Re: Spanish Keyboard Layout in GNOME

[Jose Alburquerque <jaalburquerque cox net>]

Simos Xenitellis wrote:

> On Thu, 2006-04-13 at 22:40 -0400, Jose Alburquerque wrote:
>  
>
> > Hi everyone!  I'm new to this list but I need to ask (what I hope is!) a 
> > simple question.  Presently I'm running a RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 
> > "clone" called CentOS 4.3 (the version corresponds to the same version 
> > as RedHat's product).  When I installed the OS, I installed with the 
> > GNOME Desktop option.
> >
> > I am so proud of how far GNOME has come!  (I've been using RedHat since 
> > 4.3, though I had to dual boot with Windows for some time due to lack of 
> > word processing apps, etc.)  I now use Linux (and have been using it) 
> > exclusively without needing Windows at all!  My system is very stable 
> > and I have no problems with its functionality.  When system boots, gdm 
> > takes over display and auto logs in (after a few seconds) a "general" 
> > user (though I have an account of my own).
> >
> > What I'm having problems with is with the "Keyboard Indicator" applet:  
> > I need to use a keyboard that has accents (for Spanish work) and I added 
> > the applet to a panel to be able to change to the appropriate keyboard.  
> > I managed to add a Spanish layout from the list.  I can even switch to 
> > the layout and the "dead keys" work.  But when I type the letter after 
> > the dead key, it appears unaccented.  The keyboard layout (in the applet 
> > list) is called "Spanish Sun dead keys".
> >
> > What's really strange is that the keyboard layout called "U.S. English 
> > International (with dead keys)" does provide letters with accents (using 
> > the appropriate dead keys).  Can anyone tell me how I might get a 
> > Spanish keyboard layout that works (I'm kinda used to using the actual 
> > "Spanish" layout in a "Spanish" keyboard)?  Anyone has any 
> > ideas/explanations?  Thanks so much.
> >    
>
> The "Spanish Sun dead keys" does not work for PCs.
>
> What you should have chosen is "Spain". That is, when you are in the
> Layout list and you see the country names, select "Spain" itself and not
> any of the three sub-options (which includes "Spanish Sun dead keys").
> Have also a look at
> http://www.gnome.gr/writing/
> which does the same for Brazilian Portuguese; it selects "Brazil" and
> not any of the sub-options.
>
> You may have to reset any keyboard-related manual changes you did in
> xorg.conf (it's good not to touch it).
>
> Simos Xenitellis
> http://simos.info/blog/
>
>
>  
This worked!  Thanks Simos, I had no idea that the "main group name" 
could be selected as a keyboard layout.  Once I added the "Spain" 
layout, my keyboard now behaves exactly as a Spanish keyboard should 
(with accents and the rest).  Luckily, I did not modify the xorg.conf 
file at all so all is ok!

As far as the version of GNOME I'm using, it's 2.8 (that's the one that 
comes with CentOS/RHEL 4.3).  Thanks for all the other suggestions.  
It's important to keep in mind (for future problems), that for a "clean" 
install of CentOS 4.3 (RHEL 4.3) with GNOME, the various keyboard 
layouts should work by selecting the right one (and not having to modify 
other configuration files).  Thanks again!

-Jose