How to change one key to another?

dajlano

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Hello. I'm by no means a coder or anything like that. And I would just like to know the simplest way possible to change one key to another, for example like if I theoretically wanted to change the "y" key to tho "u" key. Is there a super simple way to do this in Linux?

thank you,
 


G'day @dajlano and welcome to linux.org :)

What Linux Distro (name and version and desktop environment) are you using?

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
g'day to you!

Linux Mint 19.3 Cinnamon is the specific software I have. I'm not sure what you mean by desktop environment. It looks and functions similar to a windows desktop....... but that might not be what you mean.
 
G'day dajlano, click on menu and type in 'system info'......it should tell you if the DE is either Cinnamon, Mate or XFCE
 
No that's fine - Cinnamon is your DE, others for Mint include Xfce and MATE. It gives us an idea of how your menu is structured, and other features.

I have to go out shopping shortly for a couple of hours (Friday morning here in Oz) and may or may not be the one to help you. Have you done any Googling yet?

I ran

linux remapping keyboard

and the github article looks promising

and likewise

linux gui remapping keyboard

for a point and click solution.

Brian, he's on Cinnamon, Mate. Also, typing in Welcome brings up a popup that says the DE.

I'll leave you with Brian, but don't try any changes until you have learned to use Timeshift.

Avagudweegend

Wiz
 
Timeshift
Will already be on your pc
Menu, type in Timeshift.

Seeing it already installed....go to my highlighting ......Then just go to Menu....start from there

Installing Timeshift in Linux
1. For Ubuntu and Linux Mint
Open the terminal (ctrl+alt+T) and execute the below commands one by one....click on Enter between each one.(copy and paste the commands below into Terminal to avoid mistakes)

sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install timeshift


Then just go to Menu....type in Timeshift....and it will be there.
Settings...select RSYNC
Location...select where you will store the snapshot/s (external hard drive is preferable)
Schedule...if you have a drive with plenty of space you can elect to save several snapshots.....or just keep one or two...
Users...Include All
Filters...under the + icon select both lines
Thats enough....go back to main screen of Timeshift, and select Create

grab a coffee.....5 minutes approx

Now......if something goes south while you are trying changes etc etc, all you need to do is access Timehsift, click on restore, and go grab another coffee.
Your system will be returned to whenever the snapshot you have chosen to restore, was taken.

If you have really screwed up, you can boot your pc to your thumb drive with LM 19 on it...access Timeshift on that .......it will have the snapshots on there for you to restore to.

Now.......you can change things without fear of losing your shirt !
 
Last edited:
No that's fine - Cinnamon is your DE, others for Mint include Xfce and MATE. It gives us an idea of how your menu is structured, and other features.

I have to go out shopping shortly for a couple of hours (Friday morning here in Oz) and may or may not be the one to help you. Have you done any Googling yet?

I ran

linux remapping keyboard

and the github article looks promising

and likewise

linux gui remapping keyboard

for a point and click solution.

Brian, he's on Cinnamon, Mate. Also, typing in Welcome brings up a popup that says the DE.

I'll leave you with Brian, but don't try any changes until you have learned to use Timeshift.

Avagudweegend

Wiz

thanks for pointing that out about Timeshift. Now I know how to set up a backup time manually (although it seems it was by default doing it daily).

Cool, I'm looking into the Github article you mentioned. It does sound promising, but do you know how I can determine which keycodes the various key codes are? I tried googling it but couldn't find a systematic way to see which keys have which.

As for your 2nd possible avenue, I'm not sure what you mean by "point and click solution". How could that work exactly? I tried googling "linux gui" but the results were over my head lol.
 
It's on my list!

Now to find the time!

I'm kinda surprised nobody has made a nice GUI app for it already. How does that hole even exist?

I have a project filling up my free time in January, and need to squeeze in switching my Lubuntu machines to 20.04 LTS. I need to start on that on Monday. I'd like to put it off another month, but I can't keep procrastinating.
 
OK what I'll do here is move this Thread to Linux Hardware

https://linux.org/forums/linux-hardware.150/

as it is a question better suited to there, where keyboard questions are answered.

I'll also swing over to my Tricia Cinnamon so that I am on the same environment as you.

Hang on to your hats everyone and we'll take a magic carpet ride.

Wizard
 
You're welcome, but thank me if/when we get a working solution for you :)

I was going to post the following for you a day or so ago, but it did not quite complete. I'll print it anyway and see if you follow.

SUGGESTION STARTS HERE

1. There exists on your Tricia Cinnamon a keyboard remapping function. At the Menu start to type in keyboard, and click on the keyboard entry. When that launches, take a look at

Layouts - Options

and all those right pointing arrows, if clicked reveal more options.

If you choose any of those to experiment be sure you have a current Timeshift screenshot in place first, to roll back if you need to, you don't need a dysfunctional keyboard.

2. If you want some thing more, then there is an update on Github of a utility called Key Mapper, released 3 days ago.

It is GUI point and click.

If you wish to download it and try it, go to

https://www.linuxuprising.com/2020/12/remap-keyboard-and-mouse-buttons-on.html

The releases page is at

https://github.com/sezanzeb/key-mapper/releases

It's version 0.6.0 and you go down to Assets 3 and click the file saying

key-mapper-0.6.0.deb

that will download likely to your Downloads folder.

Once that is finished, you can install Key Mapper either from Terminal (Ctrl-Alt-t is the shortcut or choose it from your Menu) or via GUI point and click, which is graphically from your Desktop.

DESKTOP WAY (GUI - Graphical User Interface ie point and click)

1. Go to Menu and type in software and choose Software Manager.
2. In Software Manager in the search filed type in gdebi and choose to install the first entry.
3. Open your File Manager (called Nemo in Cinnamon) and navigate to where the Key Mapper .deb file is located, likely in Downloads.
4. Right click on that entry and choose open with GDebi and proceed to install it.
5. Once installed, if you go to Menu and type in key mapper you will see the icon.

TERMINAL WAY (CLI - Command Line Interface)

1. Having launched Terminal, type in and enter the following, it presumes you have downloaded the file into Downloads, if not replace the path

Code:
cd Downloads
sudo dpkg -i key-mapper-0.6.0.deb
exit

If successful, the Key Mapper will be in your Menu.

SUGGESTION ENDS HERE

However, I do not like to recommend to users a solution I have not tried myself, and when I was following the above steps and then tried launching Key Mapper I received an error (sorry, did not record it at the time).

So I will keep looking but my friends above may have some better suggestions.

Cheers

Wiz
 

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