This document describes how to reconfigure the default language and the keyboard layout on various distributions so that they suit your location. I made this howto for our VMware images where the keyboard layout is always set to German and a few users have problems to configure the language and keyboard layout on these images.

Your keyboard is disgusting. You, and probably other people's, hands touch it every day, and those food crumbs don't help either. If you have a cat that thinks the keyboard is an excellent place to sit, you will be amazed how much cat hair manages to get under the keys. Luckily, or unluckily, it's fairly straight forward to clean your keyboard and remove all that cat hair.

The Danish language makes use of two letters [åÅ] and [øØ] which are not on my Icelandic keyboard. Having to switch permanently between keyboard layouts all the time with key combinations (Windows way of doing things) such as alt+shift is tiresome! It turns out that there’s a very easy way to switch between layout in GNOME.

The Razer Arctosa is a moderately priced gaming keyboard that offers macro keys, media keys, 1000Hz Ultrapolling, and other features to entice gamers. The big question though is how well this keyboard with all of its functionality works under Linux.

SiTouch has announced the release of a new wireless keyboard. This is a very cool looking keyboard with back lit keys for low light. For those of us who occasionally work late on our computer this feature is appreciated.

xbindkeys is a program that allows you to launch shell commands with your keyboard or your mouse under X Window. It links commands to keys or mouse buttons, using a configuration file. It’s independent of the window manager and can capture all keyboard keys.

What good is that portable PC if you can’t type anywhere and anytime? With its ultra-compact keyboard, even touch typing pros will be hard-pressed to avoid frequent mistakes on when the lights go out. Clearly, a keyboard backlight like those found in higher-end laptops is the answer to your nocturnal Eee PC typing woes.

Do you have multiple computers on your desk? Is one of them a laptop that is sat off to the side a bit? Have you ever wished that you could get rid of all but one of the keyboard / mouse combos that clutter your desk or that your laptop was easier to control? If so then Synergy is the answer to your woes.

Xbindkeys is a program that allows you to launch shell commands with your keyboard or your mouse under X Window. It links commands to keys or mouse buttons, using its configuration file. It does not depend on the window manager and can capture all keyboard keys.