Easy Switcher

Easy Switcher is a keyboard layout switcher and input corrector for Linux.
It runs as a daemon on your system, is independent from your desktop environment and windowing system, works with the keyboard directly via kernel input, so it is reliable and smooth.

How does it work?

Easy Switcher writes your keystrokes to internal buffer, and when you press a special key (Pause/Break by default), it erases what you have written, changes the layout, and writes the correct input back.

Usage

Install, configure & run the daemon.
If you have entered text in the wrong layout, press Pause/Break to convert the last word, or Shift+Pause/Break to convert the whole phrase.

How to build

Easy Switcher is written in Pascal. It can be built with fpc or Lazarus.

To build with fpc:

Install fpc version 3.2.2 or later.
Clone this repository.
Go to the sources folder cd <path to easy-switcher.lpr folder>.
Build Easy Switcher fpc easy-switcher.lpr.

To build with Lazarus:

Install the latest version of Lazarus.
Download the sources.
Open easy-switcher.lpr in Lazarus and click 'Run'->'Complile'.

Installation

Ubuntu & Debian

Download the latest deb.
Install the package: sudo dpkg -i <path to easy-switcher.deb>.
Configure: sudo easy-switcher -c.
Start Easy Switcher daemon: sudo systemctl start easy-switcher

Other Linux & your own builds

Build Easy Switcher or download the latest binary.
Copy easy-switcher binary to /usr/bin/ and allow execute the file as program.
Configure: sudo easy-switcher -c
Install & start Easy Switcher as daemon:
If your OS supports systemd:
```
sudo easy-switcher -i
sudo systemctl enable easy-switcher
sudo systemctl start easy-switcher
```
If your OS doesn't support systemd, please refer your OS documentation on how to install and run daemons. You may need to use -o or --old-style switch to run Easy Switcher as an "old-style" (true) daemon.

Configuring

Easy Switcher has a built-in configuration tool. For automatic configuration, run it in the terminal with the -c or --configure switch.
Additional tuning is available with manual configuration, please edit /etc/easy-switcher/default.conf.

Troubleshooting

Run-time errors are written to syslog.
For detailed info run Easy Switcher in terminal in a debug mode with -d or --debug switch.

Known bugs & issues

Doesn't work correctly together with key remappers such as keyd.
Works better if you use single-key shortcut for layout switching. Please consider making additional single-key shortcut for layout switching in your system settings for better perfomance.

russ-p/easy-switcher