Hi! New to all of this, but I’ve been following the community for a while and wanted to finally get my hands on a board after having figured out what (I think) I like. Still have some questions concerning multiple-language use case. I read through some of the posts on here but couldn’t find a lot so I thought I will just ask…

So far, following one comment, I guess it would be best to go with anANSI layout and learn how to use US International layout, since the (Keychron) Keyboard I currently eyeball is also difficult to get as ISO fully assembled in the color option I want, ordering from Europe. I need this to run on Linux and I guess there’s no way around getting into key mapping.

  1. I do work with several langues, so I would need at minimum Latin and Cyrillic alphabet, additionally some characters of Nordic, Slavic, Germanic and Romanic languages, so basically a lot of diacritics, but also a few extra characters such as ø, ß, ł. However, from what I read US International might not work with for instance Czech, which is a huge problem for me (š, č, ž, ů etc.). Anyone on here with experience and/or solutions regarding this?

  2. For those of you owning and using a Keychron on Linux, is keymapping a no-brainer? (I hope my biggest issue with this will just be using a Chromium-based Browser xD) --> If Keychron isn’t advised, any ideas on other Keyboards supporting key mapping, preferably manufactured in and shipped from Europe. (metal body, 80%, wired, media knob, possibly macros, price point less important)

  3. Also looking for recommendations on where to buy aesthetically pleasing Latin/Cyrillic Keycaps! Preferably Europe-based Vendors and no sketchy and cheap (possibly toxic) chinese products.

Thanks a lot!

  • al4s@feddit.org
    2·
    6 months ago

    For european languages I usually recommend learning using an ANSI keyboard and using the EurKey layout (I installed it on Linux/Mac/Win and Android for a hardware keyboard without any issues). That way you have a larger choice in custom keyboards and a lot of Keyboard shortcuts make more sense (because software usually seems to be written for ANSI keyboards).

    But I’m not sure how that would go with Cyrillic.

    • Rook@pawb.social
      0·
      6 months ago

      How did you get it for Android? The dead keys on the international layout are driving me mad!

      • al4s@feddit.org
        1·
        6 months ago

        I think the app I used was called “more physical keyboard layouts” or something like that. It’s for connecting physical keyboards though. Never felt the need to have it for the virtual keyboard, since you have all of the weird letters behind a long press anyways.

  • RedSideOfTheMoon@lemmy.ml
    1·
    6 months ago

    Keychron ships from China even if you order on a site in Europe. But it is quick and all charges are already included. I like their keyboards. The V series is very nice for the price.

    • fairchild@sopuli.xyzOPEnglish
      1·
      6 months ago

      I’m not 100% sure I should go with one of their Keyboards then. Also had some other EU based company that I really liked after doing a bunch of research on this, but I lost all my notes about the whole process and haven’t been able to track it down since. Would appreciate the links, if you can find the time later

  • RedSideOfTheMoon@lemmy.ml
    1·
    6 months ago

    With the large number of languages you are working with, I think it is worth spending a bit of time creating your own layout. The AltGr layer is where you’ll want most of your changes.

    On Wayland this is not too difficult to do. On X11, skip the headache and modify the system file.

    This is my current Alt layer, mostly for French, with Spanish also being easy enough. My main layer is mostly UK/US alphas. This is on a split 42 keys keyboard but the concept is the same.

    If there are some characters that you use very rarely, don’t forget you can probably get them with a Compose sequence. For example, I forgot the ß when I redesigned the layer, but I can still get it with Compose + s + s.

    I previously switched from ISO to ANSI and it doesn’t change much. If you make your own layout it doesn’t matter. I think you have an extra key in ISO.

    Keycaps? I use blanks. But there are a lot of EU vendors. I can point to a few later.___