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I'm French and I'm used to an AZERTY layout. Nevertheless I find it painful to push Shift to get numbers, and want to keep an AZERTY layout but with the numbers in QWERTY style.

Is it possible? Such layout exists on Mac (a layout called French numeric) but not seem to exist in Ubuntu (or with a strange name).

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You'll have to modify the fr file in /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols.

Make a copy of the file somewhere. Modify it as necessary. Make a backup of the original file in the original folder. Overwrite the file with the modified version (you'll need administrator rights: gksu nautilus in terminal). BE CAREFUL. YOU COULD BREAK THINGS! Restart X server or reboot.

P.S. If you're using Ubuntu 12.04, you'll have problems with the modified layout (I do) but there is a temporary workaround. In a terminal type:

sudo setxkbmap fr

I'm not using the standard french layout but the one called french alternative and french alternative latin 9 only. I have to use:

sudo setxkbmap "fr(oss)","fr(oss_latin9)"

Modify the command accordingly.

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  • Worked like a charm without the setxbmap fr. Even my Caps lock switched with a 3rd Ctrl works (got trouble with my 12.04 update with this).
    – Jooj
    May 16, 2012 at 3:43
  • Is there a way to easily switch between mu own layout and the original one ? I'd like to switch between them thanks to the system tray (as I can for a qwerty/azerty switch).
    – Jooj
    May 16, 2012 at 3:56
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    If you modified the basic French keyboard, then you cannot switch to it because it doesn't exist any longer. However, there are many different French keyboards in the list. Check if there's another one which still has the original configuration. If not you might copy and paste the lines in the original backup file for the numbers row in one of the other keyboards, that is further down in the SAME file, for example in French - Alternative.
    – To Do
    May 17, 2012 at 7:41
  • If this answer helped you please tick the up arrow for the benefit of others.
    – To Do
    May 17, 2012 at 7:42

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