Deutsche Umlaute auf Amerikanische Tastaturen

zitiert von http://idolinux.blogspot.de/2009/02/linux-and-umlaut-typing.html

Here is how to type German umlauts, those accent dots above the vowels, in Linux. I did this with a US keyboard on Fedora 10, but it may also work on Redhat or CentOS.

for the Gnome Desktop:

go to System → Preferences → Hardware → Keyboard on the Gnome menu
select the Layouts tab
click the Layout Options… button
expand Compose key position
check the box Right Ctrl is Compose or Right Win-key is Compose

for the K Desktop:

go to Control Center on the KDE menu
select Regional & Accessibility
check Keyboard Layouts
choose model Generic 104-key PC
choose layout U.S. English
choose variant basic
go to the Switching Options tab
choose switching policy global
go to the Xkb Options tab
check Enable xkb options
check Compose Key Position
set Right Ctrl or Right Win-key as your Compose Key

Deutsche Umlaute

The Right Ctrl or the Right Win key are now a „compose key“. With it you can compose symbols by combining two characters. The double-quote then the letter „a“ equals an umlaut-a (ä). Tap the compose key, then tap shift+quote for a double-quote, then tap the a-key.

ä is compose, then „, then a
ö is compose, then “, then o
ü is compose, then „, then u
ß is compose, then s, then s

There are plenty of symbols and accent marks for other languages as well, like grave/acute ticks (à á), circumflex (â), and many other symbols (æ þ µ ® € ¥ ₨ ½ ² ± ° ¿¡). So international!