German keys with U.S. keyboard

When using the U.S. keyboard (which makes sense especially if you're developing software that implies heavy use of [] and {}) you may need a some German umlauts as well. Here I demonstrate how it will work.

When using the text console you could use Emacs as editor. It comes with a special iso-accents-mode.el that offers several methods of inserting local language characters (i.e. "a will become ä and "s will become ß).

When using vi you could use the map command to interpret some key sequences to local language characters.

When using X you may also use xmodmap to enable the compose key (right Alt or AltGr on German keyboards) to enter local language characters.

In that case you may use the following .Xmodmap file:

   keycode 113=Mode_switch
   clear mod1
   clear mod2
   clear mod3
   clear mod4
   add mod1 = Alt_L
   add mod2 = Num_Lock
   add mod3 = Alt_R
   add mod4 = Mode_switch
   keysym a = a A adiaeresis Adiaeresis
   keysym o = o O odiaeresis Odiaeresis
   keysym u = u U udiaeresis Udiaeresis
   keysym s = s S ssharp

You'll need to activate it with xmodmap .Xmodmap which one would place in the .xinitrc file. From now on you'll use the right alt key together with the vowel, i.e. type Right-Alt-a to enter ä.