GNOME KeyBoard Applet

Copyright © 2000 by Szabolcs (Shooby) BAN and Dan Mueth

Table of Contents
GNOME KeyBoard Applet

GNOME KeyBoard Applet

GNOME KeyBoard Applet, shown with its default configuration in , allows you to easily and quickly change the keyboard map to those used in various different countries. To add this applet to a Panel, right-click on the Panel and choose + + + +Panel+ + + + + ->Add to panel+ + + + + ->Applet+ + + + + ->Utility+ + + + + ->GKB KeyBoard Switcher+ + + + .

Figure 1. GNOME KeyBoard Applet

Usage

Once configured, the GNOME Keyboard applet allows you to switch the keyboard mapping between any number of keyboard layout. Just left-click on the applet or press Alt-Shift to switch the keyboard mapping.

Right-clicking on the applet brings up a menu containing the following items:

  • Properties opens the Properties dialog.

  • Help displays this document.

  • About shows basic information about GNOME KeyBoard Applet, including the applet's version and the author's name.

Customization

You can customize GNOME KeyBoard applet by right-clicking on it and choosing Properties. This will open the Properties dialog (shown in ), which allows you to add, modify, and remove keymaps, as well as to configure the applet's appearance.

Figure 2. Properties dialog

The Properties dialog box has two tabs: Keymaps and Options. On the Keymaps tab, you can Add, Edit, Delete or change the order of keyboard layouts. On the Options tab you can set the appearance of the applet (flag, label or flag+label) and its size (Normal or Big), as well as the key sequence to use to get GKB to switch between keyboard layouts (see section.)

Setting keyboard layouts for you language

Setting up keymaps can consist in one or more of the following steps:

  • Adding a required keyboard layout On the Keymaps tab, click on the Add button. The tree shown in allows you to choose the keymap best suited for you, based on the language and the country involved.

    Figure 3. Select Layout dialog

    To add a keymap, click on the + sign preceeding the languge you want to set. A list of coutries where the given language is used appears. Again, click on the + preceeding the country chosen, and a list of keymaps shows up. Select the keymap you would like to use and click Add. Your keymap gets added to the list on the GKB Properties window. You may add another keymap or click Close to close the Select Layout dialog.

  • Editing an existing keyboard layout Selecting a keymap and pressing the Edit brings up the Edit keymap window (see ).

    Figure 4. Edit keymap dialog

    On this dialog, you can modify different properties of the keymap. These properties are:

    • Name: The name of the keymap, as shown in the GKB Properties window and in the hint appearing when you move your mouse over the applet.

    • Label: This is the label that appears when you set "Label" or "Flag+Label" modes. See for more details.

    • Language: This option will be used in Gnome 2.0. It has no effect right now.

    • Country: This option will be used in Gnome 2.0. It has no effect right now.

    • Flag: This is the place where you can set the flag to be displayed with the given keyboard layout.

    • Architecture: This option will be used in Gnome 2.0. It has no effect right now.

    • Type: This option will be used in Gnome 2.0. It has no effect right now.

    • Code page: This option will be used in Gnome 2.0. It has no effect right now.

    • Command: This is the command which GNOME KeyBoard will use to change the keymap. The default is to use the gkb_xmmap xmodmap-file-extension command, where xmodmap-file-extension should be replaced by the extension of the xmodmap file you want to use.

      TipFinding keyboard layouts available on your system
       

      On a typical Linux system, xmodmap files can be found under the directory /usr/share/xmodmap.

      To set the keymap to a US 101 key keyboard, for example, you would use gkb_xmmap us-101.

      If this doesn't work, you may also try setting the keyboard using command setxkbmap LC where LC is the two letter country code of your locale. (for example, setxkbmap fr to use a French keyboard). Finally, if you have your own keyboard layout (xmodmap) file, set the command to xmodmap xmodmap-filename (for example, xmodmap ~/xrus/yawerty.koi8.xmm to use keyboard layout for Cyrillic letters in koi8 encoding). Please see for more information.

  • Removing a keyboard layout that is no longer needed To remove a keyboard, select it (click on it in the GKB Properties window) and click the Delete button.

  • Reordering keyboard layouts The order in which the keyboard layouts become active as you click on the applet or press the hot key depends on the order they appear in the list in the Properties window. The layout that is displayed at the top of the list will become the default layout when you close the Properties window. To change the order in the list, select the keymap to be moved, and click Up or Down as appropriate.

After you have made all the changes you want, click on Apply to apply the changes or on OK to apply the changes and close the Properties dialog. To cancel the changes and return to previous values, click the Close button. The Help button brings up this chapter of the on-line help.

Miscellaneous options

Different options allow you to customize the look of your applet. As a new feature, you can select between three different display modes: