Keyboard layout: switching from Amharic <> US

[James]

Hi everyone,

Following the first 4 instructions at <http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Ethiopian_Setup 
 > I have managed to set my G1G1 XO laptop to accept input in  
Amharic.  That's the good news.

The bad news is that I can no longer switch back to a US keyboard.

Even commands typed into the Terminal now appear in Amharic, and  
refuse to execute.  I can use the arrow keys in the Terminal to replay  
the sequence of commands that led to editing /etc/sysconfig/keyboard  
in nano, but I cannot get nano to save my changes.  If I use ^O to  
Write Out the file, I find myself in the Journal, but nano is still  
open in the Terminal.  If I use ^X to Exit nano, it asks if I want to  
save the modified buffer.  Typing "y" produces an Amharic character  
which vaguely resembles a Q, and which nano refuses to recognize.

The page at <http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Ethiopian_Setup> helpfully  
suggests that:

   You can toggle between the us and the et layouts by hitting the
   group switch key, which is mapped to the rightmost key below enter
   (labeled multiply/divide on US keyboards).

In my experience, pressing this key inserts an x character.  No  
combination of modifier keys along with the group switch key seems to  
have the desired effect.

Any help in getting my XO back to its initial US settings would be  
appreciated.  (Ideally, I'd like to be able to switch between the two  
on a regular basis).

Thanks in advance,

James