dvorak question

darthczyz · 06-02-2003, 08:34 AM

i'm a dvorak keyboard user, and when i'm working in our lab, those keyboards are all qwerty (boo!). i was wondering if i could write an alias or something to switch the keyboard setting, or how to change that at the command line. i'm running RedHat 9. thanks

-skiz

0x0001 · 06-02-2003, 08:41 AM

Try loadkeys(1).
When you want to automatically switch to dvorak when loging in, put the loadkey line .bashrc or .tcshrc. But be nice and change it back to default or other users just might be confused

Usually .logout is executed on logout.

darthczyz · 06-02-2003, 08:53 AM

no why would i ever want to confuse a qwerty user?

thanks for your help

Inuyasha-kun · 12-08-2003, 02:30 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by 0x0001
Try loadkeys(1).
When you want to automatically switch to dvorak when loging in, put the loadkey line .bashrc or .tcshrc. But be nice and change it back to default or other users just might be confused
Usually .logout is executed on logout.

Where would I modify a file if I want to have the boot and startup in Dvorak?

MartinN · 12-08-2003, 02:52 AM

In RedHat 8:
/etc/sysconfig/keyboard

(It's a textfile)

Regards
Martin

Inuyasha-kun · 12-08-2003, 05:58 PM

Thanks. For my distro, what would I enter in the quotes?

MartinN · 12-09-2003, 04:13 AM

OK. The keyboard file looks like this on my computer (with a Swedish keyboard):

Code:

KEYBOARDTYPE="pc"
KEYTABLE="se-latin1"

The first line should probably stay as it is. I don't even know what the alternatives are... For the second line, there are a couple of alternatives. Too see them type:

Code:

~> ls -l /lib/kbd/keymaps/i386/dvorak/
total 16
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          160 Sep  5  2002 ANSI-dvorak.map.gz
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         1218 Sep  5  2002 dvorak-l.map.gz
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          778 Sep  5  2002 dvorak.map.gz
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         1215 Sep  5  2002 dvorak-r.map.gz

This may differ on your machine. I tried setting my KEYTABLE variable to "dvorak" (you should skip the .map.gz extention) and rebooted. Then I had a challenging time getting it back to where it was before.

Especially my root password was a little tricky to type

Good luck!
Martin

Inuyasha-kun · 12-09-2003, 05:38 PM

The "dvorak" in the second line didn't work, [ FAILED ]. The keymap thing never works, even though I installed it. Any other ideas for Red Hat 8?

MartinN · 12-09-2003, 05:45 PM

Are the keymaps installed? What do you get when you do the 'ls' command as I did above?

Martin

Inuyasha-kun · 12-09-2003, 05:54 PM

Yes. they are installed, and ls does work. The bootup thing doesn't work.

MartinN · 12-09-2003, 06:15 PM

Sorry. If the keymap file 'dvorak.map.gz' is installed on your system under '/lib/kbd/keymaps/i386/dvorak/' then I'm out of ideas.

As a last resort, try (from the Start menu in X) System Settings > Keyboard. Can you change your keyboard to dvorak there? It should take effect immediately.

Regards
Martin

Inuyasha-kun · 12-09-2003, 06:20 PM

That's what I already did. I want it to take effect before login...

MartinN · 12-09-2003, 06:25 PM

If you change the keyboard settings there, it should stay so even after a reboot. Actually, that program changes the '/etc/sysconfig/keyboard' file.

Regards
Martin

Inuyasha-kun · 12-09-2003, 06:40 PM

Not for my distro... It only changes one user's settings.