Universal macOS keyboard layout for Linux - Applies to All Windows and Apple Keyboards

macOS keyboard layout for Linux

# permanent apple keyboard keyswap
echo "options hid_apple swap_opt_cmd=1" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/hid_apple.conf
update-initramfs -u -k all

# Temporary & instant apple keyboard keyswap
echo '1' | sudo tee -a /sys/module/hid_apple/parameters/swap_opt_cmd

# Windows and Mac keyboards - GUI (Physical Alt is Ctrl, Physical Super is Alt, Physical Ctrl is Super)
setxkbmap -option;setxkbmap -option altwin:ctrl_alt_win

# Windows and Mac keyboards - Terminal Apps (Physical Alt is Super, Physical Super is Alt, Physical Ctrl is Ctrl)
setxkbmap -option;setxkbmap -option altwin:swap_alt_win

# If the hid_apple driver is not loaded for Apple keyboards, which can be found out
# by the lsmod command then the above setxkbmap commands will not work
# Use the following commands for Apple style keyboards without an hid_apple driver
#
# Note: this could also apply to hid_apple driver as well 
# if this option is set to 0 inside swap_opt_cmd
#
lsmod | grep hid_apple

# Apple keyboard without hid_apple - GUI
setxkbmap -option;setxkbmap -option ctrl:swap_lwin_lctl,ctrl:swap_rwin_rctl

# Apple keyboard without hid_apple - Terminal
setxkbmap -option;setxkbmap -option altwin:alt_super_win

#
# If you want a systemd service and bash script to help toggle between
# GUI and Terminal applications then look at project Kinto.
# https://github.com/rbreaves/kinto
#
# Note: The above may not work for Chromebooks running Linux, please look
# at project Kinto for that.
#
# If anyone would like to contribute to the project then please do!
#

@rbreaves Can you please show me how can I just swap these two keys.... I mean I was able to find these files online but no instructions on how to set them up.

I would say that my biggest fear is to change something that would break my system after.

I’m not sure how it gets any clearer. If you’re not dealing w/ an apple keyboard where you can fix it via the hid driver then this. (Although it’d also work on the apple keyboard too. Just don’t apply the apple_hid specific driver key swap unless you’d prefer that method.. it’s documented up above too.)

# Windows and Mac keyboards - Terminal Apps (Physical Alt is Super, Physical Super is Alt, Physical Ctrl is Ctrl)
setxkbmap -option;setxkbmap -option altwin:swap_alt_win

Everything in my gist is well commented & a little bit of copying & pasting into your terminal would quickly reveal what’s going on (if my comments weren’t clear enough already) - but yes, make sure you know how to reset things before randomly applying things. Aka this resets setxkbmap. setxkbmap -option.

Pretty sure googling how to reset it though would have taken all of 5 seconds. The harder part of getting all of this info in one spot has already been done.

This gist was an early document & outline for what needed to happen for Kinto to be created to fully mimic Mac style keys. It is not intended to be a full solution for anything or anyone. Anyone can use it & look at it of course & it may be helpful to some.