French-Canadian Keyboard & keyboard switching

[PJ]

PJ wrote:
> Frank Shute wrote:
>   
>> On Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 06:42:52AM -0400, PJ wrote:
>>   
>>     
>>> I am rather surprised and disappointed that no one has any ideas about
>>> using and/or installing a French-Canadian keyboard on FreeBSD. That is a
>>> terrible bug in FreeBSD and a worse slur on the Québecois (or
>>> Quebeckers) or are we being neglected and still considered "The White
>>> Niggers of America"? ;-)
>>> Anyway, everything I have tried does not work on FreeBSD or on xorg.
>>> Cannot set it up or switch.
>>> Somebody, please help.
>>>
>>>     
>>>       
>> Have you tried:
>>
>> Option "XkbLayout" "ca(fr)"
>>
>> in your keyboard/inputdevice section of xorg.conf?
>>
>> For the console you want to have a look at kbdmap(1) and the list of
>> maps.
>>
>> Looks like you want:
>>
>> keymap="fr_CA.iso.acc"
>>
>> in /etc/rc.conf
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>>   
>>     
> I probably should have posted all the stuff I tried. My apologies.
> Yes, I had tried similar Options as described in a number of sites,
> including, I think FreeBSD and Xorg. Only the man pages showed different
> inputs. I don't know where you got the fr_CA.iso.acc; my installation
> showed the available keymaps as fr_CA.iso.acc.kbd
> kbdmap -s returns You are not on a virtual console - expect strange side
> effects
> lang_default = en
> dialect = fr_...ISO8859-1
> lang_abk = fr
> Currently supported languages: da de el en es fr hy iw no pl pt ru sv uk
> =====
> Interesting, eh? where does fr_CA fit in and how?
> For Xorg here is what I had found on
> http://markmail.org/messsage/yvq7qqnqhq33hqgf
> Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
> Option "XkbLayout" "us,ca"
> Option "XkbOptions" "grp:toggle"
> That is what I had tried; it didn't work.
> I had tried keymap="fr_CA.iso.acc.kbd" and that gave(gives) the correct
> keyboard on the console. Except, it spews out French error messages
> (tiresome=ennuiyant).
> The Option "XkbLayout" "us,ca" - I have no idea where it comes from and
> I sure would like to know what to enter for that to try it out. And
> where does the "grp:toggle" come from?
> I just went through the same routine and I can't find any combination
> that works with the information I have been able to gather.
> :-(
>   
For what it's worth, I have been able to set up the French-Canadian
keyboard in a hap-hazard way so, at least, is works partially.

Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us,ca"
Option "XkbOptions" "grp:toggle"

Using the above xorg parameters, the keyboard limps. The French-CA is a
bastardized mapping which work only if you use 2 keys for è ç à, etc -
in XP these are one stroke keys, but Fbsd you have to hit the ] key
before c to get ç (ç) and the same for the others, except for é
(é)
Oh, well, another day lost... but, I guess it's better to limp than not
to walk at all. :-\

-- 
Hervé Kempf: "Pour sauver la planète, sortez du capitalisme."
-------------------------------------------------------------
Phil Jourdan --- pj at ptahhotep.com
   http://www.ptahhotep.com
   http://www.chiccantine.com/andypantry.php