Unix

Linux/Unix in graphical mode (preinstalled)

• Colemak comes installed by default with most modern distributions, and doesn't require any download.
• Open a terminal window
• Type: setxkbmap us -variant colemak

Download

Description:	Installation of the Colemak layout for Unix/Linux
Version:	1.0 (2006-01-01)
File size:	0.1 MB
Implementations:	X11 xmodmap, X11 XKB, Linux console, FreeBSD console, OpenBSD console, NetBSD console, Solaris console
Download Now	command line download: wget https://colemak.com/pub/unix/colemak-1.0.tar.gz

Warning about passwords: If you have any passwords in your computer, either change them (e.g. with a password of numbers only), or learn them in the new layout!

Linux/Unix in graphical mode using xmodmap

• Download, untar/gunzip archive
• Open a terminal window
• Switch to the directory where you have unpacked Colemak, e.g. cd colemak-1.0
• Type: setxkbmap us; xmodmap xmodmap/xmodmap.colemak && xset r 66
• To switch back to QWERTY type: setxkbmap us; xset -r 66

Linux/Unix in graphical mode using xorg.conf (X.Org Server 7.0 or later)

• Download, untar/gunzip archive
• Open a terminal window
• Switch to the directory where you have unpacked Colemak, e.g. cd colemak-1.0
• Type: sudo cp xorg/colemak /etc/X11/xkb/symbols/colemak (if this gives you an error the X11 configuration files might be located in a different directory)
• Type: setxkbmap -v colemak && xset r 66 . Here's what the output should look like:

Warning! Multiple definitions of keyboard layout
         Using command line, ignoring X server
Trying to build keymap using the following components:
keycodes:   xfree86+aliases(qwerty)
types:      complete
compat:     complete
symbols:    pc(pc105)+colemak+level3(ralt_switch)
geometry:   pc(pc105)

• To switch back to QWERTY type: setxkbmap us; xset -r 66
• To make the changes permanent, here's an example of InputDevice section for xorg.conf:

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Generic Keyboard"
        Driver      "kbd"
        Option      "CoreKeyboard"
        Option      "XkbRules" "xorg"
        Option      "XkbModel" "pc105"
        Option      "XkbLayout" "us"
        Option      "XkbSymbols" "pc(pc105)+colemak"
EndSection

• Caps Lock behaves as both Caps Lock and Backspace: this bug occurs in some versions of GNOME when using the GNOME keyboard layout switcher instead of following the instructions above. more information.

Linux in text console mode

• Download, untar/gunzip archive
• Under Debian/Ubuntu/Knoppix/Debian derivatives type: install-keymap linux_console/colemak.iso15.kmap to install as the default layout.
• Type: loadkeys linux_console/colemak.iso15.kmap to switch layouts.
• To switch to a ISO8859-15 compatible font type: consolechars -f lat9v-14
• To switch back to QWERTY type: loadkeys us

FreeBSD in text console mode

• Download, untar/gunzip archive
• Copy freebsd_console/colemak.iso15.acc.kbd to /usr/share/syscons/keymaps/
• Edit /etc/rc.conf and add the following lines

keymap="colemak.iso15.acc.kbd"
font8x8="iso15-8x8.fnt"
font8x14="iso15-8x14.fnt"
font8x16="iso15-8x16.fnt"

• To switch between layouts type: kbdmap.
• To switch to a ISO8859-15 compatible font type: vidfont

NetBSD in text console mode

• Download, untar/gunzip archive
• Copy netbsd_console/pckbd.colemak.iso8859-1 to /usr/share/wscons/keymaps/
• Modify the mapfile setting in /etc/wscons.conf

OpenBSD in text console mode

• Download, untar/gunzip archive
• Type: chmod +x openbsd_console/colemak_openbsd.sh
• Type: openbsd_console/colemak_openbsd.sh
• To switch back to QWERTY type: wsconsctl keyboard.encoding=us

OpenBSD 6.6 and later have built in support for Colemak by selecting us.colemak during installation.

Solaris in text console mode

• Download, untar/gunzip archive
• Type: loadkeys solaris_console/type_6/colemak. This will only work with Type 6 keyboards.

After installation

• Learn the layout