Changing the keymap on Arch Linux can be done either temporarily or permanently. Here are the steps for both methods:

More Detailed Steps

1. Temporary Keymap Change

This will only last for the current session and will reset after a reboot.

To change the keymap temporarily:

  1. Open a terminal.
  2. Run the following command to set the keymap:
    loadkeys <keymap>
    Replace <keymap> with the desired keymap name. For example:
    • loadkeys us (for US layout)
    • loadkeys de (for German layout)
    • loadkeys fr (for French layout)

You can find a list of available keymaps in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps/.

2. Permanent Keymap Change

To make the keymap persistent across reboots, you need to configure the system to load the keymap automatically on boot.

To change the keymap permanently:

  1. Edit the vconsole.conf file: This file controls the keymap for the console.

    sudo nano /etc/vconsole.conf

  2. Add or modify the keymap line: Add the following line, replacing <keymap> with the desired keymap (e.g., us, de, fr):

    KEYMAP=<keymap>

    Example:

    KEYMAP=us

  3. Save and exit the editor (in nano, press CTRL+X, then Y, and Enter).

  4. Reboot the system:

    sudo reboot

3. Changing Keymap in X11 (for graphical environments)

If you’re using X11 and want to change the keymap in your graphical environment, you can do this as follows:

  1. Edit the xorg.conf file (if it exists) or create a new file:

    sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/00-keyboard.conf

  2. Add or modify the following section to specify the layout:

    Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "keyboard-layout"
    MatchIsKeyboard "on"
    Option "XkbLayout" "<keymap>"
EndSection

    Replace <keymap> with the desired layout, like us, de, fr, etc.

  3. Save and exit the editor and then restart the X server or reboot the system.

These methods should change the keymap as needed on Arch Linux. Let me know if you need further clarification!