[SOLVED] keyboard layout switch key not working in Gnome

[hawk03_SIGN9]

Hey there guys! I've just installed Mageia 3 and I'm pretty satisfied except of the problem that I can't change the keyboard layout by using the shortcut I have defined. It seems to be ok at the Keyboard menu of Mageia Control Center and I can't figure out what I should do. Thanks for your time!

[doktor5000]

Which desktop environmentare you using?

[hawk03_SIGN9]

Thanks for your response! I'm using Gnome

[doktor5000]

Sorry, can't help with GNOME :/

[hawk03_SIGN9]

Thanks anyway doktor5000!!!

[srtxg]

so, you tell that you can switch with the toggle key you defined in the test area of the drakkeyboard tool
but not on gnome apps ?
can you change layout on non-gnome programs ? (try with xterm or rxvt terminals for example)
what key did you choose for toggling layouts?

maybe that key is catched by the gnome dekstop, and you have to undefine it there first.

launch gnome-control-center then keyboard section and shortcuts tab.
and see if you don't find the key or key combiantion you want to use alread used there.
(now, it would be nice to have drakkeyboard detect such conflicts and fix them... wonder if gnome has
some dbus service exposing the used shortkeys)

[hawk03_SIGN9]

Hey srtxg, no I think it has nothing to do with gnome. I just can't change the layout at all using the shortcut. Whenever I need to write something using two alphabets, it's pretty painfull to change the layout via the language icon.

[srtxg]

hello,
you haven't provided any of the requested info; it isn't possible to help you without more into.
- can you change layout on non-gnome programs ? (try with xterm or rxvt terminals for example)
- what key did you choose for toggling layouts?

[hawk03_SIGN9]

I tried changing layout on xterm and it didn't work. I am using Alt+Shift. Thanks for your time srtxg!

[srtxg]

I tested here with group(alt_shift_toggle) and it works (mga3, gnome 3)

So, either the keyboard isn't correctly configured, or something is intercepting the keys.
run the following commands (you can copy and paste) and show us the output:

Code: Select all

xkbcomp $DISPLAY xkb.dump     # this dumps to a file the kb layout used on $DISPLAY
grep xkb_symbols xkb.dump     # that will show the full xkb_symbols line
grep -3 'ISO.*Group' xkb.dump # that will show, with 3 lines of context, the ISO_*_Group codes used


here I have (pc 105 keyboard):

Code: Select all

-bash-4.2$ xkbcomp $DISPLAY xkb.dump
-bash-4.2$ grep xkb_symbols xkb.dump
xkb_symbols "pc+be+ua:2+ru:3+inet(evdev)+terminate(ctrl_alt_bksp)+group(alt_shift_toggle)+compose(rwin)" {
-bash-4.2$ grep -3 'ISO.*Group' xkb.dump
    interpret ISO_Level3_Lock+AnyOfOrNone(all) {
        action= LockMods(modifiers=LevelThree);
    };
    interpret ISO_Group_Latch+AnyOfOrNone(all) {
        virtualModifier= AltGr;
        useModMapMods=level1;
        action= LatchGroup(group=2);
    };
    interpret ISO_Next_Group+AnyOfOrNone(all) {
        virtualModifier= AltGr;
        useModMapMods=level1;
        action= LockGroup(group=+1);
    };
    interpret ISO_Prev_Group+AnyOfOrNone(all) {
        virtualModifier= AltGr;
        useModMapMods=level1;
        action= LockGroup(group=-1);
    };
    interpret ISO_First_Group+AnyOfOrNone(all) {
        action= LockGroup(group=1);
    };
    interpret ISO_Last_Group+AnyOfOrNone(all) {
        action= LockGroup(group=2);
    };
    interpret KP_1+AnyOfOrNone(all) {
--
    };
    key <LFSH> {
        type= "PC_ALT_LEVEL2",
        symbols[Group1]= [         Shift_L,  ISO_Next_Group ]
    };
    key <BKSL> {
        type[group1]= "FOUR_LEVEL",
--
    };
    key <RTSH> {
        type= "PC_ALT_LEVEL2",
        symbols[Group1]= [         Shift_R,  ISO_Next_Group ]
    };
    key <KPMU> {
        type= "CTRL+ALT",
        symbols[Group1]= [     KP_Multiply,     KP_Multiply,     KP_Multiply,     KP_Multiply,   XF86ClearGrab ]
    };
    key <LALT> {
        virtualMods= Alt,         [           Alt_L,  ISO_Next_Group ] };
    key <SPCE> {         [           space ] };
    key <CAPS> {         [       Caps_Lock ] };
    key <FK01> {


[hawk03_SIGN9]

Code: Select all

$ xkbcomp $DISPLAY xkb.dump
$ grep xkb_symbols xkb.dump
xkb_symbols "pc+us+inet(evdev)+terminate(ctrl_alt_bksp)" {
$ grep -3 'ISO.*Group' xkb.dump
    interpret ISO_Level3_Lock+AnyOfOrNone(all) {
        action= LockMods(modifiers=LevelThree);
    };
    interpret ISO_Group_Latch+AnyOfOrNone(all) {
        virtualModifier= AltGr;
        useModMapMods=level1;
        action= LatchGroup(group=2);
    };
    interpret ISO_Next_Group+AnyOfOrNone(all) {
        virtualModifier= AltGr;
        useModMapMods=level1;
        action= LockGroup(group=+1);
    };
    interpret ISO_Prev_Group+AnyOfOrNone(all) {
        virtualModifier= AltGr;
        useModMapMods=level1;
        action= LockGroup(group=-1);
    };
    interpret ISO_First_Group+AnyOfOrNone(all) {
        action= LockGroup(group=1);
    };
    interpret ISO_Last_Group+AnyOfOrNone(all) {
        action= LockGroup(group=2);
    };
    interpret KP_1+AnyOfOrNone(all) {

Here is the output of these commands.

[srtxg]

xkb_symbols "pc+us+inet(evdev)+terminate(ctrl_alt_bksp)" {

you are missing a "group" directive here; plus you don't define a second layout either. So no wonder you can't switch layout, there are no other layouts defined other than "us", and no layout switching keys defined either.

How exactly did you tried to configure your keyboard?
Tell us step by step, so we can reproduce it.

[hawk03_SIGN9]

Wow! That's bad! :/ Well I selected English as the installation language but defined another input language during the installation.

After that I found out that there wasn't the language selector widget on the gnome-panel, so I added the other input language via "System Settings" (no, it wasn't there before).

I had also defined the "Alt+Shift" key during the installation process. I checked the Mageia Control Center and the defined layout change key is indeed Alt+Shift.

I really do appreciate your efforts, thank you very much!

[doktor5000]

Wow! That's bad! :/ Well I selected English as the installation language but defined another input language during the installation.

That's something totally different. Basically you told the installer that you want your Mageia to be in english, and defined the default keyboard layout.

[srtxg]

After that I found out that there wasn't the language selector widget on the gnome-panel,

You mean the keyboard selector widget ?

Well, currently there is bad coordination between different tools to configure language/keyboard.

so I added the other input language via "System Settings" (no, it wasn't there before).

If you redefined keyboard trough Gnome chances are the setup you did on drakkeyboard is lost.

Did you define, trough gnome, a key combination to switch layouts?

IMHO the best way to follow for now is, for language/keyboard use only the mageia tools, not the Gnome/KDE/whatever ones.
(until they are able to work together; maybe in Mageia 4?)

...
I did a patch to drakkeyboard to use systemd notification in the hope Gnome will catch it; but it seems Gnome doens't yet uses systemd for keyboard.

But I found where in Gnome you define the layout switch key (and it isn't obvious at all to find!)
you need to launc gnome-tweak-tool, then select the "typing" section and go to "modifiers only input switch" (should be the last item).
you have a combobox where to select your switch key, select "Alt+Shift" and it should work.

If it works, please change the subject of the first post to:
"[SOLVED] keyboard layout switch key not working in Gnome"
so it shows it is solved and has a better description of what the problem was.

[hawk03_SIGN9]

Thank you very much srtxg, this was the case!!! I would have never figured out that gnome-tweak would do the trick