Bug#780656: xserver-xorg-input-evdev: Logitech wireless keyboard ignores locale in X.org, defaults to en-us

[Daniel James <daniel@64studio.com>]

Package: xserver-xorg-input-evdev
Version: 1:2.9.0-2
Severity: normal

After upgrading a machine from squeeze to wheezy to jessie, my Logitech
K400 wireless keyboard no longer functioned correctly. My locale is
en-gb but key presses resulted in en-us characters appearing in
applications running under X.org, for example the pipe symbol on the
keyboard became a chevron on the screen.

It appears to be an old bug filed (twice) in Ubuntu:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-input-evdev/+bug/993827
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-input-evdev/+bug/995715

There is a detailed explanation of the issue here:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-input-evdev/+bug/995715/comments/19

Linux kernel 3.2 introduced the logitech_dj HID driver to explicitly
support the Logitech Unifying Receiver. This wireless USB hardware is
designed for compatible mice and keyboards so that you only need one
dongle for multiple devices. It worked fine for both mice and keyboards
under squeeze, using a generic USB driver.

However the xserver-xorg-input-evdev package does not seem to support
this change of drivers, as far as keyboards are concerned.

The workaround is for the display manager startup script to force the
locale. In my case, I did this in ~/.fluxbox/startup with the line:

setxkbmap gb

Thanks!

Daniel