[[HomePage]] > [[ComponentHowTo Components and HowTos]] > [[InputDevices Input Devices]] / [[NativeLanguageSupport Language Support]]


====Setting up alternative keyboard layouts====

Some languages require a different keyboard layout to work properly. The default US layout has only a limited number of characters, which is adequate for English but not for languages which have diacritical marks (commonly known as accents). This covers most other languages using Latin characters.

A different keyboard layout can be set as default.  If different layouts are going to be used at different times it is easy to set up two (or more) layouts and switch between them.

Note- this method only works for [[Xorg]]

The keyboard layouts are already in Puppy2, [[Puppy3 3]], [[Puppy4 4]] and [[Puppy5Index 5]].  Nothing requires installing:
	* From the menu, choose Setup -&gt; Mouse/keyboard Wizard<br />
	* Click on Advanced Xorg keyboard configuration<br />
	* Click on Layouts to add another keyboard layout.<br />
	* When you've added your new keyboard layout, click on the Options tab, near the top of the window.<br />
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<p>
You'll see a window like this:<br />
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<a href="http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/4473/xkbconfigopt.png"><span class="inline inline-left"><img src="http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/4473/xkbconfigopt.png" class="image-ia image-_original" height="431" width="340" /></span></a>
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<p>
""
There are four things we are going to change, and one of those is optional. They are marked in red.

If [[Scim]] is used it is likely that setting up alternative keyboard isn't required. However, there are some exceptions, notably Arabic.


==Group Shift/Lock behaviour==

This sets the key combination you use to switch keyboard layouts.

It's a rather confusing option. The name doesn't really tell you what it does. Also, when you actually click on this button, you see a large number of options - and many of them look rather similar.

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<a href="http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/8151/xkbconfiggrsh.png"><span class="inline inline-left"><img src="http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/8151/xkbconfiggrsh.png" class="image-ia image-_original" height="374" width="532" /></span></a>
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In the screenshot I've select the one that I use. That lets me switch layouts at any time by pressing shift and alt. (Shift needs to be the first one pressed or nothing happens.)
</p>
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I've chosen this combination because many of the other options are already used for another function. Control-shift is used a lot for keyboard shortcuts, for example. If you prefer something else, you have quite a few choices.
</p>
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==Third level choosers==

When you press this key at the same time as another, you are able to enter a range of special characters. (If you have a US keyboard layout, it doesn't do anything.)

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I've chosen &quot;any of the win keys&quot;  because I don't use them for anything else. (It's good to know they are of <i>some</i> use on a Linux system. :) ) It's the one selected in the screenshot.
</p>
<p>
<a href="http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/6250/xkbconfig3lvl.png"><span class="inline inline-left"><img src="http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/6250/xkbconfig3lvl.png" class="image-ia image-_original" height="364" width="463" /></span></a>
</p>
<p>""

==Keyboard LED to show alternative layout==

This one is optional. If you set it, then when you have your alterative layout selected, the LED will light up. I've chosen to use the &quot;scroll lock&quot; LED because it has no other use on my system

==Compose key position==

You'll be offered a choice of four keys to use. I've chosen the menu key for this.

This also can be optional. The &quot;compose&quot; key gives you another way to type special characters, even with a standard keyboard. More details [[http://blog.cyberborean.org/2008/01/06/compose-key-magic here]].

Activate the new settings. Now you have two keyboard layouts set up and you can switch quickly between them.

==Also on the Wiki==
~[[fbxkb]] - current keyboard language indicator

==Related Webpages==
~[[http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=72251 Add extra language keyboard layout, switchable]]

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==Categories==
CategoryMultilingual