Ubuntu – Where are the Keyboard Settings Stored in MATE DE

16.0418.0418.10keyboard-layoutmate

I'm currently setting up a couple of computers with Ubuntu MATE 16.04. The default installation sets the Keyboard Layout to 'English', however, I need a 'German' keyboard layout. I figured out how to remove all Layouts and add 'German' as default keyboard layout in the GUI.

System -> Preferences -> Hardware -> Keyboard -> Layouts

However, I have to setup around 20 computers and it would be neat if I could script those settings. So my questions is where are the keyboard settings stored such that I could copy it from one computer to all the others.

Best Answer

1. MATE Desktop Environment session

1.1. Using `gsettings`

You need the following GSettings keys. Below is my example with two layouts (us and ru) using Ctrl+Shift as layout switcher and ScrollLock LED as indicator of the second layout:

gsettings set org.mate.peripherals-keyboard-xkb.kbd layouts "['us', 'ru']"
gsettings set org.mate.peripherals-keyboard-xkb.kbd model "''"
gsettings set org.mate.peripherals-keyboard-xkb.kbd options \
"['grp_led\tgrp_led:scroll', 'grp\tgrp:ctrl_shift_toggle']"

Edit it for your case.

1.2. Using `dconf`

Alternative method is to use dconf command:

cat <<EOF | dconf load /org/mate/desktop/peripherals/keyboard/
[kbd]
layouts=['us', 'ru']
model=''
options=['grp_led\tgrp_led:scroll', 'grp\tgrp:ctrl_shift_toggle']
EOF

Edit it for your case.

2. Terminal session and some GUI cases

Do not forget to run sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration to reconfigure keyboard layouts for terminal and some GUI sessions.
It will save its settings in /etc/default/keyboard.
You can configure it once, then copy this file to other machines. After changing this file you should update initramfs images with sudo update-initramfs -k all -u.

Also note, that MATE Keyboard Preferences may be opened with mate-keyboard-properties.

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – How to change keyboard geometry from 104 to 105 keys

It might be, that the wrong keyboard model is selected. To view currently installed keyboard model issue:

setxkbmap -print | grep geometry

If you see pc104 there you will have a 104 key layout where the > < | key is not defined.

In order to use a typical German 105 keys keyboard, you have to choose the "pc105" type, labeled "Generische PC-Tastatur mit 105 Tasten (Intl)" in the German localization of Ubuntu on installation. To change this later you can issue

sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration

or edit /etc/default/keyboard as root. My file looks as following:

# KEYBOARD CONFIGURATION FILE

# Consult the keyboard(5) manual page.

XKBMODEL="pc105"
XKBLAYOUT="de"
XKBVARIANT="nodeadkeys"
XKBOPTIONS=""

BACKSPACE="guess"

On Xfce you can change the setting for your user only as well. The respective option is in Settings/Keyboard Settings/Layout. Nevertheless, since I don't use Unity or Gnome, I have no idea where the respective setting is hidden there (if someone knows: please update this answer).