Dvorak keyboard keymapping for Linux
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The Dvorak key layout has been a wonderful tool for me: faster typing with less hand stress. On shared systems it makes sense that the default layout is QWERTY, since only a small percentage of users know the Dvorak layout. On a private machine, such as a desktop or laptop at home or work, it would be nice to have Dvorak be the default layout. Never again to have the annoyance of searching the keyboard for the right QWERTY letters for my login and password. 1. X Window System [automatic] STILL HAVEN'T FIGURED THIS ONE OUT YET 2. X Window System [manual] If you're unable to have your UNIX use Dvorak automatically, you can always use the xmodmap command to switch to the appropriate keymapping. Save this file as dvorak.keysym and type the command xmodmap dvorak.keysym Actually, I've set up a convenient alias bm xmodmap dvorak.keysym so I only have to type bm - xm (for xmodmap) in the QWERTY keymapping - to switch. 3. Linux terminal interface (text only) [automatic] It is possible to have Linux (or any UNIX, I suppose) start up with the Dvorak keymapping. It's simply a matter of establishing a new relationship between the letters desired and the codes generated by the keyboard hardware. This is done in a kmap file, of which there are many on the Internet, but none for the Macintosh US extended keyboard. So I created the mac-us-ext-dvorak.kmap. To install this keymap, download it to the /etc/sysconfig/console/ directory and edit the /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit file, substituting the new keymap file name for default.kmap: if [ -f /etc/sysconfig/console/mac-us-ext-dvorak.kmap ]; then KEYMAP=/etc/sysconfig/console/mac-us-ext-dvorak.kmap The next time you reboot Linux will be using the Dvorak keymapping for the terminal (text) interface. If you find flaws with my keymap please let me know. |
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