Useful Tech Info

I use several different keyboard layouts when I’m typing.  Most of the time I use Dvorak, but there are times when I have to switch to U.S. or even Japanese.  Here are a few things that I’ve done to make switching fast and easy.

OS X

In System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Keyboard Shortcuts, there is a section called “Input Menu”.

“Select the previous input source” allows you to switch quickly between two keyboard layouts, while “Select the next input source in the Input menu” simply cycles through all of the keyboard layouts you have enabled.  Set these two options to your desired keyboard shortcuts.

Note: To enable keyboard layouts, go to System Preferences > International > Input Menu, and select the ones you want.

Linux

In my .bashrc file, I added these two functions.

function aoeu { setxkbmap us; }
function asdf { setxkbmap dvorak; }

Now I can switch quickly between the two keyboard layouts by typing ‘aoue’ or ‘asdf’ on the command line.