I'm a new linux user. I also use Windows 7.

I write in English & French using the USA International Keyboard on Windows ... this works well with 'overstike' (eg, '+e = é). I'm sure there's a linux term for this.

I don't mind making a full keyboard definition myself, but I don't know how & there must be a simple way to get this done.

I really need a full, detailed reference to doing this ... including where to find the various directories (I HAVE found the 'Terminal', but that's it !).

Just a link to a doc or wiki would be welcome ... the web searches I've done have given answers that are too cryptic for my level.

TIA.
James Britton

# dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration

Is normally how you change the keyboard type/layout for many .deb based distros. You can also do custom keybindings, but too high maintenance for my tastes.

That keyboard is available in Linux. In the system settings part of the menu you will find a keyboard configuration tool. Select USA as the country and International as the variant. Much less trouble than messing about with mysterious commands! After altering the default keyboard, you need to log-out and in again for it to take effect.

If you're going to continue with Windows, sticking with the same method makes sense. But there are better solutions: the use of the apostrophe as a dead key always seems inconvenient to me. Look here at the Canadian keyboards
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QWERTY#Canadian

In Linux, it's also easy to set more than one keyboard driver. You can set a key (I use scroll lock) to toggle between them and use a light (obviously scroll lock) to show when the alternative is currently active. You can choose to make the switching global, only for the current application, or only for the current window.

I set a compose key (the Windows menu is a good one, but that's more useful if you use a lot of languages and symbols.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compose_key