If you run
$ locale -a
you should see the locales you have. To get more you need to edit /etc/locale.gen and uncomment the ones you want. Then run:
# locale-gen
(I usually use sudo - not aware it matters)
Your default locale can be exported in /etc/profile.d/mylocale.sh which should be executable, and there are other possible locations to do this:
#!/bin/sh
export LANG="xx_XX.UTF-8"
Then you can run things using another of the locales you have created like this:
$ LANG=de_DE.utf8 ls --version
ls (GNU coreutils) 8.32
Copyright © 2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Lizenz GPLv3+: GNU GPL Version 3 oder höher <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
Dies ist freie Software: Sie können sie ändern und weitergeben.
Es gibt keinerlei Garantien, soweit wie es das Gesetz erlaubt.
Geschrieben von Richard M. Stallman und David MacKenzie.
As for keymaps I'm not sure. I think the keymap is loaded by loadkeys in /etc/init.d/keymaps, but that might be the console keymap and the desktop could have it's own system and load another keymap later in the boot for use in X.
I was trying some stuff with xev, showkey and xmodmap, and was able to add a £ sign to a US KB on SHIFT INSERT like this:
$ xmodmap -pke | ag 'insert'
keycode 90 = KP_Insert KP_0 KP_Insert KP_0
keycode 118 = Insert NoSymbol Insert
$ sudo xmodmap -e 'keycode 118 = Insert sterling Insert'
and running that xmodmap without the sudo as a startup command in XFCE it works automatically. When I tried it on the Windows/Super key it didn't work in the browser but did elsewhere, some apps may impose their own special mappings. So that's one way to at least modify a keymap if not change it outright 
I would try to add and set the extra keymaps in the XFCE settings menu keyboard layout GUI (or equivalent in another desktop) if possible.
You'd also need the fonts for the characters, although probably you would have them already.
(I have Terminator because it does some split screen things although it starts slower than XFCE4 terminal, which has a save contents right click menu option Terminator lacks.)
Topic: Cannot configure keyboard layout with multiple languages. (Read 3541 times)
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