I’ve been doing some pair programming where there are two sets of keyboards and mice connected to one computer. I prefer using a different keyboard layout than what my coworkers use. Fortunately, there is way to set a separate layout for each keyboard on Linux.
For this setup you need xinput and setxkbmap commands. First, list all your input devices using command xinput -list. You should get a list that looks something like this:
⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ ETPS/2 Elantech Touchpad id=12 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Logitech USB Receiver id=14 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Logitech USB Receiver id=15 [slave pointer (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard id=3 [master keyboard (2)]
↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard id=5 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=6 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Video Bus id=7 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Sleep Button id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ USB2.0 0.3M UVC WebCam id=9 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Asus Laptop extra buttons id=10 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard id=11 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ ACPI Virtual Keyboard Device id=13 [slave keyboard (3)]
Next, look for the keyboard that you wish to change the layout for. In my example, I only have one keyboard device listed: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard. The list also tells us the ID the device is assigned to, which is 11 in my case. You need to pass the ID to the command setxkbmap using option -device. For example, if I wanted to switch my keyboard layout to a finnish layout, the command would be:
setxkbmap -device 11 us
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