Given a personal preference, this version of the Halmak keyboard layout uses < and > with , and . respectively, instead of the alternative mappings for ( and ) or other setups. Another note is that the CapsLock has been replaced by a secondary Backspace, given the original Halmak design philosophy and realizaiton that no one uses it. (I should probably work on adding either as an options in the script)
The lastest version of the script will install the required fires for the layout in a newly created directory under /home/.config/xkb. there are different versions of the script in the repo that use different methods:
halmak-linux/
├── contains the files used by the default linux_halmak.sh installer script.
halmak-mutable/
├── contains a script that installs the keyboard layout by editing the '/usr/share/X11/xkb/' directory.
halmak-immutable/
├── contains a script that detects a select set of immutable and mutable distros and installs
│ the files inside '/home/.config/xkb/' or '/usr/share/X11/xkb/' respectively.
halmak-nix/
├── contains a configuration file that can be imported to your configuration.nix,
│ which edits the xkb rules of your NixOS system.
halmak-kanata/
├── contains a kanata kbd file that has a one-layer remap of the layout for your kanata-enabled system.
halmak-osx/
└── contains a Halmak.bundle file for installation on OSX systems.
I have included OSX keyboard bundle files alongside the Linux files if you also want to install it on a Mac (though take into account that this version has ( and ) with , and . respectively, like traditionally.
| Desktop Environment | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| KDE (Wayland) | ✅ Working | — |
| KDE (X11) | ❌ Not Working | Use the halmak-mutable script instead |
| GNOME (Wayland) | ✅ Working | — |
| GNOME (X11) | ❌ Not Working | Use the halmak-mutable script instead |
| Hyprland | ✅ Working | — |
| LXQt | ✅ Working | — |
| XFCE | ❌ Not Working | Use the halmak-mutable script instead |
| DDE (Deepin) | ✅ Working | — |
| Linux Distribution | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fedora 40–42 | ✅ Working | — |
| Debian 11–13 | ✅ Working | — |
| NixOS 24.05–25.11 | ✅ Working | — |
| VanillaOS 2 Orchid | ✅ Working | — |
| Bazzite | ✅ Working | — |
| Deepin 25 | ✅ Working | — |
| Red Hat 10 | ✅ Working | — |
| Ubuntu 25.04 | ✅ Working | — |
| SteamOS | ❌ Not Working | Default script runs but doesn’t work due to X11. On Wayland it works, but virtual keyboard and trackpad may stop working (not script-related) |
| openSUSE | Only works after switching to Wayland; on X11, use halmak-mutable |
-
Download this project's files.
-
Open a terminal and navigate to the directory where the files are located.
-
Run the installation script with root privileges:
sh ./install_halmak.sh
no need to run in
sudoas this will add the files to the root user instead. -
Restart your computer to apply the changes. (not always necessary)
-
After restarting, open your system's keyboard settings, add a new input source, select 'Other', and then choose 'Halmak' from the list.
It should now be available in the top right corner of your menu, a drop-down menu that allows you to click and select the keyboard layout you want (default would probably be "en" with a down arrow next to it).
-
Download this project's files.
-
Put the
zzfile (from thehalmak-linuxfolder) in/usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/. -
Put the
evdev.xmlfile (from thehalmak-linuxfolder) in/usr/share/X11/xkb/rules/and overwrite the file that's in there (see "Troubleshooting" for more info). -
Restart your computer.
-
Go to
System Settings -> Region & Language. Click the+button, selectEnglish (United States), scroll and clickHalmak, then click theAddbutton.
A. Steps 4 and 5 might need to be flipped; you may need to restart again after step 5, but I don't think so.
B. In step 3, I got the file from this link which was basically what I used to figure out how to create the layout (if you want to check the steps); this Ubuntu guide was also helpful.
C. I skipped one of the steps of updating xorg.lst (it was an optional step on the first link).
D. You could probably copy the zz file's contents and paste it in the en file and it should still show up, if you don't want zz to show up (it should appear as "en" in your top right corner).
E. This might work for any system using xkb.
F. The default keyboard shortcuts for switching between keyboard layouts are Shift+Super+Space (to go to the previous layout) and Super+Space (to shift to the next layout in order). If you want to change this, you can go to Settings -> Devices -> Keyboard Shortcuts (then scroll to the "Typing" section).
G. I used Colemak's mappings as the base when I switched the keys to Halmak's layout, so third and fourth layers might work with the same mappings; of important note is that I left the CAPS lock as a Backspace key, which isn't specified in the default Halmak layout. This could be changed probably pretty easily by editing the zz file, then going to the "CAPS" line and changing the codes on the line, but I don't know what the code is for CAPS lock.
H. For learning a layout, I find it helpful on a second screen (or smartphone) to pull up the layout to look at while typing and memorizing on some kind of typing test like typeracer.com.
I. If you'd like to try to create a custom layout of your own, you just need to go to the zz file for instance and switch around the values of the keys. I don't know what all the codes are for the keys, but you can get some ideas by finding other codes in the files in the /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/ folder.
To kaievins for creating the halmak keybard layout, and the OSX files.
To pguerin for creating halmak4windows
To random redditors for giving me clues on how to make the script better.