Next Previous Table of Contents

### 3. National Keyboard

For each language or national keyboard, `kikbd` supports a keyboard map which can have up to four symbols per physical keyboard key. For example in the Russian keyboard you have four symbols for key 'Q': lowercase i, uppercase I, lowercase q, and uppercase Q. The first two symbols are the national character-set keyboard-map symbols and the last two symbols are the alternate symbols.

For typing alternate symbols you have to set up a choice of a special Alternate Switch key in the `kikbd` configuration; for details, see the Personal Configuration section. Normally the first symbol is obtained by typing without any modifier keys pressed, the second symbol when you type with the Shift held down, the third symbol when you type with the Alternate Switch held key down, and the fourth symbol when you type with the Alternate Switch + Shift keys both held down.

At the time this was written, there were more than twenty national keyboard definition files already in the `kikbd` distribution.

If a keyboard for your language is missing see section Creating a new National Keyboard.

The International Keyboard ``Personal configuration'', using the `kcmikbd` Control Center module, includes all your runtime settings for `kikbd`. You should use the KDE Control Center module program `kcmikbd` for creating/modifing your personal configuration. When you start `kikbd` or `kcmikbd` for the first time it will copy the default system configuration to your personal configuration.

To run `kcmikbd`, go to the Settings menu or the The KDE Control Center and choose ``Input Devices'' and then ``International Keyboard''.

To run `kikbd`, go to the System menu and choose ``International Keyboard Layout''.

Next Previous Table of Contents