[SOLVED] Keyboard layout

Hi I have just installed Zorin 7 on spare computer running windows XP to see how it goes and to see if it is worth installing on my main computer running windows 7.
There are two small problems I have at the moment. The first is with the look changer. If I set it to look like Win XP, all I get are a few icons on the screen and nothing else. When I set it to windows 7 It shows a bar at the top of the screen that allows me to access an application menu, and also a bar at the bottom of the screen, not quite sure yet what this does. If I set it to Gnome 2, there is no change to the way it looks from Win 7. The xp screen is basically useless, but the Gnome 2 and Win 7 screens is usable although it does not look or work anything like Win 7. This is only a minor issue that I can live with.
My second problem is the characters produced when I press a couple of keys, are not what is printed on them. The only ones I have found so far are when I press SHIFT + 2 key I should get the @ character, but instead I get the " character. It did not take long to work out that pressing SHIFT + ' key produced the @ character instead of ". I have tried different keyboard layouts such as English - UK, US etc., and nothing corrects this problem. I connected the keyboard to another computer and the correct characters are displayed, so I know it is not the keyboard.
I installed Zorin 7 as dual boot with Win XP, and if I boot to XP the Keyboard works correctly.
Does anyone know of any settings that may correct this behaviour? Thanks in advance.

johnmurf > The only time I have ever noticed a panel at the bottom and the top that one can access applications...is when one is logged into the Gnome Desktop...not Zorin Desktop.
If you are logged in Gnome-Desktop...right-click the bottom panel goto "dock preferences " > " preferences " and click where it says " quit " to rid the " AWN Panel " that is if you see anything in preferences where it says " quit ". Then you should see the normal Gnome Fallabck Panels.
Then again crazy things can happen while using the Zorin Look Changer, I have yet to run across that problem while logged into Zorin OS default desktop.
The rest of your needs can be looked into by one of the other Moderators !!!!


Here is a replicated Screenshot I think you are referring to as one your problems. Make sure your preferences match that of the preferences in the screenshot !!!!
In other situations, you sometimes need " Start Awn Panel Automatically " checked in " preferences ".
This problem you seemed to be having is not one of those cases.

daytek 1 - After a lot of playing around I finally got the Win7 looking screen to work. I do not know what AWN is or does, but I eventually found it and the settings match those of the screenshot. I do not think I play with the look changer any more, or at least until I get more used to Zorin OS. Thanks for your help with this.
I have found three other keys that do not display the right characters. I have tried setting up my printer that is attached to my modem but I am have not had any luck with that as yet. I also have a couple of windows opened that I can not get rid off to do with trying to set the printer up, but I will figure that out eventually.
I guess the more I use it the more I will learn and things will start to make sense. Having it on a spare computer helps as I can play with it without worrying about not having a working computer if I stuff something up.

Hi,

your keyboard layout doesn't seem right, open System Settings > Hardware > Keyboard > Layout and make sure that your language (corresponding to your keyboard language layout, not your system language!) is shown in the list on the left!.



As far as changing the desktop goes, if you don't want to use the Win7 / XP look, you must make sure that the Awn (Avant Window Navigator) doesn't start with the system, remember to change it back again if you do want to use it. Open Zorin Menu > System Tools > Preferences > Startup Applications and make sure that Avant isn't showing if you don't want to use it:



To show all applications in the startup list, paste the following command into a terminal before you open the menu "Startup Applications":

Code:

sudo sed -i 's/NoDisplay=true/NoDisplay=false/g' /etc/xdg/autostart/*.desktop

For more info about AWN panel, see the post install guide:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2054

Regards Wolfman

Hi Wolfman,

I could not find layout under System Settings > Hardware > Keyboard >, but I did manage to find it under Usr > Share > Applications and the language is showing as English (UK) and the button next to Use the same layout for all windows is highlighted.
I have since found other keys also not displaying properly.
They are Shift + 3 produces £ instead of #
Shift + (backslash) produces ~ instead of the two vertical dashes displayed on the key, I can find no way to produce that symbol or the backslash symbol. If I press the backslash key without the shift key it produces #.
pressing Shift + ~ key produces ¬
Every other key is producing the correct character.

Hi Wolfman,

Solved it!

I played around with it and found a place where I could change the layout by pressing the + key underneath to add a layout. So I tried the English US and previewed that layout and it showed the characters in the correct locations. I then viewed the English UK layout and it showed the the characters in the wrong locations that I was experiencing. I tested it with the English US layout and now the correct characters are being displayed.
Looks like I still have a lot of learning to do yet, but I will continue and take it slow and easy and make lots of notes on any changes I make so I can undo them if needed.

Thanks for your help with this.

Canon printer installation problem solved as well.

Finally got Zorin to find and install my Canon MX 870 printer. The printer is connected to my router but Zorin could not find it and I did not have a clue how to tell it how to find it, so I connected the printer to the computer with a USB cable and it found it straight away, and printed out a lovely test page.

Been a good day. I have decided to spend a bit of time looking through this forum because there is a wealth of information here for me to absorb.

Hi,

glad to hear it, it might be worth your while to read the post install guide too:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2054

Regards Wolfman