3rd level Linux XKB Belarusian keyboard layout

---

Feature

• Add historical and national white-red-white Belarusian flag
• No longer need a Russian keyboard
• Enable Belarusian Latin as 3rd level of English keyboard

Installation

Clone repository

git clone https://github.com/vtsykun/belarus-keyboard-layout.git
cd belarus-keyboard-layout

Step1. Replace bssr flag

sudo cp images/by.png /usr/share/iso-flag-png/by.png

Step2. Add custom 3rd level keyboard

Change /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/by to add a new layout. Add this lines to the end of the file. Example

partial alphanumeric_keys
xkb_symbols "viva" {
	include "ru(winkeys)"
	name[Group1]= "Viva Belarus";

	key	<AD09> {	[	Byelorussian_shortu,	Byelorussian_SHORTU,	Cyrillic_shcha,	Cyrillic_SHCHA	]	};
	key	<AD12> {	[	apostrophe,	apostrophe, Cyrillic_hardsign,	Cyrillic_HARDSIGN		]	};
	key	<AB05> {	[	Ukrainian_i,	Ukrainian_I,	Cyrillic_i,		Cyrillic_I	]	};

	include "level3(ralt_switch)"
};

Change /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/us to enable Belarusian Latin. Add this lines to the end of the file. Example

partial alphanumeric_keys
xkb_symbols "be-latin" {

    include "us"
    name[Group1]= "English (Viva Belarus)";

    key <AD02> {        [    w,    W,    scaron,    Scaron    ]       };
    key <AD07> {        [    u,    U,    ubreve,    Ubreve    ]       };
    key <AC02> {        [    s,    S,    sacute,    Sacute    ]       };
    key <AC09> {        [    l,    L,    lstroke,   Lstroke   ]       };
    key <AB01> {        [    z,    Z,    zacute,    Zacute    ]       };
    key <AB02> {        [    x,    X,    zcaron,    Zcaron    ]       };
    key <AB03> {        [    c,    C,    cacute,    Cacute    ]       };
    key <AB04> {        [    v,    V,    ccaron,    Ccaron    ]       };
    key <AB06> {        [    n,    N,    nacute,    Nacute    ]       };

    include "level3(ralt_switch)"
};

Add the new layout declaration to /usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/evdev.xml (copy & modify us layout section). Example

...
    <layout>
      <configItem>
        <name>by</name>

        <shortDescription>by</shortDescription>
        <description>Belarusian</description>
        <languageList>
          <iso639Id>bel</iso639Id>
        </languageList>
      </configItem>
      <variantList>
        <variant>
          <configItem>
            <name>legacy</name>
            <description>Belarusian (legacy)</description>
          </configItem>
        </variant>
  ....
 # -> new lines 
        <variant>
          <configItem>
            <name>viva</name>
            <description>Viva Belarus</description>
          </configItem>
        </variant>
 # ->  end new lines 
      </variantList>
    </layout>
...

...
        # The same for english keyboard
...

See patch, for details

Step3. Update xkb cache

Run command to update cache

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xkb-data

Enjoy

For russian layout

• alt-і for 'и'
• alt-ў for 'щ'
• alt-' for 'ъ'

For Belarusian Latin layout

• alt-w for 'š'
• alt-u for 'ŭ'
• alt-s for 'ś'
• alt-l for 'ł'
• alt-z for 'ź'
• alt-x for 'ž'
• alt-c for 'ć'
• alt-v for 'č'
• alt-n for 'ń'