How to change a keyboard layout to Dvorak that assumes that the keyboard layout is QWERTY?
Method 1: using a text editor
- Open the file
/etc/default/keyboardas root. For example, you can runsudo nano /etc/default/keyboard - Change the line
XKBMODEL="pc105"with your keyboard model (full list is here, starting from line 2). - Change the line
XKBLAYOUT="en"with your layout (presummably "bd". See the full list above, starting from line 189). - Change the line
XKBVARIANT=""with your variant (See the full list above, starting from line 284). - Save the file (Ctrl+X and press
Y). - Restart the keyboard config with
sudo service keyboard-setup restart
Method 2: using keyboard-configuration tool.
- Install with
sudo apt-get install keyboard-configuration(you might have it installed already) - Run the configuration program, by typing
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration - Follow instructions to select the model of your keyboard, the layout, the variant, etc.
- Restart the keyboard config with
sudo service keyboard-setup restart
Source: adapted from here.
The file at location /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/bd contains the following as the last lines:
//
// XKB symbol :: Probhat Bangla/Bengali Keyboard Layout
// Ref: www.ankurbangla.org/images/probhat_layout.png
//
xkb_symbols "probhat" {
include "in(ben_probhat)"
name[Group1]= "Bangla (Probhat)";
};
In your case if I understand correctly, you should not edit this file but instead the file layout at location /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/in
Locate the lines:
xkb_symbols "ben_probhat" {
name[Group1]= "Bangla (India, Probhat)";
Thereupon, starting the new layout remapping.
Note that you don't need to remap each keys 1 by 1 again because the unicodes for your language are already set for this layout! You only need to reorder the keys and this works for any languages and/or layouts whose phonetics are based on qwerty and the user rather wants to map it to standard dvorak.
In your case the file /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/in looks like this:
xkb_symbols "ben_probhat" {
name[Group1]= "Bangla (India, Probhat)";
key <ESC> { [ Escape ] };
// numbers
key <TLDE> { [ U200D, asciitilde ] };
key <AE01> { [ U09E7, exclam ] };
key <AE02> { [ U09E8, at ] };
key <AE03> { [ U09E9, numbersign ] };
key <AE04> { [ U09EA, U09F3 ] };
key <AE05> { [ U09EB, percent ] };
key <AE06> { [ U09EC, asciicircum ] };
key <AE07> { [ U09ED, U099E ] };
key <AE08> { [ U09EE, U09CE ] };
key <AE09> { [ U09EF, parenleft ] };
key <AE10> { [ U09E6, parenright ] };
key <AE11> { [ minus, underscore ] };
key <AE12> { [ equal, plus ] };
key <BKSP> { [ BackSpace ] };
// tab, q to ]
key <TAB> { [ Tab, ISO_Left_Tab ] };
key <AD01> { [ U09A6, U09A7 ] };
key <AD02> { [ U09C2, U098A ] };
key <AD03> { [ U09C0, U0988 ] };
key <AD04> { [ U09B0, U09DC ] };
key <AD05> { [ U099F, U09A0 ] };
key <AD06> { [ U098F, U0990 ] };
key <AD07> { [ U09C1, U0989 ] };
key <AD08> { [ U09BF, U0987 ] };
key <AD09> { [ U0993, U0994 ] };
key <AD10> { [ U09AA, U09AB ] };
key <AD11> { [ U09C7, U09C8 ] };
key <AD12> { [ U09CB, U09CC ] };
key <RTRN> { [ Return ] };
// caps, a to '
// key <CAPS> { [ Caps_Lock ] };
key <AC01> { [ U09BE, U0985 ] };
key <AC02> { [ U09B8, U09B7 ] };
key <AC03> { [ U09A1, U09A2 ] };
key <AC04> { [ U09A4, U09A5 ] };
key <AC05> { [ U0997, U0998 ] };
key <AC06> { [ U09B9, U0983 ] };
key <AC07> { [ U099C, U099D ] };
key <AC08> { [ U0995, U0996 ] };
key <AC09> { [ U09B2, U0982 ] };
key <AC10> { [ semicolon, colon ] };
key <AC11> { [ apostrophe, quotedbl ] };
// shift, z to /
// key <LFSH> { [ Shift_L ] };
key <AB01> { [ U09DF, U09AF ] };
key <AB02> { [ U09B6, U09DD ] };
key <AB03> { [ U099A, U099B ] };
key <AB04> { [ U0986, U098B ] };
key <AB05> { [ U09AC, U09AD ] };
key <AB06> { [ U09A8, U09A3 ] };
key <AB07> { [ U09AE, U0999 ] };
key <AB08> { [ comma, U09C3 ] };
key <AB09> { [ U0964, U0981 ] };
key <AB10> { [ U09CD, question ] };
key <BKSL> { [ U200C, U0965 ] };
This gives this layout
Now you just need to reorder the keys like this:
// numbers
key <TLDE> { [ grave, asciitilde, voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
key <AE01> ==> key <AE01> <== NO CHANGE!
key <AE02> ==> key <AE02> <== NO CHANGE!
key <AE03> ==> key <AE03> <== NO CHANGE!
key <AE04> ==> key <AE04> <== NO CHANGE!
key <AE05> ==> key <AE05> <== NO CHANGE!
key <AE06> ==> key <AE06> <== NO CHANGE!
key <AE07> ==> key <AE07> <== NO CHANGE!
key <AE08> ==> key <AE08> <== NO CHANGE!
key <AE09> ==> key <AE09> <== NO CHANGE!
key <AE10> ==> key <AE10> <== NO CHANGE!
key <AE11> ==> key <AC11>
key <AE12> ==> key <AD12>
key <BKSP> { [ BackSpace ] };
// key <TAB> { [ Tab, ISO_Left_Tab ] };
key <AD01> ==> key <AB02>
key <AD02> ==> key <AB08>
key <AD03> ==> key <AC03>
key <AD04> ==> key <AD09>
key <AD05> ==> key <AC08>
key <AD06> ==> key <AD05>
key <AD07> ==> key <AC04>
key <AD08> ==> key <AC05>
key <AD09> ==> key <AC02>
key <AD10> ==> key <AD04>
key <AD11> ==> key <AE11>
key <AD12> ==> key <AE12>
key <RTRN> { [ Return ] };
// key <CAPS> { [ Caps_Lock ] };
key <AC01> ==> key <AC01> <== NO CHANGE!
key <AC02> ==> key <AC10>
key <AC03> ==> key <AC06>
key <AC04> ==> key <AD06>
key <AC05> ==> key <AD07>
key <AC06> ==> key <AC07>
key <AC07> ==> key <AB03>
key <AC08> ==> key <AB04>
key <AC09> ==> key <AD10>
key <AC10> ==> key <AB01>
key <AC11> ==> key <AD01>
// key <LFSH> { [ Shift_L ] };
key <AB01> ==> key <AB10>
key <AB02> ==> key <AB05>
key <AB03> ==> key <AD08>
key <AB04> ==> key <AB09>
key <AB05> ==> key <AB06>
key <AB06> ==> key <AC09>
key <AB07> ==> key <AB07> <== NO CHANGE!
key <AB08> ==> key <AD02>
key <AB09> ==> key <AD03>
key <AB10> ==> key <AD11>
key <BKSL> { [ backslash, bar, voidsymbol, voidsymbol ] };
So that it looks like below in the file /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/in
xkb_symbols "ben_probhat" {
name[Group1]= "Bangla (India, Probhat)";
key <ESC> { [ Escape ] };
// numbers
key <TLDE> { [ U200D, asciitilde ] };
key <AE01> { [ U09E7, exclam ] };
key <AE02> { [ U09E8, at ] };
key <AE03> { [ U09E9, numbersign ] };
key <AE04> { [ U09EA, U09F3 ] };
key <AE05> { [ U09EB, percent ] };
key <AE06> { [ U09EC, asciicircum ] };
key <AE07> { [ U09ED, U099E ] };
key <AE08> { [ U09EE, U09CE ] };
key <AE09> { [ U09EF, parenleft ] };
key <AE10> { [ U09E6, parenright ] };
key <AC11> { [ minus, underscore ] };
key <AD12> { [ equal, plus ] };
key <BKSP> { [ BackSpace ] };
// tab, q to ]
key <TAB> { [ Tab, ISO_Left_Tab ] };
key <AB02> { [ U09A6, U09A7 ] };
key <AB08> { [ U09C2, U098A ] };
key <AC03> { [ U09C0, U0988 ] };
key <AD09> { [ U09B0, U09DC ] };
key <AC08> { [ U099F, U09A0 ] };
key <AD05> { [ U098F, U0990 ] };
key <AC04> { [ U09C1, U0989 ] };
key <AC05> { [ U09BF, U0987 ] };
key <AC02> { [ U0993, U0994 ] };
key <AD04> { [ U09AA, U09AB ] };
key <AE11> { [ U09C7, U09C8 ] };
key <AE12> { [ U09CB, U09CC ] };
key <RTRN> { [ Return ] };
// caps, a to '
// key <CAPS> { [ Caps_Lock ] };
key <AC01> { [ U09BE, U0985 ] };
key <AC10> { [ U09B8, U09B7 ] };
key <AC06> { [ U09A1, U09A2 ] };
key <AD06> { [ U09A4, U09A5 ] };
key <AD07> { [ U0997, U0998 ] };
key <AC07> { [ U09B9, U0983 ] };
key <AB03> { [ U099C, U099D ] };
key <AB04> { [ U0995, U0996 ] };
key <AD10> { [ U09B2, U0982 ] };
key <AB01> { [ semicolon, colon ] };
key <AD01> { [ apostrophe, quotedbl ] };
// shift, z to /
// key <LFSH> { [ Shift_L ] };
key <AB10> { [ U09DF, U09AF ] };
key <AB05> { [ U09B6, U09DD ] };
key <AD08> { [ U099A, U099B ] };
key <AB09> { [ U0986, U098B ] };
key <AB06> { [ U09AC, U09AD ] };
key <AC09> { [ U09A8, U09A3 ] };
key <AB07> { [ U09AE, U0999 ] };
key <AD02> { [ comma, U09C3 ] };
key <AD03> { [ U0964, U0981 ] };
key <AD11> { [ U09CD, question ] };
key <BKSL> { [ U200C, U0965 ] };
Ultimately giving the layout I assume you would like
Note that you must make a backup of the original file layout before starting to edit and save it as root or otherwise you'll have to download and restore it back from freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/XKeyboardConfig
Albeit I don't understand nothing from the alphabet, I hope this could help because I've been using the dvorak layout as well for many years and I hope that one day it can replace the qwerty layout from being always the standard :(
You have first to install the ibus-avro package. You’ll find a good description how to do it here. You have to open a terminal, do cd /usr/src and follow the instructions.
Afterwards, you have to select the keyboard layout from the GUI as described.