Conveniently switch between Apple and PC keyboard (swap Windows and Alt keys)

Question

I alternate between a Unicomp clicky keyboard by day, and the Apple bluetooth keyboard by night.

The Apple keyboard physically swaps the Alt and Windows keys. How do I counteract this?

Also, how can I streamline the process since I switch keyboards twice per day.

Answer 1

This is on Ubuntu 10.04.

Manually swapping the Windows and Alt keys

1. System -> Preferences -> Keyboard
2. Layouts tab
3. Click "Options..."
4. Expand "Alt/Win key behavior"
5. Choose between:
   • Default (when using the PC keyboard)
   • "LeftAlt is swapped with Left Win" (when using the Apple keyboard)

Semi-automated swapping

I have added this to my .bashrc:

# Output the gconf settings for enabled or disabled keyboard swapping based on whether the argument is "apple"
setting_for_alt_key () {
  gconftool --get /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/kbd/options \
  | ruby -e 'set = {}; STDIN.gets.strip.gsub(/\]|\[/, "").split(",").each{|x| set[x]=1}; set["altwin\taltwin:swap_lalt_lwin"]=1; STDOUT.write "[" + set.keys.select{|x| ARGV[0] == "apple" || x !~ /swap_lalt/ }.join(",") + "]"' \
    "$1"
}

kmac () { gconftool --set --type=list --list-type=string /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/kbd/options "$(setting_for_alt_key apple)"; }
kpc  () { gconftool --set --type=list --list-type=string /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/kbd/options "$(setting_for_alt_key)"; }

Then when I activate the Apple keyboard, I type kmac at the terminal. When I deactivate it, I type kpc. So far I have not been able to justify auto-detection.

(Also, if somebody has a better way to work with Gconf, either with gconftool-2 or perhaps language bindings, I'd love to hear it.)

Answer 2

Go to System>Preferences>Keyboard and add the appropriate keyboard layouts you want to use. Then in the layouts tab click the "Options..." button and find "Keys to change layout" and find a keyboard short cut that you will like.