Re: Japanese Keyboard

["SN_Diamond" <Norman.Diamond@example.com>]

Liton wrote:

> When I install RH Linux in my laptop vaio Z505 with graphical
> mode I can select keyboard/layout and, I can even test if the
> selected keyboard is working right. I did and it worked fine. But
> after the installation I start Linux (any text editor) I can't type
> "} ] and _". Do I have to change anything to get my keyboard
> work right? Thanks in advance. (Please answer in plain English).

First, these answers are for a PS/2 keyboard, or emulated PS/2 keyboard
which you probably have.

In Red Hat, first make a backup of the file /etc/X11/XF86Config and then
edit it.  Where one line says that some keyboard characteristic is "jp",
change it to "jp106".  Then log out and log back in again.

By the way, this fix is simple to perform, but it took weeks for me to
discover that this was it.  Maybe it should be easier for experts, but
experts didn't even seem to know.

In SuSE, it depends on which version of XFree86 gets configured during
setup.  If version 4.x then the keyboard worked properly.  If version 3.x,
then you have to edit the file /etc/XF86Config and make some change similar
to the one for Red Hat.  I made several changes to this file in SuSE and do
not know yet which one did the trick.

If you have a USB keyboard, it's worse.  In addition to the above changes,
you also have to patch two of the kernel source files and recompile the
kernel.  I sent the patches to the maintainer of the Linux USB keyboard
driver, but he didn't answer and the patches didn't make it into a
subsequent release.  Sometime previous to that, I offered to send him a
Japanese (jp106) USB keyboard and he didn't want it.  When he answered he
was polite, so it beats me why he doesn't want to fix it.

-- Norman Diamond