International keyboard support

[nbolton]

Imported issue:

• Author: Issue Importer
• Date: 2009-03-01 00:00:00
• Legacy ID: 14

h2. Version 2 requirement

Version 2 must have full international keyboard support; non-us keyboard input in version 1 was unreliable. We may be able to enforce this with unit/integration tests.

---

h2. Original bug report

What steps will reproduce the problem?

1. Switch to non-US layout (e.g. RU)
2. Type a word

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?
layout gets switched back to US and the word is in english letters

What version of the product are you using? On what operating system?
Synerfy 1.3.1 windows XP on both comps

Please provide any additional information below.

[nbolton]

• Author: gregap (Google user)
• Date: 2009-03-12 00:00:00

In my experience, the support for other layouts is not completely broken, but
somewhat operational. I use a completely custom layout for my keyboard since my
official national layout is not programmer friendly and all keys except one (ccaron
or ?) still work. My suspicion is that behaviour differs from character to character.

I cannot comment on the layout changing because I do not use multiple layouts.

[nbolton]

• Author: gregap (Google user)
• Date: 2009-03-12 00:00:00

Sorry for double comment but I cannot seem to edit my previous one.

I used Wireshark to check messages sent via the network and when pressing the
unsupported character mentioned above, c gets sent instead of ?, so the problem
appears to lie with the server. If I have some free time, I will attempt to check out
the code and fix or further diagnose this problem.

[nbolton]

• Author: gregap (Google user)
• Date: 2009-03-12 00:00:00

I ran synergy through a debugger and it seems the problem lies with win32. Both
characters in my case, c and ?, generate the same WPARAM and LPARAM values. There may
be a way to overcome this bug and I will try to find it, but I guess my specific case
isn't a high priority for synergy.

[nbolton]

• Author: sorin.sbarnea (Google user)
• Date: 2009-03-13 00:00:00

I didn't have time to study the current implementation of keyboard events in synergy
but from by experience with keyboard API in Windows and OS X I think that the only
safe way is to communicate at scan codes level. This implies that the character
produced on the client computer should "rendered" as the same physical key was
pressed. The result should depend on the current active keyboard layout.

[nbolton]

• Author: gregap (Google user)
• Date: 2009-03-13 00:00:00

I did some more debugging today and I think my problem differs from the problem
experienced by the original poster.

My interpretation of the OP's problem is this:
Each windows program has its own active keyboard layout. If you open windows A and B
with the default locale set to en-US and then switch window A's keyboard layout to
locale to ru-RU, window B's layout will remain en-US. Synergy is started with a
certain keyboard layout and it retains this layout, unaware of the keyboard layout in
the active window.

My interpretation could be wrong as I did not investigate it further, but I tested my
problem by creating custom keyboard layouts and switching to another layout required
me to restart synergy.

I did however create a fix for my problem, but I will open another issue for it and
attach the patch.

[nbolton]

• Author: robert.ivanc (Google user)
• Date: 2009-03-30 00:00:00

Multiple keyboard layouts are somewhat broken indeed. As a workaround it is sometimes
possible to move the mouse to the server screen, switch the layout there, move to the
client, switch the layout on the client via client's normal keyboard and then
continue typing with the server's keyboard. This mainly works, except for certain
keys (if I press [ it seems to trigger something weird) and not all characters work -
in the slovenian layout seem to work, but not ?.

[nbolton]

• Author: gregap (Google user)
• Date: 2009-04-02 00:00:00

Robert, check out issue #google:3 , I posted a patch that solves the Slovenian keyboard
problem. You will have to apply the patch yourself, though, since I do not know how
it would affect other keyboard layouts however, so it will probably not be included
in official Synergy, unless somebody else confirms that it is ok.

[nbolton]

• Author: nickbolt...@live.com (Google user)
• Date: 2009-05-19 00:00:00

I propose that key presses should be detected at a lower level so that Windows
language settings do not affect the characters sent to the client. I say this because
I have two issues:

• Using a British (GB) keyboard, where the server is Windows and the client is Linux,
  when I press the @ symbol, the ? symbol appears. Even after changing to US layout,
  the omega symbol still appears. Actually this isn't a language issue, but a keyboard
  issue; however it seemed appropriate to mention.
• If I have Russian selected on my server, then it types question marks on my client,
  which is frustrating because on Windows I have a certain language for a certain
  Window and it's inconvenient to have to change this all the time.

[nbolton]

• Author: sorin.sbarnea (Google user)
• Date: 2009-06-08 00:00:00

We'll move this to M2 because implementing a good solution would require to break
compatibility.

[nbolton]

• Author: nick.bolton.uk (Google user)
• Date: 2009-06-08 00:00:00

Sorin, I think this should be assigned to you since you have a good implementation
plan. I've also re-worded the title to make the issue more apparent.

[nbolton]

• Author: nick.bolton.uk (Google user)
• Date: 2009-07-28 00:00:00

Just to update my issue, when pressing shift + @/' key the omega symbol only appears
on my Ubuntu 9.04 client, but, on my Mac OS X client (on Mac it behaves as expected).

[nbolton]

• Author: nick.bolton.uk (Google user)
• Date: 2009-08-06 00:00:00

Even more issues, when I press the British '|' key (to the right of the left shift
key) I get '-' (no shift) and '' (with shift). Here's the thing, I'm using a virtual
machine, with VMware Workstation 6.5.2 build-156735 - and it's the virtual machine
that's experiencing the problem.

Server: Vista
Client: Ubuntu 9.04
Virtual Machine: Ubuntu 8.04

[nbolton]

• Author: erwan.mas (Google user)
• Date: 2009-10-11 00:00:00

"https://bugs.launchpad.net/debian/+source/synergy/+bug/52534":https://bugs.launchpad.net/debian/+source/synergy/+bug/52534

[nbolton]

• Author: jasonirwin73 (Google user)
• Date: 2009-10-28 00:00:00

I have seen the odd behaviour with regards to virtual machines as well (be they
VMWare or VirtualBox) and Synergy.

It's a known issue it seems
"https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/synergy/+bug/215745":https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/synergy/+bug/215745

[nbolton]

• Author: kurbatov (Google user)
• Date: 2009-11-25 00:00:00

I'm experiencing this issue on MacOS 10.6 client connected to Win7 server. Whenever I switch to Russian
keyboard layout on Windows - "?" signs appear in the text box I type in. Switching to Russian-PC keyboard
layout on the Mac client doesn't make any difference.

[nbolton]

• Author: hassanbsc (Google user)
• Date: 2010-02-03 00:00:00

I cannot type in Hebrew in the secondary computer

[nbolton]

• Author: EyalWiener (Google user)
• Date: 2010-02-10 00:00:00

I think I have the same issue, but I'm not sure.
I have a linux/Ubuntu server and a MacOS SnowLeopard client

when I switch from English to Hebrew I have to do both Alt+Shift (server switch layout
shortcut) and Cmd+Space (Mac switch layout shortcut) to have it switch to Hebrew...

soo annoying, any idea how to fix this?

[nbolton]

• Author: AssafDar (Google user)
• Date: 2010-04-24 00:00:00

so true... annoying here indeed!

[nbolton]

• Author: sbaranov (Google user)
• Date: 2010-05-03 00:00:00

I've patched this issue for the Windows server version back in 2006 (in the original
Synergy project). I'm surprised that it's still not fixed in the synergy+ fork.

Anyway, if anyone wants to be able to switch keyboard layout via Alt+Shift while on
the client desktop, apply the attached patch and rebuild the server. The patch is
against the current SVN trunk.

Please note that this patch only allows to switch the layout and doesn't fix other
issues mentioned in the comments above.

Windows server only as it's what I'm using, sorry Mac/Linux server users.

[nbolton]

• Author: mlagosh (Google user)
• Date: 2010-05-07 00:00:00

I'm not sure if I must create another issue or if my problem is related to this one:

Server on Windows 7 with Spanish Keyboard in use. Using Synergy 1.3.5 x64
Client on Mac OS X 10.6.3 with Spanish Keyboard in use. Synergy 1.3.5

When I write on the client I can't get it to create this kind of characters:
...
I tried to debug the problem and I found that the server is sending the correct
character (225 for ), but on the client the key mapping goes wrong for some reason,
it ends up sending 00f down, 00f up, 001 down what translates to "ea". The "" key is
not correctly mapped and sends an "e" keystroke. (In the spanish layout that's the
one between ; and return for english keyboards).

Could someone tell me if I must wait for this issue (5) to be corrected or should I
open a new one?

Thanks

[nbolton]

• Author: hamoid (Google user)
• Date: 2010-06-14 00:00:00

I've had a problem like described in comment 29, but it was temporary. Since I'm also experiencing bug #google:9 (stickyness of modifier keys), I wonder if they are related, since right now it's behaving correctly.

My server is OS X 10.6.3 with synergy 1.3.5, Spanish keyboard layout, client is Ubuntu 10.04 with synergy 1.3.4 on both. For a moment when I typed , in the client I got . Note: I get these characters by pressing two keys in a sequence. First I press the accent key, then letter "a".

Should I downgrade OS X synergy to 1.3.4?

[nbolton]

• Author: hamoid (Google user)
• Date: 2010-06-14 00:00:00

I've done more testing and realised the problem I encounter is due to bug #google:9 . Since my Shift key gets stuck, it's normal that when I type "" I get "" instead. I get exactly that if I keep the shift key down in OS X while trying to type "". Sorry for the confusion. Maybe my comment helps someone else distinguish the problem too.

[nbolton]

• Author: Geir.Helland (Google user)
• Date: 2010-08-10 00:00:00

I stumbled on a problem that might be related, and which could offer some clues.

Synergy2 version 1.3.1 behaves differently depending on how it is started. When launched from the commandline there are no issues, launched from a launchd (launchagent) .plist keystrokes appear on the client as if typed on a US keyboard.

Setup: Server running Synergy2 1.3.1 on SL 10.6.4, norwegian keyboard layout. Client running Synergy 1.3.1-6ubuntu1 on Ubuntu 10.04.1, also with norwegian keyboard layout.

[nbolton]

• Author: Alexey Monastyrenko
• Date: 2010-11-12 18:02:45

The same problem as in the ticket description.
server and client - both windows xp, synergy 1.4.1
Both has US and Russian layout (English(US) input language - US keyboard layout, Russian input language - russian layout). Language switch - Alt-Shift.

When I go to client screen and press Alt-Shift - language switched on client only (server language stays still). Then if i press some key - client language switchs back to server language. Looks like server send key in its language and client sets appropriate language.

So i need to go to server screen, switch language and go back to client screen - very uncomfortable.

Maybe it's possible to set server language = client language (so if i press Alt-Shift - language switched on both computers)?

[nbolton]

• Author: J. Snell
• Date: 2011-06-29 19:18:51

I've just had an idea that could potentially solve this issue and also expand Synergy's sharing capabilities. Synergy could simulate a USB-HID compliant keyboard attached to the client machine, transmitting the raw data across whenever the client has screen focus. This should be compatible with all keyboard layouts, provided the target operating system is configured with the correct layout. This sort of approach would also potentially allow for full support for other devices such multi-button mice, gaming input devices, attached flash drives, etc. If you could get at the raw data on the server's USB devices, you could potentially even expose devices that require drivers and allow for the sharing of essentially any USB connected device.

[nbolton]

• Author: Karl Kristjansson
• Date: 2012-10-11 10:39:35

I'm able to write accented characters using international keyboard (like ) but the accented characters sometimes show up as a or even a (though typing +a) this usually happens when I'm typing fast but works fine if I pause after hitting the accent key before hitting the letter ...

slowly: + a = (WORKS)
fast: + a = a (DOESN'T WORK)

Are there any available fixes you guys know of ?

[nbolton]

• Author: Niels van de Coevering
• Date: 2012-12-28 21:12:43

Unfortunately I'm unable to use quotes and apostrophe (bug #13) on my client PC. I'm using the client to code...:-( So I ran the debug, which maybe help to solve this bug.

Server: Windows 8 x64 EN

Server keyboard setting: Dutch - United States-International

Client: Windows 7 x64 EN

Client keyboard setting: Dutch - United States-International

---

Server log part:

DEBUG1: hook: 0x000000de 0x00280001
DEBUG1: hook: 0x06ff27de 0x00280001
DEBUG1: hook: 0x000000de 0x80280001
DEBUG1: hook: 0x040000de 0x80280001
DEBUG1: hook: 0x000000de 0x00280001
DEBUG1: hook: 0x060227de 0x00280001
DEBUG1: event: Key char=39, vk=0xde, nagr=0, lParam=0x00280001
DEBUG1: new mask: 0x2000
DEBUG1: new mask: 0x2000
DEBUG1: event: Key char=39, vk=0xde, nagr=0, lParam=0x80280001
DEBUG1: new mask: 0x2000
DEBUG1: new mask: 0x2000
DEBUG1: hook: 0x070027de 0x00280001
DEBUG1: event: Key char=39, vk=0xde, nagr=0, lParam=0x00280001
DEBUG1: new mask: 0x2000
DEBUG1: new mask: 0x2000
DEBUG1: onKeyDown id=39 mask=0x2000 button=0x0028
DEBUG1: onKeyUp id=39 mask=0x2000 button=0x0028
DEBUG1: onKeyDown id=39 mask=0x2000 button=0x0028

Client log part:

DEBUG1: recv key down id=0x00000027, mask=0x2000, button=0x0028
DEBUG1: mapKey 0027 (39) with mask 2000, start state: 0000
DEBUG1: key 0027 is not on keyboard
DEBUG1: recv key up id=0x00000027, mask=0x2000, button=0x0028
DEBUG1: recv key down id=0x00000027, mask=0x2000, button=0x0028
DEBUG1: mapKey 0027 (39) with mask 2000, start state: 0000
DEBUG1: key 0027 is not on keyboard

[nbolton]

• Author: zgn Ayaz
• Date: 2013-02-02 01:44:50

Swedish keyboard on Win7 x64 server connected to OS X Lion client (Swedish input source selected) yields horrible results:

"" key types nothing, "" (accent) key when pressed twice types two "k"s (nothing on single press) comma types a dot, dot types a hyphen, hyphen types the accent "", accent "" types two "e"s and backslash types a plus sign. I couldn't figure out what types the backslash, so I couldn't log onto my Windows server from the Mac to get the sources for the iPhone app that i'm supposed to be developing, so my workflow is disrupted and it'll be really nice if you bump the priority on this one up to "urgent".

[nbolton]

• Author: Michel de Almeida Silva
• Date: 2013-02-04 15:24:53

hi,

Im unable to use quotes and/or apostrophe in my client (macbookpro osx 10.8) in server (imac osx 10.8) works fine, but in client nothing happings when i press the key.

[nbolton]

• Author: Maxim Hurghada
• Date: 2013-03-24 15:03:01

Comma and semicolon are not displayed on Linux client when in Russian layout (Shift+Slash and Shift+4 keys respectively). However, on Windows client both symbols are displayed with no problem. Server in both cases is Linux.

[steevesaustin]

Hi, I got the same issue here.

I’m using the following config :

• Server : OS X 10.10 / MacBook Pro late 2011 / Synergy 1.6.1 / French Keyboard / French Layout
• Client : OS X 10.10. / MacBook Air Late 2011 / Synergy 1.6.1 / English Keyboard / French Layout

The keymap is completely different the server and the client for example when I type on the numbers line :

Server : @&é »’(§è!çà
Client : éèeeùùç@<e&c<qà)

Do you have any idea when this keymap problem will be fixed ? cause in my case Synergy is useless without this :(

[ngladitz]

I've been told by synergy help desk that this issue also pertains me.

In my case I'm running:

• Server: Ubuntu 14.04 64-bit
• Client: Windows 7 64-bit
• Client: Mac OS X 10.10.1 (with the 10.9 installer)

All three run Synergy 1.5.1, have a German keyboard attached and German keyboard layout configured:
PC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_keyboard_layout#mediaviewer/File:KB_Germany.svg
Mac: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/2007_09_30_de_Apple-Tastatur.jpg

Integration seems to mostly work, except for sequences involing the Alt Gr modifier.

Typing Alt Gr + ß on the Server correctly produces ****.
The same sequence on the Windows Client incorrectly produces ß (as if Alt Gr were not pressed).
On the OS X Client the sequence produces 7 (which I can't explain).

[goranche]

I've been sent here by the help desk as well... 😄

I'm running OS X Yosemite on both the server (a retina MBP) and the client (mac mini), using a trackpad and a slovene keyboard on the server.

the issue I'm facing is that 1 single key on my keyboard is behaving like a different one.
pressing alt (option) while using that one key makes it behave like normal (and the other one as the first)

otherwise it seems to work quite nicely 👍
well worth the "huge" amount I paid for it 😉

I didn't realise synergy was open source (still worth the money, though), but now that I do, I'll take a look at the source and try to find the issue... kind of sounds like a simple mapping issue to me (in my case, of course, not sure about the others)

[SteveTWhitehouse]

When using the USA International (with dead keys) keyboard on Fedora 15 ( 2.6.35.14-106.fc14.i686) (Synergy server running here)

the following characters type correctly on my Linux workstation, but not on my Windows laptop Synergy client:

Linux;

keystroke= ` (+) a (=) á

' a (=) á

Windows:

Pressing this key twice: ' does not display anything on the Windows client.
All of the other deadkeys seem to work fine.

I can use my laptop keyboard to type this character: ' (single quote character on the double quote " key. The double quote character does not display nor work properly either.

I noticed that when I have multiple keyboards on my laptop, the layout switches to the layout that is selected on my Linux desktop where Synergy server is running.

So two separate issues (it seems)

1. The Synergy server keyboard is the keyboard map that is used when typing on the client (working as designed I think)
2. The keyboard does not work properly when typing on the client for certain keys even though it works fine on the server.

[nsaintarnaud]

There is apparently a lot of interest for international keyboard support - hardly surprising since the US is about 4% of the world population.

I see 3 different classes of issues:

1. with keyboard layouts that share many keys with the US keyboard (British, Canadian French, Swedish, Turkish, French, German), the keys that are the same between the two layouts work fine - giving a false sense that the product is working - but the keys that are different get garbled - even more so for dead keys (like accents, where one types the accent dead key first and then the letter, so two keystrokes for one displayed letter, e.g. ^ then e makes ê - those get displayed as two characters like ùe by Synergy); punctuation also gets garbled, and Synergy is mostly unusable.
2. for keyboard layouts that are completely different from the US (e.g. Cyrillic, Arabic), the output on the remote screen is completely gargled and the product is unusable.
3. other issues linked to modifier keys, e.g. altGr

Some related open issues, in addition to the multitude mentioned above:

Case 1
British: https://github.com/synergy/synergy/issues/3961
Swedish: https://github.com/synergy/synergy/issues/4214
Turkish: https://github.com/synergy/synergy/issues/4164

Case 2:
Arabic: https://github.com/synergy/synergy/issues/4088

... life will be good with international support!

[nsaintarnaud]

All international users please cast you vote for issue #5 (this issue) when you donate!
https://synergy-project.org/premium/?vote

[bbrdaric]

Hello,

I am also affected by this bug. I have Croatian keyboard and Windows 8.1 x64 Pro (host) and Mac OS X 10.10 (client) and I cannot type characters that need Alt Gr modifier.

You can find more about South Slavic Latin keyboards here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AltGr_key#South_Slavic_Latin

Please make possible that host OS is controlling keyboard layout.

[davidstosik]

Hi, similar issue here, with a weird setup, I'll admit.

Server:

• Thinkpad X1 Carbon (new version) with standard US QWERTY keyboard
• Main keyboard is on USB: Ducky Shine3 with Japanese JIS layout
• Ubuntu 14.04
• Synergy 1.6.2 (latest release to date)

Client:

• MacBook Pro 15", mid 2010, with AZERTY French layout
• OS X Yosemite 10.10.1
• Synergy 1.6.2 (latest release to date)

I tried multiple keyboard layouts on Mac OS, with no good result. Also tried to create a keyboard with Ukelele, but it all goes crazy: looks like Ukelele reads various keyboard key inputs as the same key on its virtual keyboard ; for example, two different keys on my server-side Ducky Shine3 (the "5 | %" key, and the "[ | {" key) result in the same character '5' printing on the client's screen.

Obviously, this is not the most common setup you could find out there, but somehow, I think that Synergy could handle this kind of problem a lot better. I realize that bringing this now would require a lot of work, but I would love to see some solution... Right now, Synergy is basically useless for me.

[myss]

I have a Synergy server on Windows 7, using a Belgian Azerty keyboard layout (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AZERTY#mediaviewer/File:Belgian_pc_keyboard.svg).

I have a synergy client on OS X 10.9.5. I use a "turkish qwerty pc" layout with it as default. It also has the belgian AZERTY layout available.

If I set the belgian layout current on MAC:

• I press "A", but I get a "q" on mac.
• I press "Q" and I get an "a"
• similarly I get wrong output for all symbol keys

If I set the "turkish qwerty pc" layout current on MAC:

• I press "A" and get an "a", ok
• I press "Q" and get a "q", ok
• I press "-", but get a "*". Similarly, most of the symbols give wrong output

As suggested somewhere, I have added "English - US" keyboard on Mac, removed all other keyboard layouts and did a restart. The result is not better:

• A and Q work fine
• Press " and receive '
• Press ' and receive '
• Press & and receive 7
• etc

It was suggested to use a US keyboard on the server as a workaround. But that is not an option for me.

[myss]

But there is no problem if I make OS X the server and windows the client. Also, I see that I receive key events faster. When server=Windows and client=OSX, it felt like I was using remote ssh.

Edit: I was too early. AltGr is not sent correctly from Mac to Windows.

The used layout is this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AZERTY#mediaviewer/File:Belgian_pc_keyboard.svg
If I type AltGr+2, I get a '@' on OSX (as expected), but I get nothing on Windows.
If I type Ctrl+Alt+2, I get a '2' on OSX (don't know why), and I get '@' on Windows.
So, the workaround is to use Ctrl+Alt combination on Windows. The situation is still acceptable for me.

[nbolton]

I feel that this issue is too vague to "solve", we need to approach this by opening issues on a more granular level by identifying specific layout and/or key code support.

[3dbloke]

As per my email today to the Synergy Helpdesk and the prompt reply I received, here's my own experience of this problem:

I'm in the UK and use a standard UK keyboard config on my machines.

The set up:

• Synergy server: Linux Mint 17.1 Xfce laptop (an ageing Dell Inspiron 6400).
• Synergy client: Raspberry Pi, running Raspbian GNU/Linux 7, "Kernel 3.18.5-v7 armv7l (32 bit)"

Keyboard mapping of some keys is incorrect on the client.

Examples:
@ ---> q

---> \

" ---> @
£ ---> #

This is pretty much what I'd expect if used a U.S. locale and keyboard mapping stand-alone on any of my systems.

I get similar problems when the client is a PC running Ubuntu Studio. Note that in Windows 7 on the same PC, as a Synergy client, the characters map correctly. This suggests it's a problem with the client.

The Raspberry Pi and Ubuntu Studio are set up with the correct UK locale and keyboard mappings. They work fine with their own keyboards.

It would be helpful to have some mention of this known issue in the FAQ.

--Thomas.

[nbolton]

@3dbloke Would you mind raising a specific bug for this? We closed this issue because its too generic to solve.