This is a quick one: If you are living in Germany but enjoy using a US keyboard layout — for one reason or another — I recommend using the EU keyboard layout instead.
If you are not interested in motivation, scroll down to the very bottom to "Installation".
## Benefit 1: Umlaute and Stuff
If you want to input umlauts like ä for example, you only have two annoying options when using the US layout: memorizing a long key code number (for every umlaut) or switching the layout entirely. In the EU kayboard layout you have the following:
* AltGr+a = ä
* AltGr+u = ü
* AltGr+o = ö
* AltGr+s = ß
* AltGr+5 = €
## Benefit 2: Reduction of Mental Load
I personally was regularly quite distracted when using both a German layout (for writing in German) and a US layout when doing everything else. There was always this tiny "state" in the back of my head always remembering in which layout I'm currently in. Using only one layout, this state disappeared and freed up an, ever so tiny, part of my brain for other stuff.
There's also this: ever started typing in front of an audience but had the wrong layout selected? You look like a total idiot who has never used a computer before. If that's not your intended goal in the presentation you are giving, it's good that this will never happen to you.
## Benefit 3: Availability
At some point, I decided that I simply cannot use another shell from bash because bash is always there. Other shells might be more beautiful or more useful or more tuned to my needs, but every time I SSH into another system, there will be bash and not zfish or whatever. Similarly, the US keyboard layout is always there. Both in terms of "here is a random machine you can give your presentation with" as well as in "want to buy a keyboard, German layout costs 50 bugs extra". That all being said: for the most common keys, the EU layout is the same as the US layout.
## Installation
Thanks to Steffen Brüntjen there is a readily available Windows layout: https://eurkey.steffen.bruentjen.eu/download.html.
Under Linux, you can just switch like so:
setxkbmap -layout us -variant altgr-intl -option nodeadkeys