Colemak layout at boot time

[piorunz]

Hi all,

I use Colemak layout instead of Qwerty, because it's so much better and
efficient.
Today I repositioned keys on my laptop too, so I have two computers with
Colemak.
However, my laptop uses full disk encryption (Debian 11).
At boot time, and in GRUB, I don't have Colemak, but default layout.
How to change to Colemak? I read few very old tutorials, not one solves
this problem in 2021. Not sure how I should proceed.

I already selected Colemak in KDE settings, and via sudo
dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration. But this does not affect boot
time password question and GRUB editor. Also virtual consoles still use
default Qwerty.

My /etc/default/keyboard file:
# KEYBOARD CONFIGURATION FILE

# Consult the keyboard(5) manual page.

XKBMODEL="pc105"
XKBLAYOUT="gb"
XKBVARIANT="colemak"
XKBOPTIONS=""

BACKSPACE="guess"


Any tips appreciated!


--
With kindest regards, Piotr.

⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀
⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system
⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.org
⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀

[David Wright]

Post by piorunz
I use Colemak layout instead of Qwerty, because it's so much better and
efficient.
Today I repositioned keys on my laptop too, so I have two computers with
Colemak.
However, my laptop uses full disk encryption (Debian 11).
At boot time, and in GRUB, I don't have Colemak, but default layout.
How to change to Colemak? I read few very old tutorials, not one solves
this problem in 2021. Not sure how I should proceed.
I already selected Colemak in KDE settings, and via sudo
dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration. But this does not affect boot
time password question and GRUB editor. Also virtual consoles still use
default Qwerty.

A lot of hits from googling grub colemak including
https://forums.debian.net//viewtopic.php?f=16&t=76833
which uses dvorak as an example.

I don't recall the definition of "boot time password". Does this
denote something that Grub asks, or is it when dmcrypt is running
from the initrd? — Which is a reminder: is your keyboard definition
in /etc/default/keyboard getting incorporated into the initrd or not?

Cheers,
David.

[piorunz]

Post by David Wright
A lot of hits from googling grub colemak including
https://forums.debian.net//viewtopic.php?f=16&t=76833
which uses dvorak as an example.

Thanks for your reply.
Yes I seen this page.

ckbcomp dvorak command outputs the layout details and everything.

However:
$ ckbcomp colemak
/usr/bin/ckbcomp: Can not find file "symbols/colemak" in any known directory

Post by David Wright
I don't recall the definition of "boot time password". Does this
denote something that Grub asks, or is it when dmcrypt is running
from the initrd?

By that I meant GRUB editor and Debian's standard whole disk encryption
in Debian. I don't have Colemak there. I need to enter password in
Colemak. Yes, I think that's called dmcrypt.

Post by David Wright
Which is a reminder: is your keyboard definition
in /etc/default/keyboard getting incorporated into the initrd or not?

I don't know that. I only have Colemak in KDE. Everything else,
including virtual terminals (Ctrl+Alt+F keys) are Qwerty.

--
With kindest regards, Piotr.

⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀
⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system
⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.org
⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀

[David Wright]

Post by piorunz

Post by David Wright
A lot of hits from googling grub colemak including
https://forums.debian.net//viewtopic.php?f=16&t=76833
which uses dvorak as an example.

Thanks for your reply.
Yes I seen this page.
ckbcomp dvorak command outputs the layout details and everything.
$ ckbcomp colemak
/usr/bin/ckbcomp: Can not find file "symbols/colemak" in any known directory

Post by David Wright
I don't recall the definition of "boot time password". Does this
denote something that Grub asks, or is it when dmcrypt is running
from the initrd?

By that I meant GRUB editor and Debian's standard whole disk encryption
in Debian. I don't have Colemak there. I need to enter password in
Colemak. Yes, I think that's called dmcrypt.

Post by David Wright
Which is a reminder: is your keyboard definition
in /etc/default/keyboard getting incorporated into the initrd or not?

I don't know that. I only have Colemak in KDE. Everything else,
including virtual terminals (Ctrl+Alt+F keys) are Qwerty.

How do you normally login, at a VC or in a Display Manager?

Where did you run "sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration" from?

Have you seen this line:
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-17-amd64
since you changed /etc/default/keyboard and ran
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration?

Checking your current initrd is a little tedious: you run
unmkinitramfs to unpack the initrd, and you zcat your
/etc/console-setup/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap.gz to, say, /tmp.
Then run, eg:

$ diff -u …/main/etc/console-setup/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap /tmp/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap
$

where they are the unpacked and decompressed files respectively.

Cheers,
David.

[Gareth Evans]

Post by David Wright

Post by piorunz

Post by David Wright
A lot of hits from googling grub colemak including
https://forums.debian.net//viewtopic.php?f=16&t=76833
which uses dvorak as an example.

Thanks for your reply.
Yes I seen this page.
ckbcomp dvorak command outputs the layout details and everything.
$ ckbcomp colemak
/usr/bin/ckbcomp: Can not find file "symbols/colemak" in any known directory

Post by David Wright
I don't recall the definition of "boot time password". Does this
denote something that Grub asks, or is it when dmcrypt is running
from the initrd?

By that I meant GRUB editor and Debian's standard whole disk encryption
in Debian. I don't have Colemak there. I need to enter password in
Colemak. Yes, I think that's called dmcrypt.

Post by David Wright
Which is a reminder: is your keyboard definition
in /etc/default/keyboard getting incorporated into the initrd or not?

I don't know that. I only have Colemak in KDE. Everything else,
including virtual terminals (Ctrl+Alt+F keys) are Qwerty.

How do you normally login, at a VC or in a Display Manager?
Where did you run "sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration" from?
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-17-amd64
since you changed /etc/default/keyboard and ran
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration?

I replied just now before seeing this. I think I may have taken the "GRUB uses the US keyboard layout by default" in my link a bit too far!

Post by David Wright
Checking your current initrd is a little tedious: you run
unmkinitramfs to unpack the initrd, and you zcat your
/etc/console-setup/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap.gz to, say, /tmp.
$ diff -u …/main/etc/console-setup/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap
/tmp/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap
$
where they are the unpacked and decompressed files respectively.
Cheers,
David.

[Gareth Evans]

Post by Gareth Evans

Post by David Wright

Post by piorunz

Post by David Wright
A lot of hits from googling grub colemak including
https://forums.debian.net//viewtopic.php?f=16&t=76833
which uses dvorak as an example.

Thanks for your reply.
Yes I seen this page.
ckbcomp dvorak command outputs the layout details and everything.
$ ckbcomp colemak
/usr/bin/ckbcomp: Can not find file "symbols/colemak" in any known directory

Post by David Wright
I don't recall the definition of "boot time password". Does this
denote something that Grub asks, or is it when dmcrypt is running
from the initrd?

By that I meant GRUB editor and Debian's standard whole disk encryption
in Debian. I don't have Colemak there. I need to enter password in
Colemak. Yes, I think that's called dmcrypt.

Post by David Wright
Which is a reminder: is your keyboard definition
in /etc/default/keyboard getting incorporated into the initrd or not?

I don't know that. I only have Colemak in KDE. Everything else,
including virtual terminals (Ctrl+Alt+F keys) are Qwerty.

How do you normally login, at a VC or in a Display Manager?
Where did you run "sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration" from?
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-17-amd64
since you changed /etc/default/keyboard and ran
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration?

I replied just now before seeing this. I think I may have taken the
"GRUB uses the US keyboard layout by default" in my link a bit too far!

Post by David Wright
Checking your current initrd is a little tedious: you run
unmkinitramfs to unpack the initrd, and you zcat your
/etc/console-setup/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap.gz to, say, /tmp.
$ diff -u …/main/etc/console-setup/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap
/tmp/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap
$
where they are the unpacked and decompressed files respectively.
Cheers,
David.

I have set up a VM with up-to-date Bullseye KDE (LUKS/LVM guided partitioning) to try to replicate this problem.

Adding the UK Colemak keyboard layout and promoting it to the top of the list in system settings > keyboard does not make it take effect in either the LUKS boot-time password or the graphical login - only after login to KDE.

Switching to UK layout for usage and then running in konsole

# dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration

[choosing UK then Colemak then default for AltGr/special keys etc]

does not change the active keyboard layout, nor for the LUKS boot password or graphical login.

Out of interest, I thought I would try the instructions (section 5):

https://cryptsetup-team.pages.debian.net/cryptsetup/encrypted-boot.html

- but they fail at the third command:

# tar -C "$memdisk" -cf /boot/grub/memdisk.tar
tar: Cowardly refusing to create an empty archive
Try 'tar --help' or 'tar --usage' for more information

I lack much experience with ramdisks and all but the simplest of grub configuration, but I can't see either an obvious problem with the syntax suggested, or anything in 'tar --help' that helps.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Gareth

[Gareth Evans]

Post by Gareth Evans

Post by Gareth Evans

Post by David Wright

Post by piorunz

Post by David Wright
A lot of hits from googling grub colemak including
https://forums.debian.net//viewtopic.php?f=16&t=76833
which uses dvorak as an example.

Thanks for your reply.
Yes I seen this page.
ckbcomp dvorak command outputs the layout details and everything.
$ ckbcomp colemak
/usr/bin/ckbcomp: Can not find file "symbols/colemak" in any known directory

Post by David Wright
I don't recall the definition of "boot time password". Does this
denote something that Grub asks, or is it when dmcrypt is running
from the initrd?

By that I meant GRUB editor and Debian's standard whole disk encryption
in Debian. I don't have Colemak there. I need to enter password in
Colemak. Yes, I think that's called dmcrypt.

Post by David Wright
Which is a reminder: is your keyboard definition
in /etc/default/keyboard getting incorporated into the initrd or not?

I don't know that. I only have Colemak in KDE. Everything else,
including virtual terminals (Ctrl+Alt+F keys) are Qwerty.

How do you normally login, at a VC or in a Display Manager?
Where did you run "sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration" from?
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-17-amd64
since you changed /etc/default/keyboard and ran
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration?

I replied just now before seeing this. I think I may have taken the
"GRUB uses the US keyboard layout by default" in my link a bit too far!

Post by David Wright
Checking your current initrd is a little tedious: you run
unmkinitramfs to unpack the initrd, and you zcat your
/etc/console-setup/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap.gz to, say, /tmp.
$ diff -u …/main/etc/console-setup/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap
/tmp/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap
$
where they are the unpacked and decompressed files respectively.
Cheers,
David.

I have set up a VM with up-to-date Bullseye KDE (LUKS/LVM guided
partitioning) to try to replicate this problem.
Adding the UK Colemak keyboard layout and promoting it to the top of
the list in system settings > keyboard does not make it take effect in
either the LUKS boot-time password or the graphical login - only after
login to KDE.
Switching to UK layout for usage and then running in konsole
# dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration
[choosing UK then Colemak then default for AltGr/special keys etc]
does not change the active keyboard layout, nor for the LUKS boot
password or graphical login.
https://cryptsetup-team.pages.debian.net/cryptsetup/encrypted-boot.html
# tar -C "$memdisk" -cf /boot/grub/memdisk.tar
tar: Cowardly refusing to create an empty archive
Try 'tar --help' or 'tar --usage' for more information
I lack much experience with ramdisks and all but the simplest of grub
configuration, but I can't see either an obvious problem with the
syntax suggested, or anything in 'tar --help' that helps.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Gareth

Scrap that, I missed the . at the end of the command

[Gareth Evans]

Post by Gareth Evans

Post by Gareth Evans

Post by Gareth Evans

Post by David Wright

Post by piorunz

Post by David Wright
A lot of hits from googling grub colemak including
https://forums.debian.net//viewtopic.php?f=16&t=76833
which uses dvorak as an example.

Thanks for your reply.
Yes I seen this page.
ckbcomp dvorak command outputs the layout details and everything.
$ ckbcomp colemak
/usr/bin/ckbcomp: Can not find file "symbols/colemak" in any known directory

Post by David Wright
I don't recall the definition of "boot time password". Does this
denote something that Grub asks, or is it when dmcrypt is running
from the initrd?

By that I meant GRUB editor and Debian's standard whole disk encryption
in Debian. I don't have Colemak there. I need to enter password in
Colemak. Yes, I think that's called dmcrypt.

Post by David Wright
Which is a reminder: is your keyboard definition
in /etc/default/keyboard getting incorporated into the initrd or not?

I don't know that. I only have Colemak in KDE. Everything else,
including virtual terminals (Ctrl+Alt+F keys) are Qwerty.

How do you normally login, at a VC or in a Display Manager?
Where did you run "sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration" from?
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-17-amd64
since you changed /etc/default/keyboard and ran
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration?

I replied just now before seeing this. I think I may have taken the
"GRUB uses the US keyboard layout by default" in my link a bit too far!

Post by David Wright
Checking your current initrd is a little tedious: you run
unmkinitramfs to unpack the initrd, and you zcat your
/etc/console-setup/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap.gz to, say, /tmp.
$ diff -u …/main/etc/console-setup/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap
/tmp/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap
$
where they are the unpacked and decompressed files respectively.
Cheers,
David.

I have set up a VM with up-to-date Bullseye KDE (LUKS/LVM guided
partitioning) to try to replicate this problem.
Adding the UK Colemak keyboard layout and promoting it to the top of
the list in system settings > keyboard does not make it take effect in
either the LUKS boot-time password or the graphical login - only after
login to KDE.
Switching to UK layout for usage and then running in konsole
# dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration
[choosing UK then Colemak then default for AltGr/special keys etc]
does not change the active keyboard layout, nor for the LUKS boot
password or graphical login.
https://cryptsetup-team.pages.debian.net/cryptsetup/encrypted-boot.html
# tar -C "$memdisk" -cf /boot/grub/memdisk.tar
tar: Cowardly refusing to create an empty archive
Try 'tar --help' or 'tar --usage' for more information
I lack much experience with ramdisks and all but the simplest of grub
configuration, but I can't see either an obvious problem with the
syntax suggested, or anything in 'tar --help' that helps.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Gareth

Scrap that, I missed the . at the end of the command

The commands appeared to succeed (with suitable alteration of variables) but my VM now boots into a grub prompt immediately - doesn't ask for LUKS password. I think this may be because I didn't change the "ahci" module to something else in step 3.

man grub-mkimage doesn't list possibilities. Can anyone suggest a suitable alternative for a VM created with virt-manager/qemu-kvm?

Many thanks
Gareth

[piorunz]

Post by Gareth Evans
The commands appeared to succeed (with suitable alteration of variables) but my VM now boots into a grub prompt immediately - doesn't ask for LUKS password. I think this may be because I didn't change the "ahci" module to something else in step 3.
man grub-mkimage doesn't list possibilities. Can anyone suggest a suitable alternative for a VM created with virt-manager/qemu-kvm?

Are you saying I could try this Section 5 method to have Colemak at GRUB
and LUKS password prompt? Not VM, but my laptop, real HW.


--
With kindest regards, Piotr.

⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀
⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system
⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.org
⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀

[Gareth Evans]

Post by piorunz

Post by Gareth Evans
The commands appeared to succeed (with suitable alteration of variables) but my VM now boots into a grub prompt immediately - doesn't ask for LUKS password. I think this may be because I didn't change the "ahci" module to something else in step 3.
man grub-mkimage doesn't list possibilities. Can anyone suggest a suitable alternative for a VM created with virt-manager/qemu-kvm?

Are you saying I could try this Section 5 method to have Colemak at GRUB
and LUKS password prompt? Not VM, but my laptop, real HW.

Not yet. As things stand, those commands have only succeeded in breaking the VM I set up for the purpose, but I'm hoping someone can suggest the appropriate tweak, if the reason is what I think it is.

G

Post by piorunz
--
With kindest regards, Piotr.
⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀
⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system
⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.org
⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀

[piorunz]

Post by Gareth Evans

Post by piorunz
Are you saying I could try this Section 5 method to have Colemak at GRUB
and LUKS password prompt? Not VM, but my laptop, real HW.

Not yet. As things stand, those commands have only succeeded in breaking the VM I set up for the purpose, but I'm hoping someone can suggest the appropriate tweak, if the reason is what I think it is.

Thank you.
To you think, that virtual consoles ignoring my layout setting are a bug?
Basically, doing:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration
sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setup
and reboot

should force Colemak in virtual consoles (the ones in Ctrl+Alt+F keys),
but this is not happening. I have to do "sudo setupcon" (after logging
in with wrong layout) in the console to apply my settings, which are
correctly defined in /etc/default/keyboard file.

If this is correct, everyone else who uses any other layout than US
QWERTY is affected, and I think this could be reported as a bug.

--
With kindest regards, Piotr.

⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀
⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system
⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.org
⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀

[David Wright]

Post by piorunz
Thank you.
To you think, that virtual consoles ignoring my layout setting are a bug?
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration
sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setup
and reboot

This works for me, just switched from 'ro' to 'de' and back
(`dpkg-reconfigure console-setup` was not necessary).

Did sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration triggerred initramfs
update for you, when you did that command?

I didn't mean to imply that it *should*. Rather, that you have to
do it yourself if you want that reconfiguration to be immediately
available in the early stages of booting.

Cheers,
David.

[piorunz]

Got a step further.

when I do "sudo setupcon" in virtual console (Ctrl+Alt+F key), I have
Colemak there. But only after I log in there already (using Qwerty) and
issue the command, not before.

Tasks:
Made virtual consoles Colemak by default, without need for sudo
setupcon. Why aren't they preconfigured with my choice when console is
being opened?
Achieve Colemak in dm-crypt password question.

I use Debian Bullseye, KDE, clean install.

--
With kindest regards, Piotr.

⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀
⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system
⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.org
⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀

[David Wright]

Post by David Wright

Post by piorunz

Post by David Wright
A lot of hits from googling grub colemak including
https://forums.debian.net//viewtopic.php?f=16&t=76833
which uses dvorak as an example.

Thanks for your reply.
Yes I seen this page.
ckbcomp dvorak command outputs the layout details and everything.
$ ckbcomp colemak
/usr/bin/ckbcomp: Can not find file "symbols/colemak" in any known directory

Post by David Wright
I don't recall the definition of "boot time password". Does this
denote something that Grub asks, or is it when dmcrypt is running
from the initrd?

By that I meant GRUB editor and Debian's standard whole disk encryption
in Debian. I don't have Colemak there. I need to enter password in
Colemak. Yes, I think that's called dmcrypt.

Post by David Wright
Which is a reminder: is your keyboard definition
in /etc/default/keyboard getting incorporated into the initrd or not?

I don't know that. I only have Colemak in KDE. Everything else,
including virtual terminals (Ctrl+Alt+F keys) are Qwerty.

How do you normally login, at a VC or in a Display Manager?

I login to KDE login screen. Actually I have clean Debian 11 with KDE.
No modifications to system.

I forgot to ask one more question: is your /boot encrypted, or just
everything else? Very relevant to the comment you added to this post.

Post by David Wright
Where did you run "sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration" from?

I run it from Konsole.

My understanding is that when you switch to a console from a DE,
spme (mumbling) is done, and this is reversed when you switch
back again. This might be why your changes aren't persisting.

When I configure the keyboard and console-setup, I always do it
before I start X, so I can use my 1988 British IBM clicky keyboard
to login.

However, I've made no attempt to configure Grub, as I know about
the odd punctuation keys that are swapped about with US/GB.

Post by David Wright
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.19.0-17-amd64
since you changed /etc/default/keyboard and ran
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration?

No. sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration asked questions, and
didn't generated any output in terminal. I actually run this command
several times now, with reboots, and no change. in
keyboard-configuration menu itself, Colemak is selected,
/etc/default/keyboard file also is all correct, but I don't have Colemak
at dm-crypt password time, nor in virtual consoles (Ctrl+Alt+F keys).

Then I would rebuild my initramfs with update-initramfs.

Post by David Wright
Checking your current initrd is a little tedious: you run
unmkinitramfs to unpack the initrd, and you zcat your
/etc/console-setup/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap.gz to, say, /tmp.

unmkinitramfs /boot/initrd.img-$(uname -r) initramfs/

Post by David Wright
$ diff -u …/main/etc/console-setup/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap /tmp/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap

~/initramfs/main/etc$ ls
default fonts fstab ld.so.cache ld.so.conf ld.so.conf.d lvm mdadm
modprobe.d mtab nsswitch.conf os-release passwd plymouth udev
There is no console-setup folder in unpacked initramfs folder.
$ diff -u …/main/etc/console-setup/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap
/tmp/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap
diff: …/main/etc/console-setup/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap: No such file or
directory
diff: /tmp/cached_UTF-8_del.kmap: No such file or directory
$ apt-file search cached_UTF-8_del.kmap
(no results here)

After update-initramfs, you should get console-setup in your initramfs.

Cheers,
David.

[piorunz]

For disclosure, I have full disk encryption on / but /boot and /boot/efi
are not encrypted, no separate partitions.

I meant *on* separate partitions. Not encrypted. Only / is encrypted.

--
With kindest regards, Piotr.

⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀
⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system
⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.o

[piorunz]

Yes that's right! Thank you. :)

sudo update-initramfs -u -k all
did the trick. I have now Colemak at dm-crypt! Also in virtual consoles.
GRUB editor still uses qwerty, but that's not a concern, dm-crypt
password prompt was most important.
For disclosure, I have full disk encryption on / but /boot and /boot/efi
are not encrypted, no separate partitions.

So, full instruction to achieve your keyboard layout of choice is:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration
sudo update-initramfs -u -k all
sudo reboot

probably not needed: sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setup, but keeping it
in my notepad in case it's required after all in fresh install.

Problem with keyboard-configuration: should this be reported as a bug?
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration should trigger
update-initramfs on it's own, automatically, otherwise effects of this
command are being ignored until new kernel arrives, computer is rebooted
with new kernel with new initramfs. Correct?

Post by David Wright
Then I would rebuild my initramfs with update-initramfs.

--
With kindest regards, Piotr.

⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀
⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system
⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.org
⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀

[David Wright]

Post by piorunz

Post by David Wright
Then I would rebuild my initramfs with update-initramfs.

sudo update-initramfs -u -k all
did the trick. I have now Colemak at dm-crypt! Also in virtual consoles.
GRUB editor still uses qwerty, but that's not a concern, dm-crypt
password prompt was most important.
For disclosure, I have full disk encryption on / but /boot and /boot/efi
are not encrypted, [on] separate partitions.
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration
sudo update-initramfs -u -k all
sudo reboot
probably not needed: sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setup, but keeping it
in my notepad in case it's required after all in fresh install.

I usually run both, on the basis of "might as well while we're here".
Certainly the naming and placement of files for the two commands is
rather confusing.

Post by piorunz
Problem with keyboard-configuration: should this be reported as a bug?
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration should trigger
update-initramfs on it's own, automatically, otherwise effects of this
command are being ignored until new kernel arrives, computer is rebooted
with new kernel with new initramfs. Correct?

It would be rather tedious to automate this for someone who's running
it several times while trying to find/optimise the best layout/whatever.
Perhaps a warning would suffice.

Cheers,
David.

[piorunz]

Post by David Wright

Post by piorunz
Problem with keyboard-configuration: should this be reported as a bug?
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration should trigger
update-initramfs on it's own, automatically, otherwise effects of this
command are being ignored until new kernel arrives, computer is rebooted
with new kernel with new initramfs. Correct?

It would be rather tedious to automate this for someone who's running
it several times while trying to find/optimise the best layout/whatever.
Perhaps a warning would suffice.

Should I report it as wishlist bug against keyboard-configuration?

--
With kindest regards, Piotr.

⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀
⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system
⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.org
⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀

[Andrei POPESCU]

Post by piorunz

Post by David Wright

Post by piorunz
Problem with keyboard-configuration: should this be reported as a bug?
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration should trigger
update-initramfs on it's own, automatically, otherwise effects of this
command are being ignored until new kernel arrives, computer is rebooted
with new kernel with new initramfs. Correct?

It would be rather tedious to automate this for someone who's running
it several times while trying to find/optimise the best layout/whatever.
Perhaps a warning would suffice.

Should I report it as wishlist bug against keyboard-configuration?

Yes, that would be a good idea in my opinion.

Kind regards,
Andrei

[piorunz]

Post by Andrei POPESCU

Post by piorunz

Post by David Wright

Post by piorunz
Problem with keyboard-configuration: should this be reported as a bug?
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration should trigger
update-initramfs on it's own, automatically, otherwise effects of this
command are being ignored until new kernel arrives, computer is rebooted
with new kernel with new initramfs. Correct?

It would be rather tedious to automate this for someone who's running
it several times while trying to find/optimise the best layout/whatever.
Perhaps a warning would suffice.

Should I report it as wishlist bug against keyboard-configuration?

Yes, that would be a good idea in my opinion.
Kind regards,
Andrei

Done!

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=994743

--
With kindest regards, Piotr.

⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀
⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system
⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.org
⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀

[piorunz]

Just checked Trisquel GNU/Linux behaviour. Installed latest Triskel (KDE
variation) in VM, results:

$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration
[sudo] password for pioruns:
Your console font configuration will be updated the next time your system
boots. If you want to update it now, run 'setupcon' from a virtual console.
update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Processing triggers for initramfs-tools (0.130ubuntu3.13) ...
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-156-generic
I: The initramfs will attempt to resume from /dev/dm-2
I: (/dev/mapper/trisquel--vg-swap_1)
I: Set the RESUME variable to override this

So they have update-initramfs after keyboard-configuration change, and
very informative message about what's going on.
Debian should have that too!

Post by piorunz
Done!
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=994743

--
With kindest regards, Piotr.

⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀
⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system
⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.org
⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀

[Curt]

Post by piorunz
I already selected Colemak in KDE settings, and via sudo
dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration. But this does not affect boot
time password question and GRUB editor. Also virtual consoles still use
default Qwerty.

Maybe something instructive here (or not):

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=246453

[piorunz]

Post by Curt

Post by piorunz
I already selected Colemak in KDE settings, and via sudo
dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration. But this does not affect boot
time password question and GRUB editor. Also virtual consoles still use
default Qwerty.

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=246453

Thanks, unfortunately, this is Arch only, vconsole.conf doesn't even
exist in Debian.

--
With kindest regards, Piotr.

⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀
⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system
⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.org
⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀

[Curt]

Post by piorunz

Post by Curt

Post by piorunz
I already selected Colemak in KDE settings, and via sudo
dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration. But this does not affect boot
time password question and GRUB editor. Also virtual consoles still use
default Qwerty.

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=246453

Thanks, unfortunately, this is Arch only, vconsole.conf doesn't even
exist in Debian.

Right, but I was alluding to the "solution" by rsolva further down (for
the console), which might be practicable in Debian (more or less). Or
maybe not.

ckbcomp -layout no -variant colemak > no-colemak.map gzip
no-colemak.map sudo mv no-colemak.map.gz
/usr/share/kbd/keymaps/i386/colemak/

(For Norwegian colemak.)

I think you need 'console-data'.

Post by piorunz
With kindest regards, Piotr.
⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀
⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system
⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.org
⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀

--

[piorunz]

Post by Curt

Post by piorunz
Thanks, unfortunately, this is Arch only, vconsole.conf doesn't even
exist in Debian.

Right, but I was alluding to the "solution" by rsolva further down (for
the console), which might be practicable in Debian (more or less). Or
maybe not.
ckbcomp -layout no -variant colemak > no-colemak.map gzip
no-colemak.map sudo mv no-colemak.map.gz
/usr/share/kbd/keymaps/i386/colemak/
(For Norwegian colemak.)
I think you need 'console-data'.

Thanks. However,
/usr/share/kbd/ folder doesn't exist on my computer.
Installing console-data doesn't change that.


--
With kindest regards, Piotr.

⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀
⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system
⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.org
⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀

[David Wright]

Post by piorunz

Post by Curt

Post by piorunz
Thanks, unfortunately, this is Arch only, vconsole.conf doesn't even
exist in Debian.

Right, but I was alluding to the "solution" by rsolva further down (for
the console), which might be practicable in Debian (more or less). Or
maybe not.
ckbcomp -layout no -variant colemak > no-colemak.map gzip
no-colemak.map sudo mv no-colemak.map.gz
/usr/share/kbd/keymaps/i386/colemak/
(For Norwegian colemak.)
I think you need 'console-data'.

Thanks. However,
/usr/share/kbd/ folder doesn't exist on my computer.
Installing console-data doesn't change that.

That looks like the way Debian used to handle the keyboard in
pre-squeeze days. For the last ten years, consoles have been
configured using the same files (ie under /usr/share/X11/xkb/)
as X uses.

Cheers,
David.