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

[R. Diez]

 > [...]
 > How did you configure the keymap in the console?

I didn't. I installed Ubuntu MATE with the GUI installer. O8-)


 > Since you mentioned ubuntu, I can assume that you have the console-setup
 > package installed. Is it so ?

Yes, it is apparently installed by default on Ubuntu MATE systems. Or at least I didn't install it manually.


 > If so, can you show me content of /etc/default/keyboard ?

Unfortunately, that is the laptop I use while on holidays, and I am back from holiday. 8-(

I'll post the file contents the next time around.

I do not expect to see anything fancy there. It is not a file that I have ever touched.

I have another IBM ThinkPad laptop with Ubuntu MATE too, which works fine with the "Generic 105-key PC (intl.)". But I changed the keyboard to "Lenovo 
(previously IBM)", "IBM Space Saver", as the outcome should be the same as with the other laptop.

These are the contents of that file:

--------8<--------8<--------8<--------

$ cat /etc/default/keyboard

# KEYBOARD CONFIGURATION FILE

# Consult the keyboard(5) manual page.

XKBMODEL="pc105"
XKBLAYOUT="gb"
XKBVARIANT=""
XKBOPTIONS=""

BACKSPACE="guess"

--------8<--------8<--------8<--------

Now that is unexpected. The keyboard is set in Ubuntu MATE to "IBM Space Saver", but nevertheless, that file says it is still "pc105". And I have 
rebooted the laptop at least once since the keyboard change.


 > If you use console-setup then it's better to ask a package maintainers.

What package maintainer should that be? The Ubuntu MATE project will probably tell me that's an Ubuntu thing, Ubuntu will say that it is a Debian 
thing, Debian will say it's an X-Server and/or kbd thing...

I keep thinking that I cannot be the only guy with such keyboard issues on a ThinkPad.

But say that I have another laptop brand. What would you tell a user that wants to change the character some key generates? Does that depend on 
whether the user runs Fedora or Debian? Does that depend on the desktop environment (KDE/GNOME/...)? Is that different for X, for a text console 
inside X, or for a text mode console?

I just read the following in file /usr/share/doc/keyboard-configuration/README.Debian (on my Ubuntu MATE system):

"In Debian the default keyboard layout is shared between the console
and X.  It is specified in /etc/default/keyboard."

That gives me hope that there is a way to change such key characters globally for both X and the text console.

But I am afraid of running "dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration" etc. The keyboard layout seems to be working fine on this laptop, including 
switching between Spanish and German layouts. If I run such a command, will it break the keyboard on my MATE Desktop?

Thanks for your help,
   rdiez