[kbd] Characters '<', '>' etc. with German layout

[R. Diez]

Hi all:

I am using Ubuntu 20.04.4, with the MATE Desktop Environment, on a Lenovo ThinkPad T440s laptop.

I believe that the right keyboard model for this laptop is a "Lenovo (previously IBM)", "IBM Space Saver".

On xkeycaps, I think the right model is "IBM", "ThinkPad 770".

I have 2 keyboard layouts installed: Spanish and German, and I am having difficulty typing some common ASCII characters like '<', '>', the pipe symbol '|', etc. That is very annoying when working on a shell console.

When using the Spanish layout, I can get '<' and '>' by holding the right Alt key and one of the shift keys, and then pressing 'x' or 'z' (it may be 'y', because 'y' and 'z' and swapped on German keyboards).

However, when using the German layout, the same key combinations generate some Unicode variant of '<' and '>', namely '‹' and '›', which the shell does not recognise as redirection indicators.

I haven't managed to type the pipe symbol ('|') yet with the German layout, so I am constantly switching layouts.

Is there an easy way to fix these annoyances? Or do I have to learn how to create my own keyboard layouts?

I am completely unfamiliar with Linux keyboard support. Is the kbd project the right place to ask at all?

Thanks in advance,
   rdiez