Bug 5671 - Plug multiple USB keyboards with different layouts/keyboard models
Summary: Plug multiple USB keyboards with different layouts/keyboard models
Status: RESOLVED MOVED
Alias: None
Product: xorg
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Input/Keyboard (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Hardware: x86 (IA32) Linux (All)
: high normal
Assignee: xkb
QA Contact: Xorg Project Team
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2006-01-21 02:50 UTC by rinvel
Modified: 2018-08-10 20:55 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

See Also:
i915 platform:
i915 features:


Attachments

Description rinvel 2006-01-21 02:50:25 UTC
Hello

I need to plug several USB keyboard on my laptop with fedora core 4.
It works well, but all keyboards have the same layout, while I want a different
layout for each keyboard.

For example :     keyboard 1 -> us qwerty
                  keyboard 2 -> greek...

I made several tries with xorg.conf. Normally it should work, but it did not :

    - or all keyboards have the same layout.
    - or keyboards and mouse started to have crazy behaviors.

Here is a sample of xorg.conf that should normally works :

Section "ServerLayout"
   Identifier  "Simple Layout"
   Screen "Screen 1"
   InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
   InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
   InputDevice "Keyboard2"
   InputDevice "Keyboard3"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
   Identifier  "Keyboard1"
   Driver      "kbd"
   Device      "/dev/..."
   Option      "Protocol" "Standard"
   Option      "AutoRepeat" "500 30"
   Option      "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
   Identifier  "Keyboard2"
   Driver      "kbd"
   Device      "/dev/..."
   Option      "Protocol" "Standard"
   Option      "AutoRepeat" "500 30"
   Option      "XkbLayout" "el_GR"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
   Identifier  "Keyboard3"
   Driver      "kbd"
   Device      "/dev/..."
   Option      "Protocol" "Standard"
   Option      "AutoRepeat" "500 30"
   Option      "XkbLayout" "ko"
EndSection
Comment 1 Sergey V. Udaltsov 2006-01-21 13:40:15 UTC
I completely support your request - but it is not for xkeyboard-config, actually.
Comment 2 rinvel 2006-01-22 01:53:26 UTC
(In reply to comment #1)
> I completely support your request - but it is not for xkeyboard-config, actually.

Thank you for your support and your help. 

I was browsing all the web to look for documentation, but I never found any
solution before.

If you are working for gnome, updating gnome (and KDE) to support multiple
keyboards and multiple mouses would be great too.
Comment 3 Sergey V. Udaltsov 2006-01-22 02:09:23 UTC
Well, I think it should be done step by step - first in X, then in DEs. Once X
provides means for it, you can file bugs in DEs' bugzillas.
Comment 4 rinvel 2006-01-22 02:12:54 UTC
(In reply to comment #3)
> Well, I think it should be done step by step - first in X, then in DEs. Once X
> provides means for it, you can file bugs in DEs' bugzillas.

What are DEs ? The generic name for KDE and gnome projects ?
Comment 5 Sergey V. Udaltsov 2006-01-22 02:20:11 UTC
Desktop Environments
Comment 6 Daniel Stone 2007-02-27 01:30:06 UTC
Sorry about the phenomenal bug spam, guys.  Adding xorg-team@ to the QA contact so bugs don't get lost in future.
Comment 7 Oliver Elphick 2008-10-11 12:13:32 UTC
If all keyboards are of the same model (e.g. 105-key) you can use the Gnome applet Keyboard Layout Indicator to change between them.  In the Gnome keyboard preferences, define your multiple layouts and tick "Separate lay0out for each window"; add the Keyboard Layout Indicator to your panel; you can then select the layout per window and use different keyboard layouts simultaneously.

If the keyboards are of different models, there is a problem.  I have a French keyboard (104 key model) and a Logitech UK English keyboard (105 key model).  I cannot (in Gnome) define two different layouts with different keyboard models, and the Ubuntu people say this is a problem with xkb  (Ubuntu bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/120788 )  The result is that the French keyboard does not work quite correctly, because the <> key produces \| instead.  (All other keys work OK on each keyboard.)
Comment 8 Sergey V. Udaltsov 2008-10-11 13:08:56 UTC
IMO this has nothing to do with layouts. The only thing which really has to be different for different keyboards is XKB model. But currently it is not properly supported by X. I mean - if several keyboards are plugged in at the same time.
Comment 9 Julien Cristau 2008-10-11 15:08:00 UTC
> --- Comment #8 from Sergey V. Udaltsov <svu@gnome.org>  2008-10-11 13:08:56 PST ---
> IMO this has nothing to do with layouts. The only thing which really has to be
> different for different keyboards is XKB model. But currently it is not
> properly supported by X. I mean - if several keyboards are plugged in at the
> same time.

What's the problem with that?  You can have one device for each
keyboard, each with its own xkb settings (setxkbmap has a -device
option).
Comment 10 Sergey V. Udaltsov 2008-10-11 15:23:45 UTC
Actually, my statement was inaccurate at best. What I really meant is that GNOME (based on libxklavier) and probably KDE (to be checked) actually use core keyboard device.
Comment 11 Victor NOEL 2014-10-20 07:54:19 UTC
Hi,

I think there is a link to the following bug in Gnome:
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=738844
Comment 12 GitLab Migration User 2018-08-10 20:55:01 UTC
-- GitLab Migration Automatic Message --

This bug has been migrated to freedesktop.org's GitLab instance and has been closed from further activity.

You can subscribe and participate further through the new bug through this link to our GitLab instance: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/driver/xf86-input-keyboard/issues/3.


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