billpratt.net

So far, I love my Eee PC 1000 but the keyboard has one very annoying design flaw.  In order to maintain a proper inverted ‘T’ arrow key layout, the shift key was moved to the far right of the keyboard.  This is highly annoying since I hit the up arrow while intending to hit the right shift key.  I have read many other posts regarding this issue, but no solutions so I decided to fix it.

Please follow the below instructions at your own risk as they will probably set your monitor on fire while making that unreachable spot on your back itch.

The following  steps were performed on Eeebuntu Standard and have not been tested with any other distrobution.  If you get this to work on another distrobution, please comment to let me know and I will update the post. Ok, here is the meat of it:

1. Backup the /usr/share/X11 directory. (i.e. tar -cjvf ~/usr_share_x11.tar.bz2 /usr/share/X11)
2. Using your favorite editor, open the file /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/us and after the closing curly brace of the first xkb_symbols block (line 68 for me) add the following lines and save and close the file.
   

   //Bill Pratt – tired of the eeepc 1000’s poor layout
   partial alphanumeric_keys modifier_keys
   xkb_symbols “eee1000″ {

   include “us(basic)”
   name[Group1]= “USA”;

   key <RTSH> {[ Up ]};
   key <UP> {[ Shift_R ]};
   };

3. Edit the file /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.lst and add the following line on the line following the first line that looks like “! model” then save and close the file.
   

   eee1000      Eee PC 1000 that swaps right shift and up arrow

4. Edit the file /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/xorg.lst and add the following line on the line following the first line that looks like “! variant” then save and close the file.
   

   eee1000         us: Eee PC 1000 that swaps right shift and up arrow

5. Edit the two files /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/xorg.xml and /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.xml. Look for the <layoutList> section below and add the bolded lines as shown. TDo this for both files.
   

   <layoutList>
   <layout>
   <configItem>
   <name>us</name>
   <shortDescription>USA</shortDescription>
   <description>USA</description>
   <languageList><iso639Id>eng</iso639Id></languageList>
   </configItem>
   <variantList>
   <variant>
   <configItem>
   <name>eee1000</name>
   <description>Eee PC 1000 that swaps right shift and up arrow</description>
   </configItem>
   </variant>

6. Now, logout of your current X session and log back in. After logging in, choose System -> Preferences -> Keyboard and click the “Layout” tab.
   

   

7. Click the green “+” and choose “United States” and “USA Eee PC…” then click “Add”. Notice the swapped right shift and up arrow keys in the layout below.
   

   

8. Next, highlight the old keyboard layout (typically “USA”) and click the red minus sign to remove it.
9. Finally click “Apply Site-Wide” and then click “Close”. You should now be using the improved layout.

Well, thats it. Hopefully this helps return your sanity. Please report success or failures to me and I will fix anything necessary.

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