Making Umlauts in ubuntu 17.10 on a ThinkPad430

Solution 1:

Suggested method

If you use the US English keyboard with international symbols via AltGr, you can type umlauts without switching keyboard.

This works at least in the X session (maybe not in Wayland). The following command line works for me (in Ubuntu 17.10),

setxkbmap -rules evdev -model evdev -layout us -variant altgr-intl

When you use this keyboard setting 'as usual' you will have the usual mapping of the keys as illustrated by the first screenshot with an Onboard keyboard.

As you can see in the second screenshot with an Onboard keyboard, AltGr lets you type several special characters including the umlauts, that you want.

Alternative: Onboard and German keyboard

Using an Onboard keyboard it is also possible to switch temporarily to a German keyboard and see the layout (even if you use a US English physical keyboard). This might be more convenient if you want to type a lot in German, but if you type only a few random umlauts, the US English keyboard with international symbols via AltGr is probably the best choice.

Link

See the following link for more details,

wiki.debian.org/Keyboard