Keyboard layout switch and desktop icons

Laadna · 2017-09-15 17:22:03

Hello there, and please forgive my bad english, as I'm more used to french.

I recently bought a small, light and kind of old netbook (samsung nc10) for a long backpack trip. As I'm quite used to (l)ubuntu, I wanted to try a more lighter and more battery-saver distribution, witch ended with Bunsenlabs.

Bunsenlabs seems quite fine to me so far, I like the way everything is tweakable and handy once you've found the way to handle it. I like to spend some time to set things up and not having to check on them, repair stuff and lose days of my trip fixing issues. And now is the time I'm ok to spend.

I have three different issues I'd like to fix before my trip starts.

[SOLVED] 1- my girlfriend would like to switch the keyboard between french and ukrainian mapping. I tried to add the ukrainian mapping in /etc/default/keyboard. I tried the layout codes (in XKBLAYOUT=) uk (as english mapping is gb, I gave it a try), then ku, then ukr, as seen on websites I don't remember. I simply can't find the good one to type...
Although, each time I rebooted with one of these wrong codes, my layout was set to qwerty (witch I suppose is the default one), with no response from the toggle keys combination I set. I'm not sure that this is normal. Any advice ? I tried with "fr, us" and the mapping and switching worked properly.
I would also prefer toggling through an applet with visible current layout rather than an key combination, but any applet I found were set up with empty layouts or with their own... And no information on how to link existing layout to these applets.
(I hope the issue is understandable...)

2- The next problem is much more simple to explain. I would like to have clickable icons (links to folders or programs) on my empty desktop, instead of reaching the end of the menu or overloading the launcher. I hope that this problem is also simple to explain and solve...

3- As my labtop comes with an old (32bits) processor, I cannot install skype for linux. There are still two ways of using skype. The first is going trhough web.skype.com, the second is using third-party skype clients (like ghetto). Both of them have the same issue when I try a vocal/video call : my contact don't get the invitation and the call ends in seconds with the message "busy". The webcam works properly, as the flash applet and browser authorizations (anyway, I think so, double checked that and tried on different browsers). My only lead is that I'm calling someone connected to skype with the same public IP than myself (my girlfriend in the other room), but I doubt this could be the problem. Any advice ?

Last edited by Laadna (2017-09-17 12:01:13)

seppalta · 2017-09-15 22:19:59

"I would like to have clickable icons (links to folders or programs) on my empty desktop,..."
Put an appropriate desktop file in ~/Desktop for each link. See Lxlinux for details.

brontosaurusrex · 2017-09-15 23:12:05

2. With openbox possibly simplest one is to use some sort of dock (wbar, plank, docky, ...). There are ways to do custom menus linked to buttons/executors in tint2. Shortcuts for launching stuff. There is alt+f2.

Last edited by brontosaurusrex (2017-09-15 23:13:17)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-09-15 23:26:53

For the desktop stuff, install spacefm and follow this guide:

http://ignorantguru.github.io/spacefm/s … topmanager

EDIT: replace thunar (the default file manager) by using this command:

sudo update-alternatives --config bl-file-manager

Pick spacefm from the list and that will be run instead of thunar when "file manager" is selected from the menu.

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2017-09-15 23:29:29)

martix · 2017-09-16 00:30:41

brontosaurusrex wrote:

2. With openbox possibly simplest one is to use some sort of dock (wbar, plank, docky, ...). There are ways to do custom menus linked to buttons/executors in tint2. Shortcuts for launching stuff. There is alt+f2.

+1 for a dock. E.g. for plank you can simply drag&drop icons from the file manager.

johnraff · 2017-09-16 02:18:54

Re #1:

'man keyboard' is not extremely helpful, but tells us that the keyboard model, layout and variant codes are listed in /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/xorg.lst
That files has the code for Ukranian as ua.
You should be able to use XKBLAYOUT="fr, ua" in /etc/default/keyboard.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-09-16 12:16:07

There is also https://wiki.debian.org/Keyboard

I always use `sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration` in Debian, I think that is preferred over editing /etc/default/keyboard directly.

johnraff · 2017-09-17 03:09:59

^Does dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration allow you to set more than one layout?

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-09-17 09:07:35

^ Ah yes, good point.

I think extra locales can be added to the system with:

# dpkg-reconfigure locales

Then something like ibus can be used for on-the-fly switching, as mentioned by nobody.

Laadna · 2017-09-17 11:00:10

Hello guys, and thanks for the many answers.

earlybird wrote:

Re 1) You want to use ibus. It allows you to cycle between an arbitrary number of keyboard layouts via hotkey and also has an applet for your panel for controlling it via mouse.

Issue #1 is no more. That is exactly what I needed. As I said, I'd like to avoid console manipulation to switch between layouts, mostly for this manipulation to be user-friendly with my girlfriend who will do her first steps onto Linux.

[SOLVED] 4-I just realized that my capslock key is not responding (shift is ok), as well as most of the function (Fn) associate key combinations (like swiching wifi on and off, brightness setup, mute and sound setup...). It has nothing to do with ibus, but do you know how to get it working ? Other layouts have the same issue, and I'm sure these keys and combinations themselves are functioning for having used them on the windows session set up on the computer when I bought it, and using them at the login screen of bunsenlabs.

seppalta wrote:

"I would like to have clickable icons (links to folders or programs) on my empty desktop,..."
Put an appropriate desktop file in ~/Desktop for each link. See Lxlinux for details.

I tried this in the ~/desktop folder I had to create :

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Comptes de voyage
Terminal=false
Type=link
Icon=gnumeric
URL=/home/benoit/Documents/compta-voyage.gnumeric

But nothing appeared on the desktop (I rebooted the computer to be sure, and checked the path).

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

For the desktop stuff, install spacefm and follow this guide:
http://ignorantguru.github.io/spacefm/s … topmanager
EDIT: replace thunar (the default file manager) by using this command:
sudo update-alternatives --config bl-file-manager
Pick spacefm from the list and that will be run instead of thunar when "file manager" is selected from the menu.

I also tried this. Seems a bit overpowered just to set links on the desktop, but it works. The issue now is that everything in my /home/user directory appears on the desktop as well, and it is quite a mess. Icons appearing this way are not just links so I can't delete them to get a clean desktop with only what I need there.

I'd really like the solution provided by seppalta to work, because it seems to be much more lighter and less invasive. Also, I like thunar.

5-I have a fifth issue to submit to you guys : the network daemon provided by bunsenlabs does not seem to scan for wifi networks (or offer the possibility to do so manually, which I'd prefer for battery saving). In result, I have to enter the SSID of any wifi network I want to connect to, which could be tricky during my trip in case of answers like "I don't know its name, but it's the only one around", or "something like the name of the bar". How can I change this ?

I checked my Skype issue, and it has indeed nothing to do with public IP. Any hint ?

Last edited by Laadna (2017-09-17 12:01:43)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-09-17 11:39:55

In respect of capslock, edit ~/.config/openbox/autostart and remove the "setxkbmap -option ctrl:nocaps" line.

https://github.com/BunsenLabs/bunsen-co … ostart#L35

For your fifth (!) problem in this thread, I would have to ask that you start a new thread for that query — these boards are meant to act as a searchable repository of community information rather than a personal helpdesk and, as such, we like to comparmentalise the solutions as much as possible.

Thanks!

Laadna · 2017-09-17 11:57:34

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

In respect of capslock, edit ~/.config/openbox/autostart and remove the "setxkbmap -option ctrl:nocaps" line.

Problem solved.

And I will start a new thread.

jimjamz · 2017-10-10 16:27:43

Laadna wrote:

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:
In respect of capslock, edit ~/.config/openbox/autostart and remove the "setxkbmap -option ctrl:nocaps" line.
Problem solved.
And I will start a new thread.

Had this same problem too. Since when has this been an issue, as I didn't have this problem with a BL install on my EEEPC some 12 months ago, IIRC.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-10-10 16:42:47

jimjamz wrote:

Since when has this been an issue, as I didn't have this problem with a BL install on my EEEPC some 12 months ago, IIRC.

I'm not sure when it changed exactly but we have changed it back in Helium-dev so this should now no longer be a problem.

#1 2017-09-15 17:22:03

Keyboard layout switch and desktop icons

#2 2017-09-15 22:19:59

Re: Keyboard layout switch and desktop icons

#3 2017-09-15 23:12:05

Re: Keyboard layout switch and desktop icons

#4 2017-09-15 23:26:53

Re: Keyboard layout switch and desktop icons

#5 2017-09-16 00:30:41

Re: Keyboard layout switch and desktop icons

#6 2017-09-16 02:18:54

Re: Keyboard layout switch and desktop icons

#7 2017-09-16 12:16:07

Re: Keyboard layout switch and desktop icons

#8 2017-09-17 03:09:59

Re: Keyboard layout switch and desktop icons

#9 2017-09-17 09:07:35

Re: Keyboard layout switch and desktop icons

#10 2017-09-17 11:00:10

Re: Keyboard layout switch and desktop icons

#11 2017-09-17 11:39:55

Re: Keyboard layout switch and desktop icons

#12 2017-09-17 11:57:34

Re: Keyboard layout switch and desktop icons

#13 2017-10-10 16:27:43

Re: Keyboard layout switch and desktop icons

#14 2017-10-10 16:42:47

Re: Keyboard layout switch and desktop icons

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