Ubuntu – How to permanently assign a different keyboard layout to a USB keyboard

keyboardkeyboard-layoutusb

I often plugin a USB keyboard to my laptop (in addition to external monitor and mouse, which all virtually convert my laptop to a desktop computer) and I prefer using a different keyboard layout then.

I have to manually change the current keyboard layout each time I plugin this USB keyboard.

And I'd like to use an automated way for this, if possible.

Radu's answer to the question here gives some clues, but it seems I'll need a startup script for this task as the device ID for my USB keyboard changes every time the computer starts.

This startup script will probably first include the command xinput -list | grep "USB Keyboard", and another command to grab the first USB Keyboard ID number displayed and then use it in the final command to set my chosen layout for that USB keyboard as below:

setxkbmap -device <NUMBER> -layout <LAYOUT>

Best Answer

After a little research, I've found a solution, although I'm still open to other (probably better) answers.

Here's a startup script (which can be added to Startup Applications) which will set the maually entered usbkbd_layout variable to the usbkbd device ids found in the xinput -list:

#!/bin/bash
usbkbd=`xinput -list | grep -c "USB Keyboard"`
if [[ "$usbkbd" -gt 0 ]]
then
    usbkbd_ids=`xinput -list | grep "USB Keyboard" | awk -F'=' '{print $2}' | cut -c 1-2`
    usbkbd_layout="tr(f)"
    for ID in $usbkbd_ids
    do
      setxkbmap -device "${ID}" -layout "${usbkbd_layout}"
    done
fi
exit 0

This script is quite useful (and more stable) for scenarios where user starts using the laptop on a desktop setup (with external keyboard, mouse and monitor, etc.), and it can also be run manually whenever the external USB keyboard is plugged in...

==========================================================================

THE BETTER (almost perfect) SOLUTION - found thanks to MinimusHeximus and the respective contributors to the thread he mentioned in his comment below:

I can now just plugin my USB keyboard and automatically have its different (TR-F) keyboard layout applied while still keeping the default keyboard layout (TR-Q) on my laptop!

Here are the files and their contents that make this possible:

/etc/udev/rules.d/00-usb-keyboard.rules

ATTRS{idVendor}=="09da", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0260", OWNER="sadi"
ACTION=="add", RUN+="/home/sadi/.bin/usb-keyboard-in_udev"
ACTION=="remove", RUN+="/home/sadi/.bin/usb-keyboard-out_udev"

/home/sadi/.bin/usb-keyboard-in_udev

#!/bin/bash
/home/sadi/.bin/usb-keyboard-in &

/home/sadi/.bin/usb-keyboard-in

#!/bin/bash
sleep 1
DISPLAY=":0.0"
HOME=/home/sadi/
XAUTHORITY=$HOME/.Xauthority
export DISPLAY XAUTHORITY HOME
usbkbd_id=`xinput -list | grep "USB Keyboard" | awk -F'=' '{print $2}' | cut -c 1-2 | head -1`
usbkbd_layout="tr(f)"
if [ "${usbkbd_id}" ]; then
    gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.keyboard active false
    sleep 2
    setxkbmap -device "${usbkbd_id}" -layout "${usbkbd_layout}"
fi

/home/sadi/.bin/usb-keyboard-out_udev

#!/bin/bash
/home/sadi/.bin/usb-keyboard-out &

/home/sadi/.bin/usb-keyboard-out

#!/bin/bash
sleep 1
DISPLAY=":0.0"
HOME=/home/sadi/
XAUTHORITY=$HOME/.Xauthority
export DISPLAY XAUTHORITY HOME
gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.keyboard active true

Notes:

  1. Of course all of the four files in your ."bin" folder should have necessary permissions (readable and executable) which maybe implemented for example with a Terminal command like chmod - 755 /home/sadi/.bin/usb-keyboard-*
  2. Sometimes after the USB keyboard is plugged in it still uses the same (default) keyboard layout, and switches to the specified layout upon the second try (perhaps requiring a little more sleep time somewhere?)
  3. The USB keyboard specific layout is not effective in the login screen (when you Log Out).
  4. If you use a separate partition for /home, then it might be a better idea to put the four scripts somewhere in the root partition, e.g. /usr/local/bin and modify the contents of all respective files accordingly as sometimes udev may look for those files before your /home partition is mounted and cause problems.

IN ORDER TO ADAPT THIS SETUP TO DIFFERENT REQUIREMENTS:

  1. USB keyboard vendor and product ids should be changed as per the output of the command lsusb (For example, my lsusb output have this for my USB Keyboard: Bus 001 Device 006: ID 09da:0260 A4 Tech Co., Ltd)
  2. OWNER and all user directory names should be changed from "sadi" to another name
  3. The usbkbd_id may require a little adjustment to grab the correct device id (For example, output of the commands xinput -list | grep "USB Keyboard" gives me two lines; ↳ USB Keyboard id=14 [slave keyboard (3)] and ↳ USB Keyboard id=16 [slave keyboard (3)]; which are then filtered by awk using "=" as field delimiter and capturing the second part; then cutting only the first two digits, and then using only the value in the first line)
  4. The value for usbkbd_layout may be any other valid choice
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