Hey All,

I've just configured my new N800 and even managed to pair it successfully with my ThinkOutside Stowaway bluetooth keyboard. The only trouble is that it's all in Qwerty!

I did a wee bit of Googling and managed to find various threads on how to use a Dvorak keymapping with the BT Plugin for the 770. However, as the N800 has the same functionality built in I'd like to use the control panel features instead (I've also read that installing the plugin on the N800 may lead to device instability).

So I was wondering if any of you have managed to use a Dvorak keyboard layout with a hardware bluetooth keyboard? Any hints or tips that you may have would be greatly appreciated. I'm happy to hand edit any configuration files that may be needed.

Cheers,

...graham.

I wish I knew. Dvorak is the best layout on the planet.

IIRC, the 770's bluetooth applet had a howto on how to (har har har) add layouts. Of course, this may not work with Nokia's (AFAIK) closed-source downgrade of that applet for the N800...

Hey All,

Thanks for the feedback! Good thinking Karel, I'll have a closer look at the 'How To' and see if I can add or tweak any files to provide a Dvorak layout.

No doubt about it GeneralAntilles! I'll let you know if I manage to make any progress.

Thanks again,

...graham.

Hey All,

After a wee bit of tinkering I'm now happily tapping away with a Dvorak layout on my Stowaway bluetooth keyboard! In case anyone else out there would like to use the Dvorak layout I'll scribble down a little "How To" below.

Before we get down to the nitty gritty of configuring your N800 you'll need to install "XTerm" and have some method of acquiring 'root' access to the device. You'll also have to download the file attached to this post which contains the appropriate "xkb" symbol map for Dvorak. I'll assume that you've saved it to the external SD/MMC card.

- Open up an X terminal session.

- Acquire 'root' access. If you have "Dropbear" installed simply type 'dbclient root@127.1' and enter 'rootme' when prompted for a password. You should now be logged in as 'root'. The string before the prompt will probably have changed to something similar to "...Nokia-N800...". You can type 'whoami' to verify who the current user is. The command will echo 'user' if you're still logged in as user or 'root' if everything has gone to plan.

- The next step is to navigate to the "xkb" symbol map directory which is a simple as typing 'cd /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols'. If you now have a look at the contents of this directory (by typing 'ls') you'll be able to see a set of symbol map files. All the usual suspects from the "Layout" drop-down in the "Control Panel" are to be found here. Our plan is to incorporate a Dvorak layout by being a little bit sneaky and replacing one of the default layouts with our custom one. I decided to use the "us" layout so that by choosing this in the "Control Panel" you'll have a Dvorak keyboard instead of the standard Qwerty one.

- Since I have a healthy fear of deleting things while logged in as root we'll make a backup first! We'll rename the current "us" layout by executing the following command 'mv us us_original'. Typing 'ls' and tapping return should now show that the "us" symbol file has been renamed "us_original".

- Now we simply have to drop in our replacement file. I'm going to assume that you downloaded the attached file to the root of the filesystem on the external SD/MMC card. To copy the file from the SD/MMC card to the symbol map directory execute 'cp /media/mmc1/us_dvorak.txt ./us'. If you execute 'ls' once more you'll hopefully find both "us" and "us_original" symbol files in the directory.

- For the sake of being extra tidy we're going to remove the "executable" permissions from our new symbol file. This simply tells the N800 that the new file cannot be run as a programme. Type 'ls -al' and you should see a more detailed listing of the directory contents. Our new "us" file will probably have extra permissions (found in the first column of the output), notably "x" will be visible in three of the fields. To remove this type 'chmod ugo-x us' and tap return. If you now type 'ls -al' again the "us" file permissions should be identical to all of the other symbol files.

Although not strictly needed we'll now reboot the N800 to make sure everything is ready to roll. After your N800 has rebooted you should find that by choosing the "us" layout in the "Control Panel" you'll now actually have a Dvorak layout! Woohoo!

If you have any trouble getting this to work just let me know. Happy typing!

..graham.

As I am the (somewhat disappointed) owner of a Stowaway BT keyboard with German layout, I'd be interested to learn if and how you re-labeled your keys. I'm pining for "normal" QWERTY, but I'm uncertain about the best way to adapt the keycaps.

Hey Karel,

I used a medium sized sculptor's chisel and mallet to ... just kidding! My Stowaway still has the standard Qwerty layout on the keys themselves. I haven't tried to pry them up or modify the labels as they seem pretty well fixed to the spring mechanism.

I'd imagine the easiest way to change the labels would be to try print or buy some on clear "see-through" adhesive / acetate. Though I guess you'd have to scratch away the labels on the keys you'd like to swap.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help!

...graham.

You Dvorak lovers may be interested in the following newsgroup postings from Maemo Developers and Users:

1. http://www.gossamer-threads.com/list...rs/17515#17515
2. http://www.gossamer-threads.com/list...rs/11833#11833

They may shed more light on the issues you are trying to solve.

No problem. Thanks anyway.

I'll probably be experimenting with adhesive labels and clear varnish or tape... Later.