AZERTY keyboard isn't mapped properly

[lou-perret]

Hello !

I am running Asahi Linux on my M2 Macbook Air, with an AZERTY keyboard.

Out of the box, the '@' key is swapped with the '<'. I had to enable "iso_layout=1" on apple_hid.

And now, I can't find a way to make a pipe. On MacOS it's shift + alt + L, but on Asahi it doesn't work :(

Any way to fix this ? I can provide you more infos if needed.

Thanks a lot !

[cyrinux]

a basic example to fix your problem is this

~/.config/xkb/symbols/fr-remap

default partial alphanumeric_keys modifier_keys

xkb_symbols "basic" {
    include "fr"
    replace key <TLDE>  { [ at, numbersign, asciitilde, notsign ] };
    replace key <AC09>  { [ l, L, notsign, bar ] };
};

then in sway config for example load like this

...
input type:keyboard {
    xkb_layout fr-remap
    xkb_variant basic
    xkb_numlock enable
}
...

To continue the remapping explore /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/fr then use replace key.
Feel free to share your result, i'm doing this right now too on a french azerty layout on a m2 air.

• I also swap some key with this hid_apple setup

/etc/modprobe.d/hid_apple.conf

options hid_apple swap_opt_cmd=1 swap_fn_leftctrl=1 iso_layout=1

• A complete version of my actual remapping is here:

default partial alphanumeric_keys modifier_keys

xkb_symbols "basic" {
    include "fr"
    replace key <CAPS> { [ Hyper_L ] };
    replace key <LWIN> { [ Super_L ] };
    modifier_map Mod4 { <META>, Hyper_L };
    modifier_map Mod3 { <META>, Super_L };
    replace key <TLDE>  { [ at, numbersign, asciitilde, notsign ] };
    replace key <AE08>  { [ exclam, 8, backslash, exclamdown ] };
    replace key <AE06>  { [ minus, 6, trademark, notsign  ] };
    replace key <AE12>  { [ minus, underscore, braceright, bar ] };
    replace key <AB10>  { [ equal, plus, notsign, notsign ] };
    replace key <AD12>  { [ dollar, asterisk, EuroSign, notsign ] };
    replace key <BKSL>  { [ asterisk, grave, grave, notsign ] };
    replace key <AC09>  { [ l, L, notsign, bar ] };
};

[lou-perret]

Seems better, but I cannot swap the left CTRL & CMD to do copy / paste with CMD. Does it work for you ?

[cyrinux]

What DE do you use ? Can be then simply shortcut parameters in KDE shortcuts settings or your sway config for example ? Also install and use wev in order to get information about the key you press.

[nsklaus]

Seems better, but I cannot swap the left CTRL & CMD to do copy / paste with CMD. Does it work for you ?

here's what i usualy do: (tested on a few intel macbooks, but keyboard mapping is the same on m1 too, so it should work here as well)

sudo vim /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/pc
replace like this: (note that LCTL points to Super_L and so on)

key <LCTL> {    [ Super_L       ]   };
key <LWIN> {    [ Control_L     ]   };
 
key <RCTL> {    [ Super_R       ]   };
key <RWIN> {    [ Control_R     ]   };

then to apply changes, you can either reboot, or log out/in or in term:

setxkbmap -layout fr -variant mac

after that change gets applied, copy/paste will work with cmd+c and cmd+v globaly.
note: that you will also need to change default hotkeys for copy/paste in terminal, for example in konsole. because default is usualy ctrl+shift+c / ctrl+shift+v .. remap it to remove the need for shift. when changing the hotkey pressing cmd+c keys, it will be taken in as ctrl+c.

also interesting to note:
there are a few distros that have a broken french macbook keymap file.
void, artix, and some other have a broken one. iirc there's a good one on fedora.
see arch forum here
fabienh is mentionning the ticket on core kbd package.
worst case scenario pickup the correct keymap on fedora and put it in your asahi/arch install.

[ToCodeABluejay]

I have found that none of tha available fr/azerty layouts are accurate. The 'mac-fr' layout is so completely unusable as, for instance, a character is mapped to the return key. I have found that, while it is still not perfect, that the 'fr-latin9" seems to be good enough to be usable. While the 'mac-fr' layout does not work for modern Macs, it's certainly possible that people may use then on legacy machines? It would be nice if we could relegate the antiquated layout to 'mac-fr-legacy' or something of that sort. However, for our purposes in the here in now, we need an accurate keyboard layout available to Mac users with a French layout. To accomodate this, I thought it may work nice to simply copy the existing fr-lating9.map file into a repository, and edit it as necessary until our configuration is accurate. I have already made a few changes, but feel free to try it and edit it yourself!! https://github.com/ToCodeABluejay/kbd-mac-fr

[ToCodeABluejay]

I just created a pull request to kbd...
legionus/kbd#93

[ToCodeABluejay]

legionus/kbd#98

[ToCodeABluejay]

Merged. I may make some more minor revisions in the future to more closely mimic mac OS, but this is certainly able to be used comfortably day-to-day...

[nsklaus]

@ToCodeABluejay
i noticed several problems remaining on current "mac-fr" keymap.
i referenced them here: #268
would there be a chance for more revision from you, since you've already improved the situation from initial mac-fr keymap and your PR was accepted on mainstream kbd..