(Solved) us_intl keyboard doesn't work?

[bad_gui]

Hi,

I changed my xorg.conf file to allow me to switch the keyboard so that I can enter accented characters.

Code:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier  "Keyboard0"
Driver      "kbd"
#Option  "XkbLayout"  "us"    ## KEYBOARD_MAP!
Option  "XkbLayout"  "us,us_intl"    ## KEYBOARD_MAP!
Option  "XkbModel"  "pc104"    ## KEYBOARD_MODEL!
Option "XKbOptions" "grp:switch,grp:alt_shift_toggle,grp_led:scroll"
Option  "Xkbvariant"  ""    ## KEYBOARD_VARIANT!
EndSection

However, when I toggle the keyboard nothing changes and I still only get standard us characters.

However, when I alter "us_intl" to "hu" I can enter some of the accented characters but due to the difference
in the physical layout of the keys some characters are missing.

Compare my dell "standard" keyboard layout http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:KB_United_States-NoAltGr.svg
with this one that the hu setting expects http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Hungarian_keyboard_layout.svg
Due to changes in button location some keys are non-functional and I can't access those characters.

[Joe1962]

I think the intl layouts only work with the intl keyboards, that means pc102 and pc105. I never tested this belief though, just always assumed so and selected pc105...

[bad_gui]

I tried pc105 and the right alt button does nothing but I do have the "` " working as a dead-key.

àèòù work but I can't access other characters shown in blue on the wikipedia graphic.

[bad_gui]

Hi,

I got the us international settings from another distro that has a gnome tool that allows the user to
change the keyboard settings.  The parameter to change is

Option  "Xkbvariant"  "intl"    ## KEYBOARD_VARIANT!

My keyboard section now looks like

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier  "Keyboard0"
Driver      "kbd"
Option  "XkbLayout"  "us"    ## KEYBOARD_MAP!
Option  "XkbModel"  "pc105"    ## KEYBOARD_MODEL!
Option "XKbOptions" "grp:switch,grp:alt_shift_toggle,grp_led:scroll"
Option  "Xkbvariant"  "intl"    ## KEYBOARD_VARIANT!
EndSection


The XkbOptions line is probably not needed.  Orignially, I was using it to toggle the keyboard settings
by pressing shift and alt simultaneously.  Now it seems to switch between needing to use the function
key to access special characters or always having them on.

In any event, I got the äåé®þüúíóö that I wanted.


Update:

Having us_intl as the default keyboard can be a nuisance when typing a lot of English text.  I solved
the problem by switching from us_regular and us_international as follows:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier  "Keyboard0"
Driver      "kbd"
#Option  "XkbLayout"  "us"    ## KEYBOARD_MAP!
Option  "XkbLayout"  "us,us"    ## KEYBOARD_MAP!
Option  "XkbModel"  "pc105"    ## KEYBOARD_MODEL!
Option  "Xkbvariant"  ",intl"    ## KEYBOARD_VARIANT!
Option "XKbOptions" "grp:switch,grp:alt_shift_toggle,grp_led:scroll"
EndSection


Note that there are TWO entries for keyboard layout and that Kbvariant has a comma before intl

This setup allows me to switch back and forth between the two types easily.
See this for more customization tips:
http://www.x.org/archive/X11R6.8.1/PDF/XKB-Config.pdf

[gacl]

Thank you! I'd been looking for this for quite a while.

TWO entries for keyboard layout

Tricky.