Incorrect keyboard layout (no pipe character)

[FireXware]

Hi all, I'm new to linux, been using fedora 12 for about a week. I just noticed a problem with my keyboard layout.

When i press the key with the backslash and pipe character, i get < for backslash and > for the pipe character.

I have tried the following to fix the problem:

1.
$ gnome-keyboard-properties
then selected the proper keyboard model (Asus Laptop)
tried adding different keyboard layouts and setting them as default
nothing i did there made any difference.
I am currently using USA, i have tried Canada English, USA international, and more
I noticed that even when i change it to something like Afganistan, there is no noticable different when i type in the test area.
I notice that there are keyboard layouts that have < and > where the backslash and pipe character should be, but the picture for USA shows the pipe and backslash where they should be.


2.
$ system-config-keyboard
When i use this to change my keyboard layout, the change works.
When i choose USA or USA International the propblem persists.
However, when I change it to United Kingdom, the pipe character and backslash start to work, but of course it also changes some other symbols that I would rather have working properly

3.
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=476358
Added Option "AutoAddDevices" "off" to xorg.conf:

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "Default Layout"
	Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
	InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
	InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
	Option	    "Xinerama" "0"
	Option "AutoAddDevices" "off"
EndSection

The one thing I didnt try is to use XKB, but I am unable to find a guide explaining how to do so. Is there a file that I could edit to change the keycode for the backslash key or something?
I thank you in advance for your help.


~FireXware

[DavidMcCann]

The command setxkbmap -print will list the various files used to build the keyboard driver, so the output should include a line like

xkb_symbols { include "pc+us ...

The second item refers to /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/us which is the US keyboard definition. It should include the lines

key <AB08> { [ comma, less ] };
key <AB09> { [ period, greater ] };
key <BKSL> { [ backslash, bar ] };

If it doesn't, you can correct it. If it does, then the problem is probably in the hardware. Look at the file /usr/share/X11/xkb/keycodes/evdev and find the scan code associated with <BKSL>. Then use the program xev to find the scan code being returned by your keyboard; if it's different, change the file.

[FireXware]

Thank you. xev tells me the keycode for the backslash key is 94, while xkb/keycode/evdev had 51. I changed it to 94 and restarted, still no luck. I also tried changing it to the value of the tilde key and commenting out the <TLDE> entry and the tilde key did not give a backslash (i didnt restart when i tried this i only did setxkbmap us), which leads me to believe i'm editing the wrong file even though all the other entries match up with what xev gives me.


Output of setxkbmap -print

xkb_keymap {
	xkb_keycodes  { include "xfree86+aliases(qwerty)"	};
	xkb_types     { include "complete"	};
	xkb_compat    { include "complete"	};
	xkb_symbols   { include "pc+us+inet(media_common)+group(shift_caps_toggle)"	};
	xkb_geometry  { include "pc(pc104)"	};
};

from xev

KeyRelease event, serial 35, synthetic NO, window 0x5000001,
    root 0x142, subw 0x0, time 2392962, (168,-11), root:(174,41),
    state 0x0, keycode 94 (keysym 0x3c, less), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (3c) "<"
    XFilterEvent returns: False

Attached are the us and evdev files.

[FireXware]

Ok i got it fixed.

What I did was look in the united kingdom mapping for which the | and | (i can type them now!!!) worked and it had

key <LSGT>	{ [ backslash,        bar, backslash, bar]	};

which corresponds to the line of evdev which was already there

        # Added for pc105 compatibility
        <LSGT> = 94;

I added the line from the united kingdom mapping to the us mapping and then setting it to US allowed me to type | and \ but holding down a key wouldn't make it repeat. That was easily fixed by using the system > preferences > keyboard to disable then enable it.

Thank you DavidMcCann.