Keyboard deadkeys, composing, why is this so convoluted?

Propheticus · January 12, 2026, 9:55pm

I’ve installed CachyOS over the weekend and it’s going very well so far. Everything just appears to work. Some of the more technical installation steps have already been taken. The getting started / installation Wiki explains a lot. However I feel it misses some basics or links to resources about them.

I’ve already managed to (re)enable secure boot in a way that did not break my Windows install. I also configured the GRUB bootloader to detect the Windows install so I don’t have to switch boot devices in UEFI bios every time I want to boot the other OS.

However, a very basic piece of configuration has me puzzled; the keyboard.

Coming from Windows on a US intl. keyboard I’m used to typing a ‘ followed by a letter to get an accent. So ‘e > é or “o > ö
I figured out you can use a compose key (alt gr in my case), but that feels cumbersome.
Then I found another KB layout called “US intl. with dead keys” that seems to work as expected without composing. The downside; it also catches the ‘ when typing contractions like don’t or would’ve. That means you then have to type don’spacebart …or it’ll turn into a don´t instead of a don’t.

Q: Is it possible to both NOT need to use a compose key for writing é AND be able to type contractions like wasn’t ?

KDE Plasma Version: 6.5.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.22.0
Qt Version: 6.10.1
Kernel Version: 6.18.5-2-cachyos (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland

Current KB layout with no custom bindings:

Propheticus · January 25, 2026, 11:11pm

I’ve done quite some searching around and so far have not found any solutions other than writing a completely custom keymap/XKB.

Is there really no default way to be able to type can't instead of can´t and be able to also type é by typing ´e without needing a compose/AltGr key first?

s0fl · March 5, 2026, 5:24pm

Iḿ facing the exact same issue. Did you end up writing the custom keymap?

Propheticus · March 6, 2026, 12:04pm

No. I tried to give it some time.
Thinking the lack of any answers nor finding real solutions online meant this is just Linux ‘normal’ and a matter of “get used to it”.

Well … I still don’t like it. Too often I automatically add a space after quotes (to prevent accents) leading to things like " quotes with a space" which I then need to correct again.
Years of muscle memory and habbits from typing on Windows.

I did find this GitHub - raelgc/win_us_intl: Windows™ US International XCompose for Linux · GitHub
But did not find the time or will to set it up yet.

ceviche · March 6, 2026, 7:35pm

hi, brazilian here. i’ve been using this for a few weeks now and it’s already way better than the default keyboard configuration :] definitely recommend to check it out

s0fl · March 6, 2026, 8:26pm

Can confirm that works wonderfully, thanks for the link! You should definitely try it out, takes less than a minute.

Propheticus · April 7, 2026, 1:21pm

I just tried alt 1 of the install options and after figuring out I needed to remove the current keyboard layout I had set in the keyboard system settings (see screenshot in my first post) it works.

Thanks for the encouragement and glad I helped put others on a path to a solution as well.

ernand · April 27, 2026, 5:46am

Hey! Brazilian here!
I am currently new to Linux, and I am trying Cachyos with KDE.
I checked the link for the win_us_intl, but I am unsure of how to install it.
Yes, I show the steps of what commands to use, but even with that, I am still unsure which instruction to follow.

All I want is to be able to type ç instead of ć

ernand · May 2, 2026, 1:33am

Found instructions for Cachyos + KDE installation of this keyboard layout:

1. Install UIM

Open your terminal and install the uim package. On CachyOS, you use pacman:

sudo pacman -S uim

Note: UIM will take around 30 minutes to install all packages.

2. Download the XCompose Configuration

Download the custom compose file to your home directory:

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/raelgc/win_us_intl/master/.XCompose -O ~/.XCompose

3. Configure Environment Variables

KDE on CachyOS likely uses Wayland by default. Instead of ~/.xprofile (which is for X11), it is safer to set these variables in a way that KDE recognizes upon login.

Note: If the directory doesn’t exist, create it first with mkdir -p ~/.config/environment.d/.

Create (or edit) the environment file:

nano ~/.config/environment.d/im-settings.conf

Add the following lines to that file:

GTK_IM_MODULE=uim
QT_IM_MODULE=uim
XMODIFIERS=@im=uim

4. Set the Keyboard Layout in KDE

Go to System Settings > Input Devices > Keyboard.
In the Layouts tab, ensure your layout is set to English (US, intl., with dead keys).