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I have been using 'combining keys' such as + e = ë, ~ + a = ã, ^ + <space> = ^ for the longest time in my Kubuntu setup. I do not remember if the system came like that out of the box or if I configured it somehow.

After upgrading to Kubuntu 15.04 this functionality does not seem to work in KDE applications anymore, but it's still working fine in Firefox, Thunderbird, Atom, etc.

Firefox, Thunderbird, Atom: all the ones I tested work (~,`,',",^)
Konsole, Kate: none work
Rekonq: some work (~,`,^), other do not (", ')

I have looked through all the settings but couldn't find the relevant one.

Does anyone have any idea on how to fix this? Especially the " and ~ keys are fairly important when using the command prompt.

I have filed a bug report for the same on https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=347137, but as it might be a user error rather than a bug I'm asking it here as well.

Cheers, Chris.

chrisvdb
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3 Answers3

1

The solution is to specify the layout under system settings > input devices > keyboard > layouts > configure layouts. Choose one with variant containing 'with dead keys'.

chrisvdb
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1

I had the same problem where the keys were working in GTK based applications such as Firefox, but not in the Qt based applications of KDE. Some recommendations I found online were suggesting to configure or remove IBus or XIM but doing so did not help me.

Whilst checking the output of locale (displays current locale settings) I found the system was using nds_DE.UTF-8 (Low Saxon). After changing this to de_DE.UTF-8 (ordinary German) the keyboard works as expected.

The locale can be switched in KDE's System Settings in Regional Settings → Formats. After doing so locale outputs: LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 LANGUAGE=en_US LC_CTYPE="de_DE.UTF-8" LC_NUMERIC="de_DE.UTF-8" LC_TIME="de_DE.UTF-8" LC_COLLATE="de_DE.UTF-8" LC_MONETARY="de_DE.UTF-8" LC_MESSAGES=POSIX LC_PAPER="de_DE.UTF-8" LC_NAME="de_DE.UTF-8" LC_ADDRESS="de_DE.UTF-8" LC_TELEPHONE="de_DE.UTF-8" LC_MEASUREMENT="de_DE.UTF-8" LC_IDENTIFICATION="de_DE.UTF-8" LC_ALL= This gives me the system messages and UI in English whilst the formatting is German.

In order to type the characters of several European languages, using a composite key seems comfortable to me. I've set this up in KDE's System Settings in Input Devices → Keyboard → Advanced. Here you want to check “Configure keyboard options” and select “Caps Lock” in “Position of Compose key” below to give this annoying key a sensible job.

Now, you enter the characters like so:

^ + → ^

~ → ~

" → "

^ + a → â

Caps Lock + e + " → ë

Caps Lock + a + a → å

Caps Lock + n + ~ → ñ

https://cyberborean.wordpress.com/2008/01/06/compose-key-magic/ lists more of those sequences and gives some background information. Using this composite key and typing the sequences is a matter of taste but works nicely for me for languages with the occasional special character such as German, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, … and does not require switching keyboard layouts constantly.

Augustus Kling
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Use your compose key for that:

  • ë press Compose+" and release, press e
  • ã press Compose+~ and release, press a
  • ê press Compose+^ and release, press e

My compose key is the menu key:

$ gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.input-sources xkb-options
['terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp', 'compose:menu']
A.B.
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