Re: console keymap and console-setup

["Russell L. Harris" <rlharris@oplink.net>]

* Tyler Smith <tyler.smith@mail.mcgill.ca> [070529 23:42]:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm a little confused as to how to set my console keymap. I've got a
> custom keymap that suits me, and running 
> 
> loadkeys /usr/share/keymaps/i386/qwerty/custom.kmap 
> 
> gets it installed and running just fine. I tried to modify
> /etc/init.d/keymap.sh to load it automatically, but this fails. I
> think it's because I've got console-setup / setupcon loaded. I looked
> through the readme for console-setup, but it's not clear to me if I
> need to put my custom keymap somewhere special, or if I can just point
> to it from a config file. Google points to some conflicting advice,
> mostly on account of the switch from keymap.sh to console-setup I
> think.

Before "dvorak-classic" became a standard offering in Debian, the
approach which I used was to execute the command:

    # install-keymap dvorak-classic.kmap.gz

sometime during installation and configuration of the system --
usually at the first opportunity.  

Of course, if the keymapping file is on a floppy, a CD, or a flash
memory stick, you need to specify the path to the keymapping file.  

It is not necessary to save a copy of custom.kmap.gz on your machine.
However, to make it easy to locate the file the next time you need to
configure another machine, you may wish to copy the file into:

    /usr/share/keymaps/i386/qwerty/

and then execute: 

    # install-keymap /usr/share/keymaps/i386/qwerty/custom.kmap.gz

As soon as you install the new keymap, it becomes:

    /etc/console/boottime.kmap.gz

after first copying the old keymap (typically QWERTY) to:

    /etc/console/boottime.old.kmap.gz

Thereafter, when you boot the system, your custom keymap should be in
effect.  No other configuration is required.  See the man page for
install-keymap.

RLH