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I was using Ubuntu 14.04 with Unity. I decided to try GNOME 3. The installation went well and I like it.

The only extremely annoying problem is the keyboard layout. I can set up several languages and it is OK. The problem is the key's configuration. The configuration that is used after the Gnome installation has "level3 shift" instead of left alt etc. It is very annoying (as any of shorcuts with left alt do not work).

I already tried to set it up via

sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration

It changes the layout, but not for ever. In some cases the system changes it back.

Also tried changing /etc/default/keyboard with:

XKBLAYOUT="gb" 
XKBMODEL="thinkpad60"
XKBVARIANT=""
XKBOPTIONS=""

And running following command in the terminal:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setup

Same story. In some time the layout changes back.

The layout tab in keyboard settings is missing, so I can't change it there.

I have cheeked these posts:

  1. Keyboard layout keeps allways falling back to default after reboot - how to change?
  2. 12.04 upgrade lost gb keyboard layout
  3. Permanently change keyboard layout
  4. Why do I need to relaunch dkpg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration after every startup?
  5. Keyboard Layouts missing in Keyboard Layout --Precise upgrade

None of them have worked.

Can anyone help with this issue? Big thanks in advance!

Update

I tried to go with instructions in this post:

[Left Alt]+Tab doesn't work or How to change a Level3 Shift to a normal ALT? to use xev to catch the Left Alt key number and manual sign it by xmodmap -e "keycode *[some code]* = Alt_L". After using xev I have got next result:

KeymapNotify event, serial 36, synthetic NO, window 0x0,
    keys:  2   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0 
           0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0

That does not make any sense for me. There no even a identification number signed to my left alt key.

Community
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Ilya Karasev
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  • I think you are describing this bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-settings-daemon/+bug/1246272 . Also look at http://askubuntu.com/questions/459617/keyboard-layout-isnt-kept-upon-reboot and http://askubuntu.com/questions/362973/keyboard-layout-switches-to-english-each-time-i-reboot – Rmano Oct 17 '14 at 11:07
  • Not exactly. I am able to use eb_US an ru languages without a problem. The issue is, the functionality of the key's on layout are getting back after I change it. E.g. by "default" my left Alt for some reason is recognized as "Level3 Shift". If I change it to layout with normal left Alt it would change back in some time. –  Ilya Karasev Oct 17 '14 at 14:19
  • I also found this post: Left Alt+Tab doesn't work or How to change a Level3 Shift to a normal ALT?. When I tried to run xev in terminal and check the left alt button I am getting following result: KeymapNotify event, serial 36, synthetic NO, window 0x0, keys: 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
    0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0     –  Ilya Karasev Oct 17 '14 at 14:23
  • Well, I reinstalled the Ubuntu 14.4 with Unity alone. It solved the problem of random changing layout. After installing Gnome 3 from ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3 and the problem came back. I assume the gnome affects the keyboard layout manager somehow.

    The solution for me now is creating the alias to the 'sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration' command. At least it makes it quicker to get the desiered layout back

     –  Ilya Karasev Oct 31 '14 at 20:53

0 Answers0