I switch between Dvorak and QWERTY keyboard layouts and frequently find myself with mismatched layouts on my host operating system and a Linux virtual machine.
How can I easily switch the layout when I have the wrong layout set?
Note that I'm talking about the command-line-only system console here, not a terminal window in a GUI.
I found the solution to be to create the following aliases in my .bashrc file:
alias asdf="sudo loadkeys dvorak"
alias aoeu="sudo loadkeys us"
Now, when I find myself with the wrong layout, I type the same four keys on the home row to switch layouts.
The only issue I had with this was that it could be difficult to enter a password for the sudo command when the wrong layout is enabled. There are two solutions to this problem, but they may be a security issue in some environments:
Use a strong-ish password comprised only of numbers, symbols, and the letters M and A (they're the same for both Dvorak and Qwerty).
Set the suid bit on /usr/bin/loadkeys so it automatically runs as root (and you don't need to run it with sudo). I used the command sudo chmod u+s /usr/bin/loadkeys. Note: I needed to install the console-data package beforehand.
Edit: added excellent suid suggestion from ssmy.
