unable to get correct azerty keyboard layout

[Ray Finnighan]

Hello !

I'm using aRDP from Android with a USB azerty keyboard to connect to a Raspberry Pi4 XRDP server. On server side, I executed the following command in order to be able to use the azerty layout of my keyboard when connected with aRDP :

          # xrdp-genkeymap /etc/xrdp/km-00000xxx.ini

(I tried with xxx=000 because I saw in logs that it was the file loaded for a connection from aRDP. I also tried xxx=409 to override US default layout and because /etc/xrdp/km-00000409.ini is the file that is loaded when /etc/xrdp/km-00000000.ini doesn't exist. Eventually, I also tried xxx=<my country layout code>)

When I connect to the XRDP server from Windows built-in RDP client, I have the correct azerty keyboard layout I want to use. But when connected from aRDP, I can't have something else than US default layout....

I found some workaround with this command :

          $ setxkbmap fr

But it’s only half of the solution : I have kind of the correct azerty layout, especially concerning about non-alphabetic characters, but concerning letters, it’s still qwerty layout.

Do you know this problem ?

Thank you !

[Arturo Iacobelli]

Hi,

Sorry for the late reply just joined the team. Are you still experiencing this issue with aRDP?

Not aware of this problem but want to help. 

You ran the "setxkbmap fr" on your XRDP server and with this non-alphanumeric characters still do not work on an azerty layout?

[i iordanov]

Hi Ray,

I had some time to work on keyboard layouts with aRDP. How does the
following version I just built work for you? It uses a completely
different way to send characters over (unicode rather than vkcode):

https://github.com/iiordanov/remote-desktop-clients/releases/download/v5.0.6/freeaRDP-v5.0.6_7-final.apk

Please let me know if there are issues with it both with hardware and
software keyboards!

Sincerely,
iordan

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[Ray Finnighan]

reminder/specificities of my setup:
· aRDP running on Android devices
· RDP server: xrdp 0.9.21.1
· server-side OS: Raspberry Pi OS 11 (Debian Bullseye) on a Raspberry Pi 4B
· server-side desktop environment: Xfce 4.16
· keyboard layout: bépo
· use a physical keyboard
· didn't know how to set the correct keyboard layout in aRDP once logged in to an RDP session

Hello!
Recently I tried using aRDP again, and I actually managed to set the correct layout for my physical keyboard. So I wanted to make some feedback that may interest you or be helpful for users who connect to a GNU/Linux RDP server.

1 - There is something strange. In aRDP sessions, if the keyboard layout is set to "bépo" for both my physical and on-screen keyboards, then the layout of on-screen keyboards is total mess. If the layout of my physical keyboard is set to something else, then the layout of my "bépo" on-screen keyboards is O.K.

2 - For GNU/Linux users who use xrdp (I think the behavior described below comes from xrdp):
2.1 - With my setup, when I log in to my xrdp session, if the Xfce keyboard settings are set to defaults, the keyboard layout will be the U.S. qwerty one, even if the default system-wide keyboard layout is set to something else. So I have to set it manually:
• once and for all (till next time it must be done again):
"Applications" menu > Settings > Keyboard > Layout
Then uncheck « Use system defaults » and pick what you need in the « Keyboard layout » section.
Note that what you set here will be applied also to your local graphical session.
• or each time I log in:
run the « setxkbmap "fr(bepo_afnor)" » command
(if you don't want the bépo layout, run the « man xkeyboard-config » command, pick the correct model in the left column, and replace « fr(bepo_afnor) » with it)
Note that in my 1st message, I wrote about the « setxkbmap ... » command as a poor workaround. Now it works perfectly.

I also tested LXDE-Pi desktop environment, which has a similar behavior. Whatever keyboard layout is set, when I log in to my xrdp session, the keyboard layout is also the U.S. qwerty one. The difference with the above is that I have to set the correct keyboard layout each time I log in:
• The easiest way to do:
run the « setxkbmap "fr(bepo_afnor)" » command (see above)
• Or:
apps menu > Preferences > Keyboard and Mouse > Keyboard > Keyboard Layout
Then if the layout that appears to be the one set is the one you want, you have to change it to a random layout first. Then set the layout you want to use.

2.2 - In my 1st message, all the stuff about "/etc/xrdp/km-00000xxx.ini" files has nothing to do with keyboard layout in aRDP sessions. It's only about the keyboard layout used in the login screen of xrdp.

[i iordanov]

Hi Ray,

Thank you very much, I will refer other users to your post going forward. Very helpful indeed!

Sincerely,

iordan

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