Feature request: Simplify keyboard layout selection in lightdm

[peter-urban]

Hello,
I am not sure where to leave feature requests so I do it here:

Issue: I am often using different keyboards for my computer. This can be easily setup in cinnamon and most other linux desktop environments. As a user I would expect that the layouts I add (for example) in cinnamon would also appear as a selection option in lightdm (or at least in the slick greeter). However the only possibility to setup more keyboard layouts in lightdm seems to be the modifying a config file.

Feature request: lightdm-settings should be able to read the keyboard layouts that the user sets up in cinnamon (and optionally other desktop environments) and add them to the lightdm config file.
Or: ligthdm-settings should at least offer the user the possibility to configure the available keyboard layouts in the lightdm-settings gui.
And even better: The slick greeter could give the user the option to add new keyboard layouts at login.

I believe that these features would greatly improve the LinuxMint user experience for all people that may be confronted with varying keyboard layouts.

Best regards,
Peter

[shanmukhateja]

I would like to work on this. If somebody can point me towards how to accomplish it, I'd really appreciate it!

[clefebvre]

I'm interested in this feature.

Currently slick-greeter only shows the layout but doesn't let you change it.

We could add a keyboard layout selection in lightdm-settings and either turn the indicator in slick-greeter into a dropdown combo list, or in an indicator that cycles through layouts when clicked.

[billyswong]

Hi @peter-urban, how do setup multiple keyboard layouts in lightdm? If I run localectl --no-convert set-x11-keymap gb,us pc105, it shows me an UK keyboard in lightdm. If I run localectl --no-convert set-x11-keymap us,gb pc105, it shows me an US keyboard in lightdm. But none of them let me choose the layout within lightdm session. The keyboard indicators seems to be just an static indicator.

Edit: I change the command to localectl --no-convert set-x11-keymap us,gb pc105 "" grp:win_space_toggle. Now Win+Space can toggle the keyboard layout, as reflected with onscreen keyboard. But the indicator on top-right corner isn't updated correctly.

Edit2: Looks like the fundamental problem is getting fixed linuxmint/slick-greeter@1aa6d58

[peter-urban]

Hi @billyswong,

thanks for making me aware that this issue will propably be fixed soon :-)

Peter