keyboard errors in puppy 1.0.1 and 1.0.2

Please post any bugs you have found
Post Reply
Message
Author
oui

keyboard errors in puppy 1.0.1 and 1.0.2

#1 Post by oui »

hi

the keyboard X-Windows interface has 3 different errors:

a/ the ALT GR key don't work on all keyboard hardware.

on my Cybercom laptop it don't works in puppy.

it is terrible because the most keyboard layout's in puppy use the ALT GR for @, /, \, [, ], {, }. so it is not possible to write a correct email adresse, to write a WikiScript, to edit HTML etc...

b/ the most important occidental keyboard layout after English (German = de) don't works properly: it is in this version a REALLY BAD adaptation of the English Keyboard's: the keys for `

Rich
Posts: 278
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 19:00
Location: Middlesbrough - UK

#2 Post by Rich »

I'm just discussing this bug with Allan in the chatroom.
Not sure if it's exclusively a puppy related thing ( entirely ).
the AgtGr key seems to be disabled in Mozilla/Firefox for some reason. doesn't work on mine either ( UK spec and settings ).

Not a problem to me, but if it's needed for an @ sign then it's more than annoying. Cut and paste shouldn't be the answer !


Rich

oui

it's true

#3 Post by oui »

hi

thank you rich

it's true. i can confirm it (and do so: cut + paste; but to do that you have to find first one @ or \ or / ... or to open extra an "heavy" text programm. mozilla is not the only one programm where this happen. what is with firefox?)

but i did never have this problem in mandrake move or mandrake 10.1 that i am using intensiv in the last time (but not mozilla... I use the gnome environment and open office of course, and as browser sometimes the MS-Window browser OffByOne under Wine because it's starts and operate very fast and is the same in both MS-Window and Linux)

yours truly

oui

Rich
Posts: 278
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 19:00
Location: Middlesbrough - UK

#4 Post by Rich »

From tonights playing........I've found a way around it.

Talking to Allan, AltGR +2 gives the 'at' sign needed, but the AltGr key doesn't work in the browser.

SO.......try this


go to /usr/share/keymaps/i386/ then navigate to the keyboard language and layout you have. EG. /qwerty/dk for danish.

open the file as text and find the word 'at' . ( in the dk setup it's on the keycode 3 line. )
the line reads "Keycode 3 = 2 quotedbl at"

Edit the line to read "Keycode 3 = 2 at quotedbl" and save the file
reboot the system and when you try the keyboard , the 'at' symbol is with the shift key, whereas the doublequote symbol is obtained with AltGr.

this is only an example.... if you use the doublequotes regularly in a browser then it's a better idea to put the 'at' somewhere else. Simply find a symbol you don't use much ( or at all ) in the browser and type the word 'at' in the second column of the keyboard file, next to the key you want it on.

The process may take a bit of fine tuning to individual needs, but the method works !

Let us know if it's any use !



Rich

Allan
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue 10 May 2005, 05:59
Location: Sweden

#5 Post by Allan »

It's working like a charm. I now have my @ on shift-4 instead of the

Allan
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue 10 May 2005, 05:59
Location: Sweden

#6 Post by Allan »

I was so happy having the @-thing solved I forgot to mention that I had to choose finnish keymap instead of swedish because I could't find the swedish in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps/i386/qwerty. No problem since they are the same (for my use anyway). And I had to do a reboot to get it working.

oui

make more with your ressources

#7 Post by oui »

Hi Rich, hi Allan

I thank you very much for the information where the keyboard layouts can be find and changed.

A difficulty did happen to try it:

the directories .../qwerty etc. seem to be writting protected and it is not possible to change or add files in it.

but it is a very usefull indication!

On my laptop, all the signs of the "calculator block" (1234567890*-+./) works properly with one click on the "Fn"-Key. It is the same as "ALT GR" I find. I don't need two different sets of keys for numerals and 2 sets of "*-+./". One is enough for me. So it is possible to dispose of the key of all the numeral line and *-+./ for other purposes: 15 keys disponible for other more important purposes! I can certainly find an optimal solution for all my needs under using of this possibility if I find a way to overwrite the key map.

Concerning the German Keyboard:
It is really a bug - the definition in the map is really wrong (I can remember that ten years ago, it was often so in the first Linux distribs): the creator did forget to declare the "grave" as "dead_grave" and did declare the "dead_accute" as "apostrophe". It would be really easy to change it in the next distrib of Puppy and preserve so German people using those signs from this irritation... only 2 little details to change and the keymap works properly...

I find that for West-European people the Es-Keymap gives the most possibilities to be able to write a lot of languages. I will declare "

Rich
Posts: 278
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 19:00
Location: Middlesbrough - UK

Re: make more with your ressources

#8 Post by Rich »

oui wrote:Hi Rich, hi Allan

the directories .../qwerty etc. seem to be writting protected and it is not possible to change or add files in it.

Concerning the German Keyboard:
It is really a bug - the definition in the map is really wrong (I can remember that ten years ago, it was often so in the first Linux distribs): the creator did forget to declare the "grave" as "dead_grave" and did declare the "dead_accute" as "apostrophe". It would be really easy to change it in the next distrib of Puppy and preserve so German people using those signs from this irritation... only 2 little details to change and the keymap works properly...
files in qwerty weren't write protected in mine. Did you use ROX to access them ( right click and open as text ). That's all I did.

The German Keyboard Definition should be easy to edit into a correct layout.
If you can point me to a picture of a layout for a German Keyboard somewhere on the internet , I'll give it a go and upload the file ( if it works ). Then it's just a matter of saving the newfile into the keymaps and selecting it from the wizard.


Rich

oui

different versions of Puppy

#9 Post by oui »

Hi Rich

Thank you for your help!

a/ keyboard for different occidental languages

I have now a good layout of the german keyboard (an qwertz-keyboard; looks as a portuguese keyboard and different other european keyboards but the other keyboards are querty). with this keyboard, I can write using the "Fn"-Key of my laptop all following special char's without using "Alt-Gr" (because "Alt-Gr" don't answer in Mozilla). I did make it now in Mozilla in my puppy 1.0.2!

list of the signs without AltGr:


Rich
Posts: 278
Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 19:00
Location: Middlesbrough - UK

#10 Post by Rich »

Strange that you couldn't edit the keyboard files......
I'm using 1.0.1 and I've had no problems like this. That's not strictly true, thinking about it. I got an 'access/modification denied' error once while playing around in the command line. However, navigating to the files using ROX and then using the right click - open as text command always seems to work for me .

Rich

oui

you are right! here is my keyboard choice (modified 3Jun5)

#11 Post by oui »

Rich wrote:Strange that you couldn't edit the keyboard files......
I'm using 1.0.1 and I've had no problems like this. That's not strictly true, thinking about it. I got an 'access/modification denied' error once while playing around in the command line. However, navigating to the files using ROX and then using the right click - open as text command always seems to work for me .

Rich
Hi Rich

You are right: The Help Page update from 17.5 "Package management", 2d paragraph named "Puppy Unleashed" says "Anyway, with the release of version 1.0.1, /usr became writable..." etc.

So if you use 1.0.1, you can overwrite /usr :D
and I did use 1.0.0 because of Firefox and didn't be able of that!

It is ok and exactly conform to the announced comportment!

I am really sorry for firebox and the w3 browser, but it is so...

Yours truly

fran

Post Reply