Multiple per-keyboard layouts at the same time... possible?

Atha · Apprentice Joined: 22 Sep 2004 Posts: 245

Hello Gentoo Forum!

I have a problem, and maybe you people can help...

I've a laptop with a German keyboard layout (de-latin1). Additionally I'm using a USB keyboard with a US English key layout, and another also US layout but with Korean stickers on, i.e. Korean keyboard layout (based on the US layout of the keyboard). The last part is important, because I could also be using a German keyboard and put the Korean layout on top of that, which I've also done (and that USB keyboard is also laying around somewhere), but that would be different (especially all the punctuation marks and brackets and stuff is based on either English or German).

I use Gentoo Linux, systemd and I use KDE Plasma as my desktop with Wayland, not X11.

My global keyboard layout is set to German. I have configured this according to Handbook:AMD64/Installation/Base#Configure locales, Localization/Guide, and Keyboard layout switching. This part works.

Now, when I plug in my US USB keyboard, or my Korean USB keyboard, the layout is also German. I can rotate keyboard layouts globally with KDE Plasma. (And as a side note: the Korean layout is pretty messy, depending on the application, and this is always a PITA.)

Is there a way to set a different keyboard layout based on the input device? I.e. would there be a way to use a udev rule for example to automatically make only the USB keyboard with ID xyz have the [English|Korean] layout, while the internal keyboard of the laptop stays in German?

What I've found so far is very discouraging:

Using different layout for each keyboard (StackExchange)
xorg: 2 keyboards with different layouts (StackExchange)
Linux, two mouses, two layouts at the same time (StackExchange)
Arch Linux Forums » Applications & Desktop Environments » Multiple keyboard layouts in KDE/Wayland
How to set different layouts for 2 keyboards in Wayland (StackExchange)
Setting a layout per-keyboard via udev
r/archlinux A way to set up different keymap for a specific usb keyboard ? (Reddit)
Using different layout for each keyboard (StackExchange)

Some of these questions hint towards that it once was possible (with X11 console tools, not systemd, not wayland, not KDE Plasma), yet they also hint towards that it's not anymore. Also, some of these questions aren't answered at all...

Is this really the harsh reality? How is that possible? Did no one ever think of the necessity to have more than one keyboard layout active at the same time? I mean, having multiple input devices connected at the same time is possible since... the 1990ies?

There should be a way to have a per-keyboard layout, as there should be a way to have a per-mouse button configuration (one right-handed, one left-handed).

Maybe I've just overlooked it? Help highly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
_________________
Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too. – Voltaire

RumpletonBongworth · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 17 Jun 2024 Posts: 108

The keyd application might help to support the use case that you describe. Presently, it cannot be found in the gentoo repo but in some third-party repos. It is able to commandeer existing input devices in the course of synthesising a virtual input device of its own. Though I do not use it for this exact purpose, it ships with a number of keyboard layouts that may be individually applied by matching against the device identifiers. Its man page is quite well written, so it shouldn't be too difficult to determine how to go about it.

Atha · Apprentice Joined: 22 Sep 2004 Posts: 245