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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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  • ^ + = ^ should read ^ + <space> = ^ – chrisvdb May 06 '15 at 00:36
  • What do you mean with ^ + <space> = ^? – A.B. May 06 '15 at 08:36
  • @A.B. Normally, for example ^ + e gives you ê. If you want ^ alone, you need ^ + <space>. Regarding the question, my KDE were long ago (somewhere in the early 4.x range), but the key word that might help you is "dead keys". Chances are that there's a setting to that effect in KDE's keyboard settings. – Henning Kockerbeck May 06 '15 at 08:52
  • I still haven't been able to correct the issue. The bug report (https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=347137) hasn't been picked up yet. – chrisvdb May 20 '15 at 02:13
  • I ended up reinstalling my system which solved the issue. – chrisvdb May 26 '15 at 15:26
  • Anyone have a fix for this? I do not want to reinstall, konsole is bugging for me most of the time in Unity... the worst part is I cannot type ~ in konsole... surprisingly it does work sometimes though. – Antti Haapala Jun 09 '15 at 07:18

3 Answers3

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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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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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  • Hi A.B., thank you for your response. The gsettings command yields "@as []" which probably means no compose key? Before the update (and still in non-KDE applications) the old combination without compose key worked just fine. I'll Google for 'dead keys' as suggested in your other response to see what comes up. – chrisvdb May 06 '15 at 11:22
  • Where is a result? :) – A.B. May 06 '15 at 11:23
  • Sorry, had pressed enter too early. Have edited the response. Dead keys brings me to http://askubuntu.com/questions/616755/dead-keys-on-firefox-kubuntu-15-04. Will try if that solution works for me as well. – chrisvdb May 06 '15 at 11:28