I have x11-forwarding set up from an ubuntu 12.04 vm to my (windows) laptop. It works, but when I type in the forwarded applications, it is using the qwerty layout and I would like it to use colemak.
I would like a command-line solution since I don't have the GUI installed in the vm.
I have tried setxkbmap -v us -variant colemak, but I get "Error loading new keyboard description":
$ setxkbmap -v us -variant colemak
Warning! Multiple definitions of keyboard layout
Using command line, ignoring X server
Warning! Multiple definitions of layout variant
Using command line, ignoring X server
Trying to build keymap using the following components:
keycodes: xfree86+aliases(qwerty)
types: complete
compat: complete
symbols: pc+us(colemak)
geometry: pc(pc101)
Error loading new keyboard description
I also tried setxkbmap -v us -variant dvorak, which did seem to work.
What is wrong? Colemak comes with ubuntu, and I can see a section for it in /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/us, which is where the layout is defined, I assume.
Best Answer
My mistake was assuming that the keyboard layouts that were important were the ones in the vm (/usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/).
Actually, when using x-forwarding it is the keyboard layouts defined in my x server, xming (C:\Program Files (x86)\Xming\xkb\symbols) that are important, and colemak is not included with xming by default. I was able to just download the colemak definition and drop it in the xming symbols folder; then it works as expected.