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Changing the keyboard to German layout (AV Linux 23.2 "Enlightened")
Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2025 1:17 pm
by black_currant
Hello, I am new here -
I just installed MX Linux 23.2. I am using the AV-Linux iso, but I had the same problem with pure MX Linux just before: I seem to be unable to change the keyboard to German.
- I did create and select the German keyboard for installation, but the installer ignored it.
- I tried the little graphical tool in the taskbar, but although I do create and priorise the German keyboard, with or without erasing the US one, the little flag in the taskbar stays US american and so do the keys.
- I tried
, as well as
but to no effect. Both were already set to German.
- When I switch to the console (tty1) I do have a German keyboard, but not on the Enlightenment desktop.
Would anyone be able to help me?
Re: Changing the keyboard to German layout
Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2025 1:29 pm
by black_currant
I should add: I am not connecting this computer to the internet.
Re: Changing the keyboard to German layout
Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2025 2:23 pm
by fehlix
black_currant wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2025 1:17 pm
Hello, I am new here -
I just installed MX Linux 23.2. I am using the AV-Linux iso, but I had the same problem with pure MX Linux just before: I seem to be unable to change the keyboard to German.
- I did create and select the German keyboard for installation, but the installer ignored it.
- I tried the little graphical tool in the taskbar, but although I do create and priorise the German keyboard, with or without erasing the US one, the little flag in the taskbar stays US american and so do the keys.
- I tried
, as well as
but to no effect. Both were already set to German.
- When I switch to the console (tty1) I do have a German keyboard, but not on the Enlightenment desktop.
Would anyone be able to help me?
The awnser for "MX Linux" Xfce (and probly Kde also) would be that the selected keyboard layout on the Live Boot Menu
would be used. In case it was not selected on the LiveBoot menu use "System keyboard"/"System Tastatur" in the menu, or "system-keyboard-qt"on command line.
In addtion the Login Screen allows to select a different "session" keyboard layout.
On Enlightment the situation is different: The LiveKeyboard settings are ignore and always English/US keyboard is used,
and you need to adjust the session keyboard manually using Enlightment's own keyboard tool.
Thats it,
Re: Changing the keyboard to German layout
Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2025 1:47 am
by black_currant
So by "Enlightenment's own keyboard tool" you mean the graphical tool in the taskbar which is unresponsive?
That must have some kind of configuration file, no? Some entry I could manually change?
Re: Changing the keyboard to German layout
Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2025 7:32 am
by fehlix
black_currant wrote: Fri Feb 14, 2025 1:47 am
So by "Enlightenment's own keyboard tool" you mean the graphical tool in the taskbar which is unresponsive?
That must have some kind of configuration file, no? Some entry I could manually change?
IIRC, this keyboard issue in AV-Linux was mentioned within in the relase-note/readme/install doc.
Maybe adjust the topic/thread title by adding "AV-Linux" and version number you are using, so that people which may have an idea how to fix it,
better see that this is a question specific to this respin.
Also, I would ask someone to move this thread to the Respin subforum so that it is more visible to AV-Linux users who may be able to help you.
Re: Changing the keyboard to German layout
Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2025 9:22 am
by Eadwine Rose
Moved.
Re: Changing the keyboard to German layout (AV Linux 23.2 "Enlightened")
Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2025 10:34 am
by black_currant
Thank you. Rarely had such a civil welcome in a forum when posting to the wrong category.. ;-)
Re: Changing the keyboard to German layout (AV Linux 23.2 "Enlightened")
Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2025 11:23 am
by AVLinux
Hi,
There should be a flag on the main 'Shelf' (aka panel) clicking on that should bring you a 'Settings' button you can click on and then change your keyboard.
Alternatively clicking the wrench Icon on the main Shelf should take you to-->Settings Panel-->Input-->Keyboard where you can add a new layout.
Re: Changing the keyboard to German layout (AV Linux 23.2 "Enlightened")
Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2025 3:03 pm
by black_currant
Yea, that was kind of the problem: These settings were unresponsive. I could add a German keyboard, and priorise it, and yet the keyboard stayed american, and so did the flag on the panel. I have now found that when I erase the American keyboard and close the setup window without adding the German one, then open it again, add the German one and select it, then and only then the keyboard turns German. The flag on the panel even then still indicates american, though. So it seems some kind of bug, but for the moment it is solved.
(I would prefer to override the GUI component, so if someone could point me to the right configuration file, I'd be grateful.)
Re: Changing the keyboard to German layout (AV Linux 23.2 "Enlightened")
Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2025 3:47 pm
by fehlix
black_currant wrote: Fri Feb 14, 2025 3:03 pm
Yea, that was kind of the problem: These settings were unresponsive. I could add a German keyboard, and priorise it, and yet the keyboard stayed american, and so did the flag on the panel. I have now found that when I erase the American keyboard and close the setup window without adding the German one, then open it again, add the German one and select it, then and only then the keyboard turns German. The flag on the panel even then still indicates american, though. So it seems some kind of bug, but for the moment it is solved.
(I would prefer to override the GUI component, so if someone could point me to the right configuration file, I'd be grateful.)
You may need after adding German and move up on the top. click again on the icon (or right click?) and select German.
If someone would have found how to adjust with a simple config file, I guess the issue would not have been on the iso.
Re: Changing the keyboard to German layout (AV Linux 23.2 "Enlightened")
Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2025 3:56 pm
by black_currant
When I click on the icon after adding German and moving it up, still the only option I get is US american. When I go back to settings I see the German keyboard still priorised.
That said, I am starting to wonder whether something is generally wrong with that panel. The little wifi applet acts similarly: I select a network, I put in the password, and it closes and acts as if nothing happened. No visible attempt to connect, no error message.
Re: Changing the keyboard to German layout (AV Linux 23.2 "Enlightened")
Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2025 4:18 pm
by fehlix
black_currant wrote: Fri Feb 14, 2025 3:56 pm
When I click on the icon after adding German and moving it up, still the only option I get is US american. When I go back to settings I see the German keyboard still priorised.
Can't remember last time how I fixed it either just adding or keeping only German layout, next try to see if it is in the click list or not, or I logged out and logged in again.
But I remember I could always change it to German keyboard. So you are close, I guess.
Re: Changing the keyboard to German layout (AV Linux 23.2 "Enlightened")
Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2025 6:17 pm
by AVLinux
fehlix wrote: Fri Feb 14, 2025 3:47 pm
If someone would have found how to adjust with a simple config file, I guess the issue would not have been on the iso.
Unfortunately the solution would need to be coded into Enlightenment/EFL itself. It is designed to be installed from package manager and on first run it runs a setup wizard with basic system settings including keyboard. When you create a 'ready to use' ISO of Enlightenment this wizard doesn't run so keyboard has to be set manually.. I agree this one issue would be much easier on almost every other possible DE but E doesn't use the usual XML type of configuration files..
Re: Changing the keyboard to German layout (AV Linux 23.2 "Enlightened")
Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2025 2:53 am
by black_currant
Hm. So this would be the first Linux distribution I am using where elementar settings are hidden away. What happened to the Unix philosophy? The system must use some form of file to store configuration values, and that file I can access. So even if the user experience is planned the way you describe (configure once, override system settings forever), there must be a place where this can be changed, even if it is undocumented. So for changing the keyboard I have to properly reverse engineer the DE.
Re: Changing the keyboard to German layout (AV Linux 23.2 "Enlightened")
Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2025 2:11 pm
by AVLinux
black_currant wrote: Sat Feb 15, 2025 2:53 am
Hm. So this would be the first Linux distribution I am using where elementar settings are hidden away. What happened to the Unix philosophy? The system must use some form of file to store configuration values, and that file I can access. So even if the user experience is planned the way you describe (configure once, override system settings forever), there must be a place where this can be changed, even if it is undocumented. So for changing the keyboard I have to properly reverse engineer the DE.
You are misunderstanding what I've said which is likely my fault..
There are many non-English Users and changing the keyboard setting as described from the Panel applet is what they have done and it works. The keyboard is not 'hardcoded' to not be changed, it is supposed to be changed to the Users needs. What I am talking about is a setup wizard that doesn't run in AV Linux to allow keyboard setting at first run before using the system, once you are first logged in it CAN be changed. I don't know why this isn't working for you without more information.
Re: Changing the keyboard to German layout (AV Linux 23.2 "Enlightened")
Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2025 6:28 pm
by aika
menu => settings => system-keyboard
or in terminal:
Add German there. Then save and reboot.
After the german flag should be visible at the bottom of the bar.
Take a look at my attached picture
Re: Changing the keyboard to German layout (AV Linux 23.2 "Enlightened")
Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2025 6:33 pm
by AVLinux
aika wrote: Sun Feb 16, 2025 6:28 pm
menu => settings => system-keyboard
or in terminal:
Add German there. Then save and reboot.
After the german flag should be visible at the bottom of the bar.
Take a look at my attached picture
Unfortunately this is different with Enlightenment DE than with regular DE's and that will set the system keyboard as expected but not set the keyboard that the Desktop Environment is using in this case.
Re: Changing the keyboard to German layout (AV Linux 23.2 "Enlightened")
Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2025 6:51 pm
by aika
black_currant wrote: Thu Feb 13, 2025 1:17 pm...
- I tried
, as well as
but to no effect ...
The command: "sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales" worked?
Then, regarding available LOCALE, I would enter:
Code: Select all
sudo update-locale LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
Then reorganize the assignment of the directories/files:
Code: Select all
sudo locale-gen --purge --no-archive
And finally check whether:
runs cleanly.
To compare, enter in the terminal:
and take a look at my new attached picture:
German MX works best with UTF-8:
Code: Select all
aika@mx-dell:~
$ locale
LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=
LC_CTYPE="de_DE.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="de_DE.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="de_DE.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="de_DE.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="de_DE.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="de_DE.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="de_DE.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="de_DE.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="de_DE.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="de_DE.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="de_DE.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="de_DE.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=
aika@mx-dell:~
$ cat /etc/default/keyboard
# KEYBOARD CONFIGURATION FILE
# Consult the keyboard(5) manual page.
XKBMODEL="pc105"
XKBLAYOUT="de,us,ru"
XKBVARIANT=",,typewriter"
XKBOPTIONS="terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp,grp_led:scroll,grp:rctrl_rshift_toggle"
BACKSPACE="guess"
aika@mx-dell:~
$ sudo locale-gen --purge --no-archive
[sudo] Passwort für aika:
Generating locales (this might take a while)...
de_DE.ISO-8859-15@euro... done
de_DE.ISO-8859-1... done
de_DE.UTF-8... done
en_US.ISO-8859-1... done
en_US.ISO-8859-15... done
en_US.UTF-8... done
ru_RU.ISO-8859-5... done
ru_RU.UTF-8... done
Generation complete.
aika@mx-dell:~
$