Multiple keyboard layouts in Tiger

Dear all,
I am experiencing some issues with the keyboard switching tool.
basically, I have 3 layouts: Japanese, French and German.
I configured those in the System Preferences / International and configured OS X to use the selected keyboard layout between all documents (this should prevent each app/window from switching layout atomatically)
Now, the problem I have is that whenever I switch between AdiumX, Safari, Mail, Terminal and Finder(no specific order), at some point, my keyboard layout automatically changes back to French.
This happens starting from a freshly booted Max OS X, where the first thing I do is set my keyboard to Japanese and then I start the various applications I use (mail, safari, AdiumX, Terminal).
I would like to know if anyone has experienced the same behavior and which way I can fix this as this is a huge restrain in the workflow.
Many thanks for future help!
Alexis

Hmm yeah, I do know the standard having grown up with it. But at least on all the other keyboards I had been using so far the characters are shown on the keys....
Anyway, as to your question: I do find it feasible for the purpose I use either layout for.
When using the German layout, I’m typing text, with a lot of umlaut-characters - äöüß etc. Clearly, the German layout is better suited than the US where you have to use weird combinations for these characters.
In addition, I do a lot of Matlab-programming and LaTeX typesetting, esp. with a lot of formulas. And as those languages are designed, {},[],\, etc. are some of the most frequently appearing characters. For this task, I definitely prefer the US layout, where these characters can be easily acessed. And since m-files don’t even allow umlauts, and because all of my scientific stuff (LaTeX formulas etc.) is en English anyway, I don’t miss the umlauts here.

Similar Messages

Key "N" working as N+ALT when i have multiple keyboard layouts

I have a weird issue ... I am using an apple aluminium keyboard with un-apple-keyboard, and remapped to act as a regular keyboard. I have used wiki article to achieve this: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Apple_Keyboard ...
When I have only default EN keyboard layout installed, everything is fine, but when i add any additional layout (in my case Hungarian or/and Serbian) the key "N" starts to act kinda as ALT key... let me explain. when i press N it acts like i have pressed N and holding ALT... for example if i press n and f after it then i get this in console:
N^[F
this is very frustrating because as i type i often end up in a programs menu {ALT+* combinations} , or with some unwanted chars...
I have tried many combination, but i could not solve the issue, so ANY idea/tip is welcome.
Thanks in advance
Last edited by bboldi (2012-09-17 09:11:39)

Check out the "/usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/" folder and edit whatever layout you're using (I'm guessing "rs"):
$ ls /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/
# nano /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/rs
As you can see, there are more variants in there, so try another variant.
If you have previously edited this file, maybe it will help to find out what package owns that file and reinstall it:
$ pacman -Qo /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/rs
/usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/rs is owned by xkeyboard-config 2.6-1
# pacman -S xkeyboard-config
Note that the "N" key is awfully close to AltGr (the right-side Alt). Maybe it's a hardware issue? Apple peripherals are overpriced pieces of faeces (mice and headphones mostly. Don't know about the keyboard; I'd much rather buy something else in the same price range).

Multiple keyboard layouts... how do I stop it from defaulting to QWERTY?

I've been working on teaching myself the Dvorak layout. I've even re-arranged the keys on my laptop (which is partly because I LOVE to see people who can't touch-type struggle >:)
Unfortunately... the OS seems DETERMINED to use the QWERTY layout. Every time I switch apps, it goes back to qwerty as default... and I see no option anywhere to stop this. I could probably remove qwerty layout from the menu... but as I'm learning, this isn't exactly an option. And it's something that should be changeable.
Is there a way to stop this defaulting behavior, so if I set it to a different layout it'll STAY that way? I'm also working with a few Japanese sets, and it has the same irritating habit, so I can't quickly switch between apps.
If it remembered what setting that application had, I'd be even happier... but again, I can't find anything to effect this in the least.

Look, dude, if you've already thought of this, too, then spare me the sarcasm, ignore it and continue waiting for something better to come along.
But, since no one's been able to help you so far, notwithstanding your pleasant and welcoming demeanor, have you tried the following:
Select both Dvorak and Qwerty (and whatever else you want) from the input sources in System Preferences > International > Input menu.
Then click on the Keyboard Shortcuts button, which will take you to the Keyboard Shortcuts section of the Keyboard & Mouse pane.
Click the black triangle next to "input menu," check the boxes next to "select previous input source" and "select next input source in input menu," and set up easy to remember short cuts for switching back and forth between keyboard layouts. (If you see a yellow triangle next to the shortcuts, you'll have to change the default shortcut to something not already used by an application.)
Now, before you unload another barrel of sarcasm and urge me to read your post again, please know that I fully realize the foregoing workaround does not do exactly what you want to do, i.e., stop your keyboard from defaulting to Qwerty when you switch applications.
But, what it does let you do is, when you switch apps. and your keyboard defaults back to Qwerty, then you can easily, with a keystroke or two, switch back the your preferred method of input without having to go to System Preferences and check and uncheck boxes.
That's the best I've got on this one. If you don't like it for any reason -- such as the keystroke or two being too much work for you -- or for no reason at all for that matter, don't bother letting me know. If you do like it and it works for you, well that's great and that's why I posted.
Good luck.
-- JDee

Advanced keyboard layouts

Hello, I want to create my own keyboard layout. I know how to do this with xmodmap and doing it through XKB doesn't seem hard either, but I'm looking for something a tad more advanced. I want to create extra modes (like caps-lock) and submaps, which work like modifiers, except you only need to press them once rather than holding down the button (like in window managers like Stumpwm). The idea is to use those modes and submaps to use the same buttons for different characters.
There are three ways of doing it:
- Software that creates keyboard layouts with this functionality, in which case: what is the software called?
- Creating multiple keyboard layouts and switching through them by other software. Unpreferred since it probably doesn't allow for submaps, but in this case also: what is the software called?
- Creating the software. I kind of doubt that the software exists, since surely I'm the only one who'd even want something like this. Thing is, I have close to no experience with programming, so this seems like quite a big first programming project. The advantage is that it'd give me motivation. Is it a good idea to just try to write this and learn as I go, and if so, is anyone willing to help me with it?
Thanks in advance.

For #2:
You can do 'submaps' with xchainkeys:
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=40797
And you can call different xmodmap commands with for instance xbindkeys with a file in /tmp to keep track of which one you are using currently.
If you disable caps lock, you can get led control back with kbd's setleds. If setleds complains about not being able to reach the terminal or something, try it like this:
setleds -L +caps < /dev/tty0

Multiple Libraries / Keyboard Layout folders?

Howdy All -
Because Mac doesn't ship w/ a proper Arabic keyboard, I made one using ukelele. I added this to my old MacBook. So far so good. I bought an Air in the spring, transferred my account from the MacBook - no problems (ahem, related to the keyboard layouts).
However, I wanted to share this keyboard layout with friends and colleages (the world!), but when I navigate to my user's "Keyboard Layout" folder in Library, there is only a layout I recently designed. Is there another place I might find the other layouts I made previously (& that are still listed in Language preferences)?
I seem to recall both a "local" and "global" Keyboard Layouts folder in 10.6: if I added a keyboard layout to the global folder, then all users had access to it. But if I added it to the local folder, only that particular user could access it. But I can't find any such alternative layout folder.
Thanks in advance for your help!
All the best,
Rax

Your problem is that Home/Library is not visible in Lion without some special effort. See
http://tidbits.com/article/12306
I would be interested in having a copy of your layout, I have made a couple myself to fix various issues, e.g.
http://m10lmac.blogspot.com/2009/11/os-x-106-switching-arabic-pc-keyboard.html

How can I type "š" with english keyboard layout?

I was wondering if somewho can tell me, how I can type "š" with englis keyboard layout, because when I have restart iMac, layout was changed back to english (from Slovak) and now I cant start Mac OS X, cause in my login is "š"

Start with the Apple menu in the upper left of the Menu Bar and select System Preferences. On the System Preferences pane on the top row is the UN flag icon. For Tiger (OS-X 10.4) it was called "International". Click to take you to the Language Options:
The sub-menu called "Input Sources" (as you can see from the above screen shot) will take you to the panel that I referred to in the previous response. If you don't find your language listed then click on the "Edit List at the bottom left of the "Language" sub-menu. Once you make a change in either one of these places you will be given a notice to tell you that the change will be reflected the next time you restart your Mac or the next time that you log in to your account. If you are the only user and do not have another account on your Mac then the restart option will be your method. There is no need to do this procedure from the install DVD.

Some applications don't put accents with non-english keyboard layouts

I'm using a Portuguese keyboard with three different macs running Mac OS Tiger 10.4.8/9. Some applications (like Motion 2 and Swift Publishing 2) don't allow writing some accented characters, like (è) or (ê), that are accessed by Shift+normal key, but they do display correctly other accented letters, for instance (é), witch are accessed directly without the Shift key. This happens only in some applications and with a european keyboard layout (I tried it also with the spanish and french keyboards layouts), but not with other applications (it works all right with Word or iPhoto) and the english keyboards.
Any sugestion as how to solve this? If I create the text in some other application and paste it in Motion it works! But it's a drag.
iMac Core2Duo 20" Mac OS X (10.4.8) MacBook Core2Duo MacPlus

Hey KDCruz,
Thanks for the question. Let's see if we can isolate the issue further, the following article has some great troubleshooting steps:
One or more keys on the keyboard do not respond
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1381
Thanks,
Matt M.

Flash MX: default keyboard layout

My apologies if this topic had a better place to be posted.
I'm using Flash MX 2004 7.2. I use both English and Japanese keyboard layouts in my OS.
Every time I open Flash MX 2004, the default keyboard layout turns to Japanese. This only happens in Flash MX - in Dreamweaver MX and Fireworks MX, the keyboard layout defaults to English no problem.
Has anyone encountered this issue before?
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
TIA

It sounds like it could be a Flash problem. You might want to also ask your question in the support forums run by the maker of the program:
http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/index.cfm?forumid=15
You also might want to ask your question in a more appropriate Apple forum, like "Using Mac OS X Tiger." This one is for "Universal Access" questions.

FCS doesn't remember my Keyboard Layout

Hello everyone !
I'm living in France, I have a french keyboard, however my system is in English and all my applications are in English.
I've taken out from the package the keyboard layout for french keyboard in FCP. I put it in my FCP User Settings. I launched the application, choose the french keyboard layout (it then gives me the same alert message than whan I was with Mac OS X (10.4) : "Keys may not match properly". But then if I quit FCP and launch it again, the keys shortcuts don't work ("jkl" or "b" or any of them). I have to choose again the Keyboard Layout inf the Keyboard Menu. And that's boring...
(and I have to say it works perfectly on Tiger, it just appeared since Leopard).
I've tried to trash de FCP User Settings Folder, but it's the same.
Any ideas ?
Thanks !

If you use [[Clear Recent History]] to clear the 'Browsing History' when you close Firefox then restoring tabs from the last session ("Save & Quit" or "Show my windows and tabs from last time") doesn't work.
* http://kb.mozillazine.org/Session_Restore

Missing alternative international keyboard layout

Hi, there is no internationalization discussion group, so this is probably most closely related, sorry if not:
Most of the Central European keyboards in OS X feature besides QWERTZ layout also QWERTY layout, where such a layout is in practice (e.g. Czech). However, there is no QWERTY layout for Slovak language even though this layout is widely used in the country. This odd nonsense makes OS X poorly accessible for a great portion of people - it's a years lasting pain. QWERTY and QWERTZ layouts differ just inone swapped letter ZY.
Question: can this tiny feature make its way into next OS release? How to approach Apple staff with this?
Thank you!
Mac OS X (10.4)

However, there is no QWERTY layout for Slovak
language even though this layout is widely used in
the country. This odd nonsense makes OS X poorly
accessible for a great portion of people - it's a
years lasting pain. QWERTY and QWERTZ layouts differ
just inone swapped letter ZY.
Try downloading the SlovakQWERTY.rsrc file from this page and see if it works right for you:
http://homepage.mac.com/thgewecke/fs/FileSharing9.html
If not, let us know the exact problems, and we can try to fix them. Making custom keyboards for OS X is usually quite simple.
You put this file in Home/Library/Keyboard Layouts, then logout/login, check its box in System Prefs/International/Input Menu, then select in the "flag" menu at the top right of the Finder.
For internationalization questions it is better to use the Using Tiger forum:
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=758
This one is for features designed to help users with vision, hearing and motor skills disabilities.

Gnome ignores keyboard layout settings

Hi everybody!
As easy as the title states, I set a number of keyboard layouts in Gnome and sort them in the relevant window, but every time I start a new session the English layout is automatically selected, against what I specified.
It's the only problem that wasn't fixed by switching to systemd.
Any idea?

I have exactly the same problem. I want to have multiple layouts, but it just seems impossible. English takes precedence for some reason. System settings do not have any impact on the setup. They are completely ignored.
The example on Gentoo only deals with one layout as does archlinux wiki. I need se, en, ru. But seems impossible for the time being. I guess gnome 3 does not separate keyboard layouts and regional layouts. Gnome 3 can only handle regional settings. To be absolutely clear, I would prefer gnome to show the menus in English, but use a Swedish keyboard layout.

Digital Cinema Desktop Preview, keyboard layout and other bugs - Leopard

I just reinstalled my Mac Pro because I hoped it would fix some bugs... but no luck. Digital cinema desktop preview (dcdp) was working just fine until I installed the Aja Kona Lhe software, afterwards only dcdp for the main display was working, both dcdp and dcdp "full screen" have disappeared. The other things I was hoping 10.5.2 would fix are the problem FCP cannot remember the keyboard layout I use (azerty-belgium) - every time I start the program I have to choose the layout again - and the fact I cannot export using compressor straight from FCP using qmaster: Final cut pro generated an error! (this has never worked)
If you are having the same problems as I do, maybe we should compare hardware to see what we have in common that could be causing this problem. As I have found during my searches, some computers have similar problems, others don't, sometimes it also matters if you've upgraded from Tiger of did a clean install, where upgrading it seems (yes really!!) gives the least problems...
I really hope there will be a bugfix soon, because I'm sure I'm not the only one having these problems... or maybe I should just install Tiger and upgrade...???

I vote for going back to Tiger. That is known to be stable. Leopard and FCP is unpredictable at the moment.
Shane

Where's the Keyboard layout Map?

I remember in OS 9 there was a Keyboard option which would open a simulation of a keyboard that showed how the individual keys would change when you held down the "Option" key, or the "Command" key, etc.
I want to type out the number zero with the slash through the middle (so it's clearly distinguished from the letter O) but I can't find the keyboard layout option. Anyone know where it is in Tiger?

System prefs -> International.
Select Input Menu.
At the bottom, select Show input menu in menu bar.
In the keyboard layouts, check Keyboard viewer then close prefs.
Next to the clock select the international drop down and select Show Keyboard viewer.
It’ll stay open until you select Hide Keyboard viewer.

Keyboard layout problem

My wife has an old iBook running Mac OS X Tiger and it's been working just fine. Never any trouble at all with this sturdy old thing but today, for some odd reason, the keyboard layout got messed up out of nowhere. We're Swedish and need the Swedish layout ( åäö ) but it suddenly stopped working. The layout has changed and the @-character is now accessible while pressing Shift+2 instead of Alt+2. I have no idea why this happened and I have no clue as to how to change/restore the default layout. I've looked around in the International preference pane but nothing I did there changed a thing. Anyone else bumped into this particular problem?

Forget this question, I found out what was wrong. My father-in-law ( who isn't too good at computers ) changed the layout by mistake by clicking the little flag and so switched the layout from Swedish Pro to US English. Problem solved.

Obtaining the standard US keyboard layout file

Is there a way to obtain the .keylayout file for the standard US keyboard layout in Leopard?
Back in the 10.3 days, I created myself a personalized "US International" keyboard layout - basically a US, but with a way to conveniently create the 4 accented characters used in Estonian through a dead key. This survived the upgrade to Tiger, but for some reason, not Leopard.
Having forgotten how I did this back in 10.3, I ran across Ukelele after some Googling. Downloaded that and recreated my keyboard based on the US.keylayout file that came bundled with the download. This seems to generally work fine, except for one small thing - in BBEdit's Search & Replace dialog, the keyboard shortcut for "Replace All", which is CMD-ALT-R, does not work. On the other hand, the combo works as a menu shortcut for example in Fireworks.
So my plan at this moment is to try to obtain the US .keylayout file of Leopard and try to create my own keyboard layout based on that to see if that fixes the problem, since I'm hitting this bug annoyingly often.
Anyone know if this is possible? On a standard install, the layout resides inside the AppleKeyboardLayouts.bundle file in /System/Library/KeyboardLayouts, but unfortunately in some encoded/compiled way.

Tom Gewecke wrote:
Yes, it does. That's the reason I'm thinking that there's something amiss with mine.
Does Leopard's own Estonian layout have problems that make you prefer a custom version?
It's not the Leopards's, it's the Estonian layout itself - it has [] {} positioned in such uncomfortable places that makes it unusable for me to use while doing my everyday work - coding. That's why I created myself a US layout with a dead key that let's me make accented characters used in Estonian (õäöü) easily, but still use the comfort of the US layout.
I see the Ukelele author is aware of the issue with working from the new system layouts but not found a fix. You might want to ask your question about that shortcut in the little forum at the bottom of the Ukelele page (or at BBEdit) as well.
I talked to BBEdit and ended up with "if you figure it out, let us know too" Will try the Ukelele forums as well.

Multiple keyboard layouts in Tiger

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for