Happy Hacking Keyboard

An exceptional typing experience with a great piece of hardware. As expected, it works perfectly on Linux. Just edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier     "HHKB Lite 2"
        Driver         "kbd"
        Option         "XkbRules"  "xorg"
        Option         "XkbModel"  "hhk"
        Option         "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

It should also work correctly with Option "XkbModel" "pc101". Then, I set to ON third DIP switch to disable Delete and enable BS (backspace) key.

Spanish Customization

Despite the US layout, there was no trouble using it with Spanish symbols. I found comfortable to use the Rhombus-key (Super_L and Super_R) keys as the modifiers for these symbols. Mapping scheme:

  • Rhombus-key + a|e|i|o|u|n|4|;á|é|í|ó|ú|ñ|€|ü

  • Rhombus-key + Shift + a|e|i|o|u|n|;Á|É|Í|Ó|Ú|Ñ|Ü

Copy this in ~/.xmodmaprc:

keysym Super_L = Mode_switch
keysym Super_R = Mode_switch
keysym 1 = 1 exclam exclamdown
keysym slash = slash question questiondown
keysym a = a A aacute
keysym e = e E eacute
keysym i = i I iacute
keysym o = o O oacute
keysym u = u U uacute
keysym n = n N ntilde
keysym 4 = 4 dollar EuroSign
keysym semicolon = semicolon colon udiaeresis

Depending on your system, you may need to load this configuration in your ~/.xinitrc or ~/.xsession. Add xmodmap ~/.xmodmaprc to it.

Happy Hacking :-)