Use the following instructions to be able to type in Greek and switch layouts between English and Greek:

Use the instructions in the wiki to switch to full KDE desktop mode (if sticking to Easy Desktop mode, see also revision below).

• Uninstall the xandros-scim package which conflicts with normal keyboard switching (the latest version of the ASUS / Xandros OS - L701_EN_1.0.6.6.iso, build 22.42, 04/03/2008 seems to contain a different Input Method tool, other than scim; This tool appears to be gcin and the packages to remove include xandros-gcin and gcin):

sudo apt-get remove xandros-scim

In the case of the newer Input Method tool for Chinese, try

sudo apt-get remove xandros-gcin
sudo apt-get remove gcin

• Reconfigure locales to include el_GR.UTF-8:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales

Select the following locales:

• en_US.UTF-8
• el_GR.UTF-8

Deselect any other locales that may be selected (look for locales starting with zh). You may select either the en_US.UTF-8 or el_GR.UTF-8 as the default locale.

• Edit your ~/.bashrc file to include the following lines:

export LANG=el_GR.UTF-8
export LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8
export LC_CTYPE=el_GR.UTF-8

The same process as described up to this point, applies also to Easy Desktop mode.

• Use the KDE control center (…alternatively, if you do not like kxkb omit this and following steps and follow the revision 14/04/2008 attached below…). to add the Greek keyboard layout and the xkboptions to select the key combination for switching between English and Greek (normally left Alt+Shift).

• You will also have to edit the following file:

~/.kde/share/config/kdeglobals

Add the following line in the “Global Shortcuts” section:

Switch to Next Keyboard Layout=default(Alt+Shift_L)

If you prefer another key combination, use the appropriate shortcut. E.g. for control-shift switching use:

Switch to Next Keyboard Layout=default(Ctrl+Shift_L)

Reboot your system and you are done.

— Manolis Kiagias 2008/03/05 07:21

A similar configuration, utilizing xorg.conf - if sticking with Easy Desktop Mode, requires editing the file:

• Open a shell window by Ctrl+Alt+T

• Edit xorg.conf using the command

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

• Edit/add the following lines in the keyboard section as below (the comments beginning with # show where to edit; DO NOT ADD THE COMMENTS THEMSELVES!)

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier  "keyboard"
Driver      "kbd"
Option      "CoreKeyboard"
Option      "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option      "XkbLayout" "us,gr"   #<- EDIT HERE to ,gr !!
...
Option      "XkbVariant" ""
Option      "XkbOptions" "grp:alt_shift_toggle,lv3:ralt_switch,grp_led:scroll,eurosign:5"  #<- ADD THIS ONE!!

• Save by pressing ^O and then [Return] and the ^X to exit to the console

What this does is to effectively define/map

• the left Alt+Shift combination as switch between the two layouts,
• right-side Alt as switch for 3d level characters (like the euro symbol),
• the euro symbol on the “5” key
• use of the Scroll-Lock LED to indicate alternate (Greek) layout when active.

After investigation if a taskbar applet other than kxkb (does not work well), could be used in this case… …there is a solution, using fbxkb and here is how:

This applet cannot be found in the stable Debian repositories at the moment. So - in order to get it, you must use the unstable repos (process is almost as described in development tools…)

• get a shell by pressing ctrl-alt-T
• become superuser by typing

sudo su -

• browse to http://www.debian.org/mirror/mirrors_full and select a mirror near to you. You might want to use netselect to find which one has the best connectivity, but netselect is outside of the scope of this post. Also apt-spy might be usable.
• edit /etc/apt/sources.list, by typing on the terminal

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list  

and add the following line

deb <your mirror goes here> unstable main contrib non-free

If you are currently in Greece (GR) the correct entry is

ftp://ftp.gr.debian.org/debian

and at the place where it says <your mirror goes here>, but if you are not in GR you should find a closer mirror (could also be an http mirror). Note that the < and > symbols should be removed so for GR the line should read:

deb ftp://ftp.gr.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free

• run

apt-get update  

(This will update the packages lists.)

• log out of your superuser bash by ^D or exit

• start Synaptic as superuser

sudo synaptic

• scroll down and select to install the fbxkb package variant (form: fbxkb<version>) and then press “Apply”; disregard any warning messages…

• exit Synaptic

• edit the Eee initialization script:

sudo nano /usr/bin/startsimple.sh

• scroll down to the init section (…the tray applets auto-starting at boot-up) and after the line that reads

wapmonitor &

• add the line

(sleep 3; /usr/bin/fbxkb) &

• save by pressing Ctrl+O, then <Enter>, then Ctrl+X to exit to the console

• in order not to mix-up between the stable and unstable repos, re-edit the /etc/apt/sources.list and remove the unstable repos (same process as above, remove the line you added…); after that do not forget to update the package list by

apt-get update  

• reboot and you are good to go…A small flag indicator appears on the taskbar; If you don't like the little flags, no problem …just replace the icons used (they are in /usr/share/fbxkb/images/ with the ones you like (16×16 pixel is a good size). I prefer, the chunky visible ones, so here they are:

— John Roberts 2008/04/14 01:10