Keyboard layout modifications are back to (almost) normal – but instead of using /etc/X11/xorg.conf, we’re now using /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/90-keyboard-layout.conf.

To change your keyboard layout from US to GB (for example):

Modify the file to replace:

Option “XkbLayout” “us”

With:

Option “XkbLayout” “gb”

.. just as you would have done a few years ago with xorg.conf.

With reference to my earlier post about Xorg + Hal, by default, Xorg in Slackware 13 gets its hardware information from hald instead of an xorg.conf file. If you have no xorg.conf file and hald is not running, your keyboard and mouse will not work when you start X.

• The Cause: You disabled or broke hal.
• The Solution: Darwinist Determinism.

Failing the first solution:

Then restart X or reboot (probably easier to just reboot and it clears any anomalies).

If it still doesn’t work, check that your /etc/rc.d/rc.hald script is not empty (I don’t know how he did it, but I did see someone who’d zeroed his script during an upgrade).

If it still doesn’t work, then you probably actually have a problem rather than just a failure on your part and it’s time to go searching for likely causes. Best place to start would be to google your specific hardware in relation to hal.

Now, a lot of people have been choosing to shy away from the hal-based auto-detection and simply turn it off. That was my initial reaction too, but the bottom line is that this was brought in as an improvement and if you can get your head around it it may prove to save you effort in the long run.

The two things that affect me in a normal set-up are graphics and keyboard layout.


Graphics

If you’re going to use the open source driver shipped with the kernel for your graphics card you almost certainly don’t have to do a thing. Hal will pick up your card, and your driver will be loaded into Xorg. If you need a different driver like the proprietary nVidia driver, then it’s business as usual: run the installer, let it create an xorg.conf for you and that information will be used by Xorg.

You might want to check the xorg.conf that gets created as the installer may not be ready for hal yet and may try to insert useless keyboard/mouse information because the installer thinks it’s required.


Keyboard Layout

Being in the UK, I use UK keyboards. They are different ot US keyboards in that they have £ above 3 instead of # and ” above 2 instead of @ as well as couple of other subtle differences. I also use the GB Dvorak layout for my IRC box and again, this needs a modification.

You’re probably used to loading up your xorg.conf and modifying:

Option     "XkbLayout"     "us"

to:

Option     "XkbLayout"     "gb"

or whatever is relevant to your locale. Well, it’s different now, but practically just as simple. Instead of telling Xorg about your layout, you now tell hal instead. To do this, you need to change the hal config, but you don’t modify the configuration ‘in-place’, you copy the config to a secondary location, and then make the changes you need. In Slackware 13.0:

Modify:

To:

Or for uk-dvorak:

Restart hal. Restart X.


Job done.

Post followed-up by:
Slackware 13.37 – Xorg + Hal