Ubuntu – How to change keyboard keys configuration on Ubuntu 20.04

20.04gnomekeyboardkeys

I had Ubuntu MATE 18.04, and I could change keys like "Ctrl is mapped to Win and usual Ctrl keys", or "Alt is mapped to Right Win…", those options for me were very useful, that let me adapt keyboards of different laptops to have similar functionality.

This was an example in Ubuntu 18.04, MATE desktop:

Now I have Ubuntu 20.04 with GNOME desktop, but I can't find any system-options to configure these "keyboard keys distribution".

Is there any way to change it in GNOME desktop?

Best Answer

An advanced option like this is not available in the pre-installed Settings application, you need to use (GNOME) Tweaks. First install it by running the following command in Terminal (you would have to enable the universe repo first if it's disabled):

sudo apt install gnome-tweaks

Then launch it and you would find the option under Keyboard & Mouse > Additional Layout Options:

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to disable keyboard layout switching with both shift keys

You were probably hit by bug #1762952. One way to fix it:

Open /etc/default/keyboard for editing and replace the line starting with
```
XKBOPTIONS
```
with
```
XKBOPTIONS=""
```
Run this command to disable it from the desktop settings as well:
```
gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.input-sources xkb-options
```

Ubuntu – How to make Ubuntu 18.04 on screen keyboard work with Google Chrome

The new Gnome on-screen keyboard in Ubuntu 18.04 is this one: https://help.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/3.28/

However, note that the description in these release notes is quite misleading (and the description in the Ubuntu help is as well in a different way: It depends on whether you use the default X session or Wayland, and enabling it in Universal Access settings may or may not help).

Following is a (slightly edited for correctness, though there may still be mistakes based on confusion) copy of my recent comment on an earlier bug report. You can find further links including additional new bug reports there: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-shell/+bug/1760399

Auto-summon of the new OSK in Ubuntu 18.04 only works with application/toolkit support. Text widgets in alien (non-Gnome or non-Gtk?) toolkits don't summon the OSK (Chrome, Firefox, Qt, whatever other toolkits; I don't know if this is even standardized by freedesktop.org.
Because of alien toolkits there is always a need to summon on demand. Since Gnome 3.28 in Ubuntu 18.04, you can summon on a touch screen by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. However, this ONLY works in a Wayland session, not in X. I can confirm that it does. None of this is described in the Gnome 3.28 release notes or the Ubuntu 18.04 help. These are clearly documentation bugs.
Judging by the confusion in this bug report and the many questions on Askubuntu,com, it seems that the swiping up eluded even those users who have access to the feature because they use Wayland. Quite clearly this is not sufficiently discoverable, which IMHO is a bug. (Of course this is not helped by the buggy docs)
The Gnome extension to summon on-demand (https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1061/on-screen-keyboard-button/) does NOT work with touch in Ubuntu 18.04 (Gnome 3.28) according to the author, and neither does it in Cosmic (3.30). It works with the mouse but this is awkward to say the least. The author will hopefully be able to look into it but it may take some time.
I don't know why for me in Gnome 3.30 (Cosmic) the auto-summon only works for Activities and Applications menus search boxes, and not elsewhere in Gnome as far as I can find. Hard to believe that this is a bug in every Gnome application, maybe a Gtk bug?

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to disable keyboard layout switching with both shift keys

Ubuntu – How to make Ubuntu 18.04 on screen keyboard work with Google Chrome

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