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Custom Keyboard Layout in Ubuntu (or just Linux :)

keyboard layout in Ubuntu LinuxSystem -> Preferences -> Keyboard -> Layouts -> Add… Right? It is all good and clean only in case if layouts, that come with Ubuntu (or other Linux), are exactly what you need. But what if you’d like to create your own layout? Or, most of the time, what if layout is ok, but you would like to change a couple of keys around, because you are used to it “that certain way”? Here is how to approach these “what if”s.

The “guy” to talk to is XKB (X KeyBoard), which is responsible for everything that is going on with keyboard(s) under X (GUI Environment).

First, let us find the layout to change/modify/customize. For that we will go to “/usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols”:

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

This is home for all layouts that XKB reads in and follows. That means that if a layout needs to be changed all the changes are written here.

Now let’s change a Russian Phonetic (for example) layout to change a couple of keys around. For that, first, make a backup of the existing Russian layout (that has all Russian Layouts):

sudo cp ru ru_backup

then let’s get to breaking through and customizing it (use your favorite text editor, “vi” here is used as an example):

sudo vi ru
 
// $XKeyboardConfig: xkbdesc/symbols/ru,v 1.11 2006/09/04 20:25:10 svu Exp $
 
// based on
// russian standard keyboard
// AEN aen@logic.ru
// 2001/12/23 by Leon Kanter leon@blackcatlinux.com
// 2005/12/09 Valery Inozemtsev shrek@altlinux.ru
//
// $XFree86: xc/programs/xkbcomp/symbols/ru,v 1.3 2003/02/15 22:27:05 dawes Exp $
 
partial default alphanumeric_keys
xkb_symbols "basic" {
 
    name[Group1]= "Russia";
 
    key    AE01 {    [        1,        exclam     ]    };
    key    AE02 {    [        2,        quotedbl    ]    };
    key    AE03 {    [        3,      numbersign    ]    };
    key    AE04 {    [        4,        asterisk    ]    };
    key    AE05 {    [        5,         colon    ]    };
    key    AE06 {    [        6,         comma    ]    };
    key    AE07 {    [        7,        period    ]    };
    key    AE08 {    [        8,     semicolon    ]    };
    key    AE09 {    [        9,     parenleft    ]    };
    key    AE10 {    [        0,    parenright    ]    };
    key    AE11 {    [        minus,    underscore    ]    };
    key    AE12 {    [        equal,          plus    ]    };
    key    BKSL {    [    backslash,             bar    ]    };
    key    AB10 {    [        slash,      question    ]    };
    key LSGT {        [           slash,             bar      ]       };
 
    key    TLDE {    [     Cyrillic_io,     Cyrillic_IO    ]    };
    key    AD01 {    [ Cyrillic_shorti, Cyrillic_SHORTI    ]    };
    key    AD02 {    [    Cyrillic_tse,    Cyrillic_TSE    ]    };
    key    AD03 {    [      Cyrillic_u,    Cyrillic_U    ]    };
    key    AD04 {    [     Cyrillic_ka,     Cyrillic_KA    ]    };
    key    AD05 {    [     Cyrillic_ie,     Cyrillic_IE    ]    };
    key    AD06 {    [     Cyrillic_en,     Cyrillic_EN    ]    };
    key    AD07 {    [    Cyrillic_ghe,    Cyrillic_GHE    ]    };
    key    AD08 {    [    Cyrillic_sha,    Cyrillic_SHA    ]    };
    key    AD09 {    [  Cyrillic_shcha,  Cyrillic_SHCHA    ]    };
    key    AD10 {    [     Cyrillic_ze,     Cyrillic_ZE    ]    };
    key    AD11 {    [     Cyrillic_ha,     Cyrillic_HA    ]    };
    key    AD12 {    [Cyrillic_hardsign,Cyrillic_HARDSIGN    ]    };
    key    AC01 {    [     Cyrillic_ef,     Cyrillic_EF    ]    };
    key    AC02 {    [   Cyrillic_yeru,   Cyrillic_YERU    ]    };
    key    AC03 {    [     Cyrillic_ve,     Cyrillic_VE    ]    };
    key    AC04 {    [      Cyrillic_a,    Cyrillic_A    ]    };
    key    AC05 {    [     Cyrillic_pe,     Cyrillic_PE    ]    };
    key    AC06 {    [     Cyrillic_er,     Cyrillic_ER    ]    };
    key    AC07 {    [      Cyrillic_o,    Cyrillic_O    ]    };
    key    AC08 {    [     Cyrillic_el,     Cyrillic_EL    ]    };
    key    AC09 {    [     Cyrillic_de,     Cyrillic_DE    ]    };
    key    AC10 {    [    Cyrillic_zhe,    Cyrillic_ZHE    ]    };
    key    AC11 {    [      Cyrillic_e,    Cyrillic_E    ]    };
    key    AB01 {    [     Cyrillic_ya,     Cyrillic_YA    ]    };
    key    AB02 {    [    Cyrillic_che,    Cyrillic_CHE    ]    };
    key    AB03 {    [     Cyrillic_es,     Cyrillic_ES    ]    };
    key    AB04 {    [     Cyrillic_em,     Cyrillic_EM    ]    };
    key    AB05 {    [      Cyrillic_i,    Cyrillic_I    ]    };
    key    AB06 {    [     Cyrillic_te,     Cyrillic_TE    ]    };
    key    AB07 {    [Cyrillic_softsign,Cyrillic_SOFTSIGN    ]    };
    key    AB08 {    [     Cyrillic_be,     Cyrillic_BE    ]    };
    key    AB09 {    [     Cyrillic_yu,     Cyrillic_YU    ]    };
 
    key.type[group1]="TWO_LEVEL";
 
    include "keypad(comma)"
};
 
partial alphanumeric_keys
xkb_symbols "winkeys" {
    include "ru(basic)"
    name[Group1]= "Russia - Winkeys";
    key AE03 {        [               3,      numerosign      ]       };
    key AE04 {        [               4,       semicolon      ]       };
    key AE05 {        [               5,         percent      ]       };
    key AE06 {        [               6,           colon      ]       };
    key AE07 {        [               7,        question      ]       };
    key AE08 {        [               8,        asterisk      ]       };
    key AB10 {        [          period,           comma      ]       };
    key BKSL {        [       backslash,           slash      ]       };
};
 
partial alphanumeric_keys
xkb_symbols "typewriter" {
    include "ru(basic)"
    name[Group1]= "Russia - Typewriter";
    key    TLDE {    [      apostrophe,      quotedbl    ]     };
    key    AE01 {    [       exclam,         1     ]    };
    key    AE02 {    [      numerosign,         2    ]    };
    key    AE03 {    [        slash,         3    ]    };
    key    AE04 {    [    semicolon,         4    ]    };
    key    AE05 {    [        colon,         5    ]    };
    key    AE06 {    [        comma,         6    ]    };
    key    AE07 {    [       period,         7    ]    };
    key    AE08 {    [      underscore,         8    ]    };
    key    AE09 {    [     question,         9    ]    };
    key    AE10 {    [      percent,
        0    ]    };
    key    BKSL {    [    parenleft,    parenright    ]    };
 
    key    AD12 {    [Cyrillic_hardsign,Cyrillic_HARDSIGN    ]    };
    key    AB10 {    [     Cyrillic_io,     Cyrillic_IO    ]    };
};
 
partial alphanumeric_keys
xkb_symbols "phonetic" {
 
    name[Group1]= "Russia - Phonetic";
 
    key    AE01 {    [        1,        exclam     ]    };
    key    AE02 {    [        2,            at    ]    };
    key    AE03 {    [        3,     Cyrillic_io     ]    };
    key    AE04 {    [        4,     Cyrillic_IO    ]    };
    key    AE05 {    [        5, Cyrillic_hardsign       ]    };
    key    AE06 {    [        6, Cyrillic_HARDSIGN    ]    };
    key    AE07 {    [        7,     ampersand    ]    };
    key    AE08 {    [        8,        asterisk    ]    };
    key    AE09 {    [        9,     parenleft    ]    };
    key    AE10 {    [        0,    parenright    ]    };
 
    key    AB09 {    [       period,       greater    ]    };
    key    AB10 {    [        slash,      question    ]    };
    key    AB08 {    [        comma,          less    ]    };
    key    AC10 {    [    semicolon,         colon    ]    };
    key    AC11 {    [      apostrophe,      quotedbl    ]    };
    key    LSGT {    [          bar,     brokenbar    ]    };
 
    key    TLDE {    [     Cyrillic_yu,     Cyrillic_YU    ]    };
    key    LatQ {    [     Cyrillic_ya,     Cyrillic_YA    ]    };
    key    LatZ {    [     Cyrillic_ze,     Cyrillic_ZE    ]    };
    key    LatS {    [     Cyrillic_es,     Cyrillic_ES    ]    };
    key    LatA {    [      Cyrillic_a,    Cyrillic_A    ]    };
    key    LatW {    [     Cyrillic_ve,     Cyrillic_VE    ]    };
    key    LatC {    [    Cyrillic_tse,    Cyrillic_TSE    ]    };
    key    LatX {    [Cyrillic_softsign,Cyrillic_SOFTSIGN    ]    };
    key    LatD {    [     Cyrillic_de,     Cyrillic_DE    ]    };
    key    LatE {    [     Cyrillic_ie,     Cyrillic_IE    ]    };
    key    LatV {    [    Cyrillic_zhe,    Cyrillic_ZHE    ]    };
    key    LatF {    [     Cyrillic_ef,     Cyrillic_EF    ]    };
    key    LatT {    [     Cyrillic_te,     Cyrillic_TE    ]    };
    key    LatR {    [     Cyrillic_er,     Cyrillic_ER    ]    };
    key    LatN {    [     Cyrillic_en,     Cyrillic_EN    ]    };
    key    LatB {    [     Cyrillic_be,     Cyrillic_BE    ]    };
    key    LatH {    [     Cyrillic_ha,     Cyrillic_HA    ]    };
 
    ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
 
};

inside the file we’ll find the layout we are after, which is specified by the following line:

xkb_symbols "phonetic"

after this line all the mapping is done.

Now let’s look at the letters we would like to change keys for:

    key    LatX {    [Cyrillic_softsign,Cyrillic_SOFTSIGN    ]    };
    key    LatH {    [     Cyrillic_ha,     Cyrillic_HA    ]    };
    key    AE12 {    [    Cyrillic_che,    Cyrillic_CHE    ]    };

A single line above means that the “key <such and such> will map to [ small, and capital ] Russian letter”. So to change this all that needs to be done is to re-map them. For example, if we want <LatX> (just a latin X, or ‘X’ key) to map to “Cyrillic_ha, Cyrillic_HA” instead of “Cyrillic_softsign,Cyrillic_SOFTSIGN”, we just need to change it:

    key    LatX {    [     Cyrillic_ha,     Cyrillic_HA    ]    };

Here is how these three letters were changed, so they are more convinient to use as a part of the Russian Phonetic layout from the past:

    key    AE12 {    [Cyrillic_softsign,Cyrillic_SOFTSIGN    ]    };
    key    LatX {    [     Cyrillic_ha,     Cyrillic_HA    ]    };
    key    LatH {    [    Cyrillic_che,    Cyrillic_CHE    ]    };

Now just save the file and exit out from it (in vi it is “:wq”), and restart X (press “Ctrl + Alt + backspace”).

You’ve got yourself a new customized layout now that you can use – enjoy!

This entry was posted on Monday, June 25th, 2007 at 23:19 and is filed under hacking, linux, ubuntu. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.