2.1.1. Console

To use the keytable for a Belgian keyboard you can use loadkeys be2-latin1 or loadkeys be-latin1. The only difference between the two is that be2-latin1 adds support for twosuperior and threesuperior (keycode 41) and grave (keycode 43).

Usually loadkeys is started at boottime from the scripts located somewhere in /etc/rc.d. Different distributions handle it differentely. But most distributions have a simple program (like kbdconfig in Red Hat, install-keymap in Debian or yast in SuSE) to change the scripts.

2.1.2. XFree86

To set your keyboard properly under XFree86 you've got more choices. By running Xconfigurator (or a similar program) a config-file for XFree86 is created (with some standard content). This file is called XF86Config and is usually located in /etc or /etc/X11

Make sure (and change otherwise) that something similar to this is given under the Keyboard Section.

        Section "Keyboard"
                Protocol        "Standard"
                XkbRules        "xfree86"
                XkbModel        "pc101"
                XkbLayout       "be"
        EndSection
          

If you own a 'microsoft' keyboard (or the less-known penguin keyboards ;p) you can enable those extra 3 keys by changing the "pc101" into "pc104". (I use the extra keys as meta-keys in my windowmanager so some shortcuts doesn't conflict with the internal ones of my wm).

To get the AltGr key to work under XFree86 simply add in the Keyboard Section:

                RightAlt        ModeShift
    

To get some key-combinations working under X11, you might want to change in file /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb/symbols/be:

        key <AD11> {      [ dead_circumflex,       diaeresis      ],
                        [     bracketleft                       ]       };
        key <AC11> {      [          ugrave,         percent      ],
                        [      quoteright                       ]       };
        key <BKSL> {      [              mu,        sterling      ],
                        [       quoteleft                       ]       };
        key <AB10> {      [           equal,            plus      ],
                        [      asciitilde                       ]       };
    

        key <AD11> {      [ dead_circumflex,  dead_diaeresis      ],
                        [     bracketleft                       ]       };
        key <AC11> {      [          ugrave,         percent      ],
                        [      dead_acute                       ]       };
        key <BKSL> {      [              mu,        sterling      ],
                        [      dead_grave                       ]       };
        key <AB10> {      [           equal,            plus      ],
                        [      dead_tilde                       ]       };
    

Some people prefer to use a 'Compose'-key to enter their special characters, like:

        Compose-' e    =>    é
        Compose-/ o    =>    ø
        Compose-c ,    =>    ç
        Compose-c o    =>    ©
        Compose-s s    =>    ß
    

Alternatively you can add keycode xx = Multi_key to your ~/.xmodmaprc. This way it happens automagically.

2.2.1. Using the ISO-8859-1 font in console

You can load the ISO-8859-1 font by typing the following in console:

        setfont lat1u-16.psf
        mapscrn trivial
        echo -ne '\033(K'
    

To be able to use ë, è, é or ç in console, you might want to add these to your ~/.inputrc:

        set meta-flag on
        set convert-meta off
        set output-meta on
    

Also set the following environment variables:

        LC_CTYPE=iso-8859-1
        SYSFONT=lat1u-16.psf
        SYSTERM=linux
    

2.2.2. Support for the Euro symbol

Since Europe had to invent a new character, the Euro, there's a new standard. It's called ISO-8859-15 (aka Latin-9 or Latin-0). To add support you need both a new font and new keymaps. This is part of every major distribution nowadays, if you have an older distributions you probably need a newer console-tools package.

The changes in the keymap-file consist of the following lines:

        keycode  18 = +e        +E      currency
        keycode  46 = +c        +C      cent
    

        SYSFONT=lat0-16.psf
    

2.4.1. Dutch

To enable support for the Dutch locale in Belgium on a system with locale support you just have to set the following environment variables:

        LANG=nl
        LANGUAGE=nl_BE
    

2.4.2. French

If you want French locale support in Belgium, set the following environment variabels:

        LANG=fr
        LANGUAGE=fr_BE
    

2.4.3. German

If you want instead German locale support in Belgium, set the following environment variabels:

        LANG=de
        LANGUAGE=de_BE
    

2.4.4. Walloon

For Walloon locale support you can find files and information at: http://www.linuxi18n.org/locales/walon/. To use it set:

        LANG=wa
        LANGUAGE=wa_BE:fr_BE