Posted by Christer Edwards

Many of you know that I’m a dvorak user. Yeah, I use that funny keyboard layout that makes others want to pull their hair out (or punch my lights out!) anytime they sit down to use my machine. It has been just over a year now and I can’t imagine switching back to qwerty. For more information on this funny layout called dvorak, check out the DVZine.org website.

One question that I get all the time is “How do I switch they keyboard mapping?”, which I thought I would answer here.

Change per Session

To change the keyboard mapping on a per-session basis (it will revert once you logout), is by using the setxkbmap utility. To switch to dvorak using setxkbmap, you would type:

setxkbmap dvorak

To switch back to qwerty layout (try) type:

setxkbmap us

System Wide

To make these changes system wide, assuming you’re using Ubuntu, you can use the following:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-tools

This will re-install the console-tools package, which will remap your keyboard layout if you select something different. You’ll likely want to select all the default options, other than toggling between US and Dvorak.

Disclaimer: if you set your mapping to Dvorak and can’t switch back its not my fault ;). Visit the DVzine website for a key mapping for help.