Keyboard layout is ignored

[Simon Quigley]

We discussed the user interface for this at some point, but I think we need to really think about changing the keyboard layout, for the live session.

Whether we copy some code from Calamares or just re-invent the wheel, we need something for these users. We could also look at popping up the LXQt dialog if we detect the keyboard layout is different.

What makes the most sense from a user perspective?

[sudodus (nio-wiklund)]

For me, who have laptops and separate keyboards with Swedish letters and symbols printed on the keys, it would be useful to get

setxkbmap se

along with the Swedish setting for programs for the live sessions. The keyboard is more important for me than getting a Swedish dialog in programs.

But it is not very important. I was quite happy before

lubuntu-installer-prompt

was added to the Lubuntu ISO file.

It would be interesting to read the comments from other users. Unfortunately few people who have problems with English (dialogue and keyboard) might take part in this discussion, so we should listen extra much to their comments (if we can identify them).

[Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa)]

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/2047295

[sudodus (nio-wiklund)]

See also Bug #2058375 reported by Miguel Angel Noguera 53 minutes ago

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/calamares/+bug/2058375

[Aaron Rainbolt (arraybolt3)]

I took a swing at this a while ago. The problem is that a setxkbmap run in the installer prompt doesn't actually manage to carry over to the desktop session. The keyboard layout ends up on `us` anyway. I suspect something in both LXQt and Plasma (both of which have this issue) is resetting the keyboard layout to the one configured in the DE (which is the normal and right thing to do but quite annoying at the same time). I could be wrong about the underlying cause, but those are the symptoms.

I think this will require doing something to reconfigure the target DE so *it* sets the keyboard layout right. If so, this will likely require separate solutions for Lubuntu and Kubuntu. (Ubuntu Unity doesn't have an installer prompt and so doesn't need any action here.)