Changes in keyboard mapping with xkb have no effect

[Guest]

I'm trying to remap my ES Dvorak keyboard configuration to swap the 'h' and 'r' key positions. The original positions of the key map were a - o - e - u - i - d - r - t - n - s on the second row, and I want to set it to be a - o - e - u - i - d - h - t - n - s

I modified the file /usr/share/X11/xkb/es file to do this, and after rebooting, on the ES Dvorak keyboard preview from the keyboard configuration, it appears that it's correctly modified, but actually, when I start to write, it's keeping the default key mapping (a - o - e - u - i - d - r - t - n - s).

How can I force to use my custom keyboard mapping on an existing keyboard distribution?

Sorry for my bad english

[Snowhog]

See How can I remap keyboard keys? and scroll down a tad to answer 13.

[kubicle]

Snowhog's suggestion of using xmodmap might be a better option than modifying xkbmaps directly (since upgrades on xkb-data package will overwrite your modifications), but to answer your question: Your edits might not have any effect because xkb caches keymaps in /var/lib/xkb/...so you might be still using a cached map, solution being switching keymaps or even deleting/moving the cache files.

But like I (and Snowhog) mentioned, using xmodmap might be a better long term solution.

Just out of curiosity, you want to use Spanish dvorak (for Spanish letters I presume) but with the "normal" dvorak h/r positioning?

[oshunluvr]

I use xmodmap (to invert my grave+tilde key and bar+backslash key) and it's simple. Plus, you can map individual users or the system depending on your needs.

Open a terminal and type:

xmodmap -pke

This will print your key table. Note the keycode for "h" and "r". @here, it's 43 for "h" and 27 for "r".

...
keycode  27 = r R r R
...
keycode  43 = h H h H
...

Now, create a file to modify those keys:

kate ~/.Xmodmap

put lines like this in it:

keycode 27  =  h H h H
keycode 43  =  r R r R

and save. It should automatically take effect every time you log in. To test it right now, enter this command;

xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap

Here's my results:

Before above change:

stuart@office:~$ RED HAT red hat
RED: command not found

and after

stuart@office:~$ HED RAT hed rat
HED: command not found