Keyboard
NULLos starts with the German keyboard layout. With kb you set a different one, also for Mac keyboards.
Checked on 29 and 30 Oct 2026 in NULLos 0.2 in QEMU.
Which layouts are there?
kb list
us Englisch (US, QWERTY)
* de Deutsch (QWERTZ, ohne Totasten)
de-mac Deutsch (Mac-Tastatur, Wahl als AltGr)
us-mac Englisch (Mac-Tastatur, Wahl als AltGr)
The star marks the layout that is currently active.
Switching
kb load de-mac
kb get
de-mac
| Command | Layout |
|---|
kb load de | German, PC keyboard (this is how NULLos starts) |
kb load us | English (US), PC keyboard |
kb load de-mac | German, Mac keyboard |
kb load us-mac | English (US), Mac keyboard |
The setting lasts until the next restart.
Mac keyboard
With de-mac and us-mac the Option key (⌥) is the AltGr key. This works with the left and the right
Option key. The characters were queried from the Apple layouts on a Mac, not copied by hand.
| Keys (de-mac) | Character |
|---|
| Option + L | @ |
| Option + E | € |
| Option + 5 / Option + 6 | [ ] |
| Option + 8 / Option + 9 | { } |
| Option + 7 | | |
| Shift + Option + 7 | \ |
| Option + N | ~ |
What is still missing (as of 29 Oct 2026): coming soon
- Dead keys: ´ ` ^ ¨ ~ give the character itself right away. So letters with accents (é, à) do not work.
- The Command key (⌘) has no effect yet.
- On a PC keyboard (also in QEMU), with
de-mac the keys left of the 1 and next to the left
Shift key are swapped (< > and ^ °). This matches Apple keyboards.
USB keyboard
Since 30 Oct 2026 a USB keyboard works too, with the same layouts as above. This was checked in QEMU with
the virtual USB keyboard (-device qemu-xhci -device usb-kbd), not yet with a real one. Typed on the
USB keyboard with the layout de:
pr usb-taste yz Abc
usb-taste yz Abc
The Y and Z keys are swapped, as on a German keyboard, and the key right of the period gives
-. This shows that the German layout is in effect.
Does this also apply over SSH?
No. kb sets the keyboard that is attached directly to NULLos (or the one in the QEMU window). Over SSH and the serial
console you type on your Mac. There, your Mac's layout applies.
More details: h kb, and in the project documentation under Drivers.