Keyro

A multilingual virtual keyboard layout based on QWERTY.

About

Keyro brings together the QWERTY layout and the Colemak multilingual layout.

US International (dead keys)

The US International layout enables a multilingual layout that can be accessed holding AltGr but it also enables dead keys.
When a character is not present in the AltGr layer, dead keys must be used instead.

In order to insert è you have to tap ` and than press down e;
In order to insert ' you have to tap ' and than press down the space bar.

Dead keys can be annoying since they don't register immediately the key.

Colemak (AltGr dead keys)

The Colemak layout enables ergonomic dead keys only when AltGr is held down.

In order to insert è you have to hold down AltGr, tap r (grave accent), release AltGr and then press down e;
In order to insert ' you can just press down '.

AltGr dead keys leave the default layer unchanged.

Keyro (AltGr dead keys)

The Keyro layout uses the Colemak multilingual layout but arranged in a QWERTY layout.

All the pros of the QWERTY layout within the power of the Colemak multilingual layout.

Layout

The most common dead keys (e.g. diaeresis, grave, acute, circumflex, tilde) are on the left side of the keyboard therefore easily accessible while holding the AltGr key.

AltGr dead keys:

• diaeresis (AltGr + d);
• grave (AltGr + r);
• acute (AltGr + t);
• circumflex (AltGr + x);
• etc.

See Colemak multilingual layout for the complete list or use your imagination.

Installations

Windows setup

Download the archive from the releases page, extract and run the setup as administrator.
Restart the system and enjoy.

Mac OS X

See Mac OS X layout

X.Org Server 7.0 or later

Copy the keymap file into the symbols directory (e.g. /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/, /etc/X11/xkb/symbols/):

cd keyro
sudo cp xorg/keyro /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/keyro  # or different directory

Use the setxkbmap command to switch layout:

setxkbmap -layout keyro -v && xset r 66

# test it
setxkbmap -print -verbose 10

# switch back to QWERTY
setxkbmap us; xset -r 66

Check the configuration file /etc/locale.conf.

In order to use the localectl command you must configure the Linux console as well:

localectl --no-convert set-x11-keymap keyro

# test it
localectl status

Linux console

Copy the keymap file into the keymaps directory (e.g /lib/kbd/keymaps/legacy/i386/qwerty/) and gunzip it:

cd keyro
gzip -c linux_console/keyro.iso15.kmap > linux_console/keyro.map.gz
sudo cp linux_console/keyro.map.gz /lib/kbd/keymaps/legacy/i386/qwerty/keyro.map.gz  # or different directory

Restart the system so your layout will be listed by the localectl list-keymaps command.
Check the configuration file /etc/vconsole.conf.

See loadkeys for more info.

GNOME

Add the layout rule (i.e. /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.xml) and restart the system:

<layout>
    <configItem>
    <name>keyro</name>

    <shortDescription>keyro</shortDescription>
    <description>English (Keyro)</description>
    <languageList>
        <iso639Id>eng</iso639Id>
    </languageList>
    </configItem>
    <variantList/>
</layout>

Contributions

Feedback and pull requests are welcome.

Unicode characters can be easily found in Graphemica.

Windows layout

Use Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator.

Mac OS X layout

Use Ukelele.

TODO

• Add FreeBSD keyboard layout;
• Add Mac OS X keyboard layout;
• Add missing characters to the Windows layout.