'U+10B00') on a keyboard. Having that, it is possible to get even someone else to make the layout for you.

Good luck!

[edwardfmo]

hello!

this thread really helped me out, but i have 2 question.

first, is that symbol list complete, or if not, where can i get the complete one?

second, is there a way to determine, which keyboard file is used? because a have to make an on-screen keyboard for the current lenguage settings, so i thought, these files will provide the layouts, but i still have to get the current settings.

by the way, i'm using JAVA.

thanks in advance!