Bugzilla – Bug 114917
Default Czech keymap setting circumvents KDE keymap switching
Last modified: 2006-04-20 15:57:19 UTC
When the user chooses Czech language setting in the installer, the X keyboard is by default set to dual Czech/English keymap with switching via the Shift/Shift combo. This setting works and would be completely correct except for the fact that the KDE environment uses a different scheme for keyboard switching, which is circumvented by this. Therefore, KDE "thinks" it has only one keyboard setting, the English one (although in fact it is the Czech/English dual one), and the user does not have the keyboard indicator icon in the systray. When the user activates the KDE way of keyboard switching, the keyboard indicator appears, and everything works as expected, but the keyboard switching key combo is now Ctrl+Alt+K instead of the original Shift/Shift. This could be confusing for a newbie user. Sadly, I have no idea how to fix this; it would be possible to leave the plain English keymap and set up the keymap switching in KDE instead, but then we won't have Czech keyboard in non-KDE window managers. Sigh.
This seems to be a problem caused by KDE and is not primary a usability problem. Does KDE override the X keyboard settings by default?
KDE does not modify X keymap settings unless explicitly told to do so (via the Control Center >> Keyboard Layout >> Enable keyboard layout). This is not a problem; if the user does not touch the keyboard settings, everything works, *except* that there is no keyboard layout notification in the systray (because KDE does not feel the need to put it there as it does not control the keymap).
shift/shift is usually used for switching between RTL/LTR text input in KDE.. not sure we can reassign this keyboard shortcut there.
The shift/shift combination is not necessary, I would be perfectly happy with the Ctrl+Alt+K hotkey, if it was installed in KDE from the start (along with the visible keymap indicator).
Users smart enough to figure out the Shift/Shift part should be also smart enough to cope with the rest. And normal users shouldn't need a keyboard layout switcher.