May 25, 2012

MacBook Pro and Debian key-map

I recently had to install Debian on VMware Fusion (a product similar to VirtualBox) for the work I was doing. Everything went smoothly until I started using the command line. My favourite key on *nix world ‘THE PIPE’ wasn’t mapped correctly.

It’s easy to correct, and this is how it’s done. Install the console-data package and configure the keymap with the right type. As I use a MacBook Pro with an American keyboard, I had to do this.

$ sudo apt-get install console-data

Once the command completes installing the package, you will get a series of screens to configure. Pick ‘Select Key map from full list’ and choose the key map as appropriate.

console-data-policy.png

console-data-keymap.png

Once the configuration is done, it won’t be reflected until you restart the virtual machine or press Ctrl+Alt+Del. At least that’s what I did to get the keyboard to work as I wanted.

© Nataraj Basappa 2025