4mKEYBOARD24m(5)                Console-setup User's Manual               4mKEYBOARD24m(5)

1mNAME0m
     keyboard - keyboard configuration file

1mDESCRIPTION0m
     The  1mkeyboard  22mfile describes the properties of the keyboard. It is read by
     1msetupcon22m(1) in order to configure the keyboard on the console.   In  Debian
     systems  the  default keyboard layout is described in 4m/etc/default/keyboard0m
     and it is shared between X and the console.

     The specification of the keyboard layout in the 1mkeyboard 22mfile is  based  on
     the  XKB  options XkbModel, XkbLayout, XkbVariant and XkbOptions.  Unfortu-
     nately, there is little documentation how to use them.  Description of  all
     possible values for these options can be found in the file 4mbase.lst24m.

     You  might  want  to  read "The XKB Configuration Guide" by Kamil Toman and
     Ivan U. Pascal:

            http://www.xfree86.org/current/XKB-Config.html

     Other possible readings are:

            https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/X_KeyBoard_extension
            http://pascal.tsu.ru/en/xkb/
            http://www.charvolant.org/~doug/xkb/

     The complete XKB-specification can be found on

            http://xfree86.org/current/XKBproto.pdf

     The file 1mkeyboard 22mconsists of variable settings in POSIX format:

            4mVARIABLE24m=4mVALUE0m

     Only one assignment is allowed per line.  Comments (starting with '#')  are
     also allowed.


1mOPTIONS0m
     The following variables can be set.


     1mXKBMODEL0m
            Specifies the XKB keyboard model name.  Default: 1mpc105 22mon most plat-
            forms.


     1mXKBLAYOUT0m
            Specifies  the XKB keyboard layout name. This is usually the country
            or language type of the keyboard. Default: 1mus 22mon most platforms


     1mXKBVARIANT0m
            Specifies the XKB keyboard variant components. These can be used  to
            further specify the keyboard layout details. Default: not set.


     1mXKBOPTIONS0m
            Specifies  the  XKB keyboard option components.  Options usually re-
            late to the behavior of the special keys (<Shift>, <Control>, <Alt>,
            <CapsLock>, etc.)  Default: not set.


     1mBACKSPACE0m
            Determines the behavior of <BackSpace> and <Delete> keys on the con-
            sole.  Allowed values: 1mbs22m, 1mdel 22mand 1mguess22m.  In  most  cases  you  can
            specify  1mguess 22mhere, in which case the current terminal settings and
            the kernel of your operating system will be used  to  determine  the
            correct   value.   Value  1mbs  22mspecifies  VT100-conformant  behavior:
            <BackSpace> will generate 1m^H 22m(ASCII BS) and <Delete>  will  generate
            1m^?   22m(ASCII  DEL).   Value  1mdel 22mspecifies VT220-conformant behavior:
            <BackSpace> will generate 1m^?  22m(ASCII DEL) and <Delete> will generate
            a special function sequence.


     1mKMAP   22mUsually this variable will be unset but if you don't want to  use  a
            XKB  layout  on  the  console, you can specify an alternative keymap
            here.  Specify a file that is suitable as input for  1mloadkeys22m(1)  on
            Linux or for 1mkbdcontrol22m(1) on FreeBSD.


1mFILES0m
     The  standard  location of the 1mkeyboard 22mfile is 4m/usr/local/etc/default/key-0m
     4mboard24m.  Description of all available keyboard models, layouts, variants and
     options is available in 4m/usr/local/share/X11/xkb/rules/base.lst24m.   In  most
     cases,  in 4m/usr/share/keymaps/24m or 4m/usr/share/syscons/keymaps/24m you will find
     several keymaps that can be used with the variable 1mKMAP22m.


1mNOTES0m
     In Debian systems, changes in 4m/etc/default/keyboard24m do not  become  immedi-
     ately visible to X.  You should either reboot the system, or use

         udevadm trigger --subsystem-match=input --action=change

     In order to activate the changes on the console, run 1msetupcon22m(1)1m.0m


1mBUGS0m
     When  a  triple-layout is used on the console, i.e. a layout with three XKB
     groups, then the group toggling happens in the  following  way:  Group1  ->
     Group2 -> Group1 -> Group3.

     On  FreeBSD  triple- and quadruple-layouts are not supported on the console
     (only the first and the second layout are taken into account).

     The option 1mgrp:shifts_toggle 22mis not supported on the console.


1mEXAMPLES0m
     The following configuration will give you the  standard  US  QWERTY  layout
     (1mus22m).   The  key  <Menu>  will  act  as  a  compose  key (1mcompose:menu22m) and
     <CapsLock> will act as third control key (1mctrl:nocaps22m).

         XKBLAYOUT=us
         XKBVARIANT=
         XKBOPTIONS=compose:menu,ctrl:nocaps

     In the following configuration the right <Alt> key (1mgrp:toggle22m) will toggle
     between  US  QWERTY  layout  (1mus22m)  and  Greek  (1mgr22m)  layout.   The   option
     1mgrp_led:scroll  22mis  ignored  on  the  console  but in X in means to use the
     ScrollLock keyboard led as indicator for the current layout (US or Greek).

         XKBLAYOUT=us,gr
         XKBVARIANT=
         XKBOPTIONS=grp:toggle,grp_led:scroll

     In the following configuration the <Control>+<Shift> key  combination  will
     toggle  (1mgrp:ctrl_shift_toggle22m)  between  French keyboard (1mfr22m) without dead
     keys (1mnodeadkeys22m) and British (1mgb22m) "Dvorak" (1mdvorak22m) keyboard.   The  right
     <Win> key will be a compose-key (1mcompose:rwin22m) and the right <Alt> key will
     function as AltGr (1mlv3:lalt_switch22m).

         XKBLAYOUT=fr,gb
         XKBVARIANT=nodeadkeys,dvorak
         XKBOPTIONS=grp:ctrl_shift_toggle,compose:rwin,lv3:ralt_switch


1mSEE ALSO0m
     1msetupcon22m(1), 1mckbcomp22m(1), 1mconsole-setup22m(5), 1mloadkeys22m(1), 1mkbdcontrol22m(1)

console-setup                      2011-03-17                        4mKEYBOARD24m(5)
